Hornady Dies

[StoneHendge]

They flat out suck! 

I tolerated scratching of my nickel brass. I'd polish the die, get 2 or 3 clean ones, then the scratches came back. 

Same homemade lube (10% lanolin / 90% isopropyl alcohol) I use flawlessly in RCBS, Redding and Forster dies. Scratched the crap out of the first one and was sticky. Was bumping down 0.005" last sizing session. Checked first one and there was no bump (should have been 0.005" since I use a Lock N' Load). Twisted it down a little and lubed the inside of the die a little. A lot of friction and on trying to raise the ram and then:

   

No country of origin stated anywhere on the die, box, or in the instructions. We all know where they come from.

End rant.

Looks like I'll be using my PRS 6.5 CM for the next AR match. It'll be a bit like bringing a semi auto howitzer to a gun fight.

[CZ527 Guy]

Would like to see the scratches. Id recommend calling Hornaday & asking for technical advice or trouble shooting advice. Suspect this may be a warranty type problem. Understand best warranty is good one that you never need to use. Still I expect you will get more satisfaction by calling Hornaday than a rant.

Sorry for your trouble. only issue I have had w Hornady die is with a breather/vent hole they were putting in there dies. This sounds different. Some may suggest a alternate lube like imperial die wax. In the past I have had similar issues w RCBS dies back when 17 fireball was new.

wish you well.

[gorillamotors]

Need a clearer photo. Way out of focus.

[r.tenorio671]

...was that a HDY 6ARC case or a converted case?

[StoneHendge]

CZ, these are the scratches. These are fired - it's a little worse after sizing. They are very fine near the bottom of the case and makes it extremely dull.

   

Calling Hornady won't do me any good - I'm sure they'll tell me it's my lube and suggest I buy their lube. The scratches pretty much start at the portion of the body that sits in the Hornady tray. I wear a sleeve from old long sleeve t shirt on my arm and wipe the shoulder to prevent hydraulic sizing and then wipe the whole body. This works flawlessly in all of my other dies in other calibers. I'm guessing it's just cheap Chinese steel. I have absolutely horrible luck with any Hornady products. From oversized bullets that shear JP bolt lugs (about 2% were more oversized than the rest), to brass with inconsistent neck wall thickness, to the electronic  scale I got with my original lock n load kit that would never settle on a value and kept running up and down, to the ultrasonic cleaner that wouldn't power up out of the box, to bullets that simply don't go to where they are pointed. Based on my experience, I'm flabbergasted as to how they could still be in business. The only reason I bought the dies was because I didn't want the small base die and they were the only other ones available. But it's time to move on. Brownells has the Wilson bushing die in stock.

Gorilla - the case is stuck in the die and the rim got ripped off of the brass trying to extract it.

r.t, it's 3x fired converted Starline 6.5 Grendel.

[Bill]

Damn those case dont look real good, do you know anyone else shooting 6mm ARC ? maybe try and borrow some dies

Im not a fan of Lanolin as it pretty messy if it build up in the die you can put bumps in the shoulder. Your Iso/lanolin mix is interesting, Id be using One shot spray which gets the job done

I only use Nickel brass in my BLR358 and its super slick on feeding and extraction, also easy to resize.

[StoneHendge]

Damn those case dont look real good,  do you know anyone else shooting 6mm ARC ? maybe try and borrow some dies

Im not a fan of Lanolin as it pretty messy if it build up in the die you can put bumps in the shoulder.  Your Iso/lanolin mix is interesting, Id be using One shot spray which gets the job done

I only use Nickel brass in my BLR358 and its super slick on feeding and extraction, also easy to resize.

Lanolin is messy, but it's cheap. I started doing it at the height of the lockdowns when all the shelves were barren. All the powder, projectiles and primers in the world aren't worth anything if you can't size brass! I think it costs me 15% of what One Shot costs and that was buying a dozen pints of isopropyl during the sanitizing craze. I cut the shirt sleeve at the shoulder seam and then put the wrist cuff above my elbow so my hand is in the sleeve's bicep area. I run the ram like that and wipe each shoulder before putting it in the press - handle brass with the left hand and wipe and run the ram with the right - no build up and no shoulder bumps. Only adds a few minutes to a batch and then a minute or two to clean up the press. My brass then always goes into the ultrasonic cleaner anyways to clean the primer pockets, and then it gets a vibratory tumble with a 2/1 mix of corn cob media and rice. I just finished off a 25 lb sack of rice I got on eBay for $14 shipped when corn cob was hard to find.

[CZ527 Guy]

for the Arc I have only used the Whidden 6mm ARC die with no issues. Then I do use a different lube than you are (Hornady Unique). Guess I did pick up a set of the Hornady dies b4 I had a rifle to shoot these in. Ill have to give them a try.

Do not know what to make of your scratches. Not sure what to make of your lube either at this point. Sorry for your frustration. PIA experience to be sure.

[r.tenorio671]

...looking at the pic of your brass I see striations running the length of the casing and dullness around the web of casings.  Do you clean your brass before resizing and if you do, what method of cleaning do you use? 

... the nickel plated cases I've resized most are pistol calibers and I use carbide dies, dirty brass (even if it looks clean) will sometimes get those same type of striations in them. Minute particles of carbon on the fired casings could be accumulating and over a couple of cases could scratch the casings as well as the internal body of the dies above the carbide ring at bottom of the die.  Regardless of the kind of lube used, it will act as an attractant that the scraped off carbon particles will stick to and be held in "suspension". Note: With carbide pistol dies, they "claim" one doesn't need to lube cases....yeah it will work, but it also works even easier when they are lubed, the carbide ring is just stronger and more resistant to wear. I found it takes more effort to size dirty brass, not worth the extra "convenience" of not lubing.

...You most likely already do this, but once I finish a sizing session I disassemble the my dies and clean them out thoroughly to include the seating stem & button to remove any vestiges of caked on gunk, then apply a light coat of oil with a swab, reassemble then store.

...before I switched to wet tumbling, my sizing dies for rifle cases would get an accumulation of scraped off gunk (residuals of lube, vibe cleaning media & carbon) pushed up to the top of the die above the neck portion, I'd have to stop my sizing sessions and clean it out regularly to avoid it dropping back into the die and getting scratches on the brass and hopefully none in the die body either.

...FWIW, I'd recommend you use the Hornady warranty to return the dies for replacement or reimbursement. I'd also leave that stuck case in it so they can investigate what went wrong.

[Patrickb4365]

I'm using the Hornady sizing die without any issues. I use it without the expander ball. I'm not getting any scratches. But I did have issue with the seating die of all things. It was crushing my shoulders and I'm not sure how or why. I switched to a different seating die so just avoided the issue.

[Old Bob]

I'm using the Hornady sizing die without any issues. I use it without the expander ball. I'm not getting any scratches. But I did have issue with the seating die of all things. It was crushing my shoulders and I'm not sure how or why. I switched to a different seating die so just avoided the issue.

I have the same problem with all my Hornady seating dies. I adjust the lock ring to where I can seat the bullet without any crimp (It's the crimp ring set too far down in the die that's causing the crushed shoulders). I buy specific taper crimp dies for the cartridge I'm loading & put just a slight crimp on the case.

I did get a Hornady die (7.62X40WT) to crimp without crushing the shoulder but it was a frustrating effort. It has to be exact. There's no wiggle room between having a crimp & crushing shoulders. Go .001" too far & you're spewing expletives.
Your trim-to length has to be consistent as well.

[Thelaststraw]

AHHHHH, I thought I was alone! My fix was to back the seating die out from the toolhead....like way farther than you think. It only happened occasionally on some pieces that had stretched just a little longer than the rest and slipped by in prep. There is a shoulder up in there somewhere that catches the case rim and was bulging my freshly reformed Grendel brass. At first I though it was a case of over annealing since it was immediately following my first run of it. The fact that it was sporadic made me look closer.

If you load very short projectiles make sure you leave enough on the micrometer if using one. I have loaded Berger 95 and 105 VLD so far but don't have anything smaller to try. Try that and I hope it helps.

[Patrickb4365]

I'm using the Hornady sizing die without any issues. I use it without the expander ball. I'm not getting any scratches. But I did have issue with the seating die of all things. It was crushing my shoulders and I'm not sure how or why. I switched to a different seating die so just avoided the issue.

I'm using the Hornady sizing die without any issues. I use it without the expander ball. I'm not getting any scratches. But I did have issue with the seating die of all things. It was crushing my shoulders and I'm not sure how or why. I switched to a different seating die so just avoided the issue.

I have the same problem with all my Hornady seating dies. I adjust the lock ring to where I can seat the bullet without any crimp (It's the crimp ring set too far down in the die that's causing the crushed shoulders). I buy specific taper crimp dies for the cartridge I'm loading & put just a slight crimp on the case.

I did get a Hornady die (7.62X40WT) to crimp without crushing the shoulder but it was a frustrating effort. It has to be exact. There's no wiggle room between having a crimp & crushing shoulders. Go .001" too far & you're spewing expletives.
Your trim-to length has to be consistent as well.

My crushing with the Hornady seating die shouldn't have been the crimp ring because I for sure 100% had the die adjusted out intentionally so that the crimp was not coming into play.  I had 2 out of I think 30 total rounds unexpectedly crushed. I think the collar that slides up into the die is somehow getting bound up and freezing. It's that collar that did the crushing. That's the only thing coming in contact with the brass. I found no reason to explain why the collar would jam. Maybe the brass wasn't centered in the shell holder and crooked. That's only thing I can think of.

[StoneHendge]

I'm using the Hornady sizing die without any issues. I use it without the expander ball. I'm not getting any scratches. But I did have issue with the seating die of all things. It was crushing my shoulders and I'm not sure how or why. I switched to a different seating die so just avoided the issue.

I'm using the Hornady sizing die without any issues. I use it without the expander ball. I'm not getting any scratches. But I did have issue with the seating die of all things. It was crushing my shoulders and I'm not sure how or why. I switched to a different seating die so just avoided the issue.

I have the same problem with all my Hornady seating dies. I adjust the lock ring to where I can seat the bullet without any crimp (It's the crimp ring set too far down in the die that's causing the crushed shoulders). I buy specific taper crimp dies for the cartridge I'm loading & put just a slight crimp on the case.

I did get a Hornady die (7.62X40WT) to crimp without crushing the shoulder but it was a frustrating effort. It has to be exact. There's no wiggle room between having a crimp & crushing shoulders. Go .001" too far & you're spewing expletives.
Your trim-to length has to be consistent as well.

My crushing with the Hornady seating die shouldn't have been the crimp ring because I for sure 100% had the die adjusted out intentionally so that the crimp was not coming into play.  I had 2 out of I think 30 total rounds unexpectedly crushed. I think the collar that slides up into the die is somehow getting bound up and freezing. It's that collar that did the crushing. That's the only thing coming in contact with the brass. I found no reason to explain why the collar would jam. Maybe the brass wasn't centered in the shell holder and crooked. That's only thing I can think of.

The die could be crooked 

[Patrickb4365]

I'm using the Hornady sizing die without any issues. I use it without the expander ball. I'm not getting any scratches. But I did have issue with the seating die of all things. It was crushing my shoulders and I'm not sure how or why. I switched to a different seating die so just avoided the issue.

I have the same problem with all my Hornady seating dies. I adjust the lock ring to where I can seat the bullet without any crimp (It's the crimp ring set too far down in the die that's causing the crushed shoulders). I buy specific taper crimp dies for the cartridge I'm loading & put just a slight crimp on the case.

I did get a Hornady die (7.62X40WT) to crimp without crushing the shoulder but it was a frustrating effort. It has to be exact. There's no wiggle room between having a crimp & crushing shoulders. Go .001" too far & you're spewing expletives.
Your trim-to length has to be consistent as well.

I'm using the Hornady sizing die without any issues. I use it without the expander ball. I'm not getting any scratches. But I did have issue with the seating die of all things. It was crushing my shoulders and I'm not sure how or why. I switched to a different seating die so just avoided the issue.

I'm using the Hornady sizing die without any issues. I use it without the expander ball. I'm not getting any scratches. But I did have issue with the seating die of all things. It was crushing my shoulders and I'm not sure how or why. I switched to a different seating die so just avoided the issue.

I have the same problem with all my Hornady seating dies. I adjust the lock ring to where I can seat the bullet without any crimp (It's the crimp ring set too far down in the die that's causing the crushed shoulders). I buy specific taper crimp dies for the cartridge I'm loading & put just a slight crimp on the case.

I did get a Hornady die (7.62X40WT) to crimp without crushing the shoulder but it was a frustrating effort. It has to be exact. There's no wiggle room between having a crimp & crushing shoulders. Go .001" too far & you're spewing expletives.
Your trim-to length has to be consistent as well.

My crushing with the Hornady seating die shouldn't have been the crimp ring because I for sure 100% had the die adjusted out intentionally so that the crimp was not coming into play.  I had 2 out of I think 30 total rounds unexpectedly crushed. I think the collar that slides up into the die is somehow getting bound up and freezing. It's that collar that did the crushing. That's the only thing coming in contact with the brass. I found no reason to explain why the collar would jam. Maybe the brass wasn't centered in the shell holder and crooked. That's only thing I can think of.

The die could be crooked 

Yes, could be defectively crooked so that it mostly works but if I don't get the brass going up into it perfectly it results in binding of the collar. I tried to replicate a binding by pushing on the collar every which way and it would not bind. The die was basically new and I had degreased it and cleaned it properly. I have since switched to the RCBS MatchMaster seating die with the window cutout where you can insert a bullet. It seemed to work well in my last session.

[Old Bob]

For my 6mm ARC & 6.5 Grendel reloads I've started using L.E. Wilson arbor press seating dies... never a problem crushing shoulders. They don't crimp so I still need to use a separate die for that job (gas gun ammo only).

[StoneHendge]

FWIW, I've sized 100 this far with my new RCBS small base sizer and nary a new scratch on the brass. I confirmed my reduced load yesterday and had a 15 shot sd of 7 fps. Measured bump is also more consistent.