Has anybody had a problem with the Hornady New Dimension Dies. The innards fell out of my seater die (sleeve and pin) and I am unable to seat a bullet without the sleeve coming out of the die and then I have to drive the bullet and case, with a punch and hammer, out of the sleeve. Can you believe it?

I am also having problems with over expanding the cases.These are the first Hornady dies I have used and have never over expanded a case with Lee or RCBS. The case mouth flares, like a trumpet, and then when I crimp the case the flare is only partially removed. I now have a bunch of rounds that will not fit the cylinder as the flare diameter is too large for the cylinder. I contacted Hornady but so far no resolution. Anybody know where I can find a bullet puller for a .480 Ruger?

Regards,

JimC

Has anybody had a problem with the Hornady New Dimension Dies. The innards fell out of my seater die (sleeve and pin) and I am unable to seat a bullet without the sleeve coming out of the die and then I have to drive the bullet and case, with a punch and hammer, out of the sleeve. Can you believe it?

I am also having problems with over expanding the cases.These are the first Hornady dies I have used and have never over expanded a case with Lee or RCBS. The case mouth flares, like a trumpet, and then when I crimp the case the flare is only partially removed. I now have a bunch of rounds that will not fit the cylinder as the flare diameter is too large for the cylinder. I contacted Hornady but so far no resolution. Anybody know where I can find a bullet puller for a .480 Ruger?

Regards,

JimC

Jim:

Pick up an RCBS Power Pull Bullet Puller. It looks like a plastic hammer. I have an old one from about 25 years ago, it still works. When you get tired of messing with the three-jaw chuck that it comes with, just toss it and slip the cartridge in the same shell holder you use in your press, insert both into the puller and tighten down the plastic nut. A few taps on a solid block of wood and the bullet should drop out. I stuffed a bit of cotton waste in the bottom of my puller to prevent dinging pointed lead bullets. This technique works with almost every cartridge.

Look on your Hornady New Dimension seating die at the very start of the threaded body where it screws into the press. There should be a little "C" shaped wire spring clip with a bent hook that passes through the die body retaining the seating sleeve. I bet yours is missing or the hook broke off! Good news is- if you look under that grey foam in the box lid, and find the plastic bag with the warranty card, Hornady packed a spare clip inside just for such disasters. It's real easy to fix: slide in the sleeve, insert the bent hook into the little hole and gently snap the clip into the groove like a tire bead. If you lost the spare but have other Hornady dies, the clip from any of them will work.

On the expander die, back it out until you have no bell, and adjust it back down about 1/16 turn each time you raise the press handle until you get enough bell to seat the bullet without shaving jacket or lead. Only a little adjustment is needed. That expander is finicky and doesn't need a lot of overadjustment to mess up.

axlenut

Thanks for the reply,

The wire clip is in place but the tip appears to be broken off as you cannot feel it when sliding you finger inside the die. Unfortunately, an extra clip is not in my Hornady case and I don't remember seeing one, but it sounds like an easy fix. I wonder why Hornady just didn't send me a new clip or even tell me that was the problem?

thanks,

JimC

JimC,
I bought a set of those dies for my 30/30.
It is probably the dumbest thing that I did in year 2003.
Frank

JimC,
I bought a set of those dies for my 30/30.
It is probably the dumbest thing that I did in year 2003.
Frank

Kragman71,

I have never had a problem with RCBS or Lee, and I've had nothing but problems with these Hornady New Dimension Dies!
I had to pull a bunch of bullets that were over expanded, can't get them in my cylinder, and now after I pulled the bullets I can barely resize the case as the bell flare is too big to fit the die! I had to lube the case and lube the inside of the die and force the case into the die after several attempts. I don't think it's supposed to be this difficult.

JimC

JimC,
I bought a set of those dies for my 30/30.
It is probably the dumbest thing that I did in year 2003.
Frank
JimC,
The problems with my dies are :
The bullet seater puts a deeper scar on my lead bullets then any of the many dies that I have.
more importantly,the expander is not solidly attached to the die body,and gets stuck inside the cartridge case in use.
I took it to the cellar and,with a machineist vise and a large wrench,managed to tighten it enough to operate.That means that I have to use the cellar to clean,or inspect or adjust it.
The die also sizes down the case more then is necessary.
I solved the problem by buying a set of RCBS dies.
I do use the bullet seater die for jacketed bullets only.
The worst part is thatwhen I reported my problem to Hornaday,they were not interested.
Frank

JimC,
The problems with my dies are :
The bullet seater puts a deeper scar on my lead bullets then any of the many dies that I have.
more importantly,the expander is not solidly attached to the die body,and gets stuck inside the cartridge case in use.
I took it to the cellar and,with a machineist vise and a large wrench,managed to tighten it enough to operate.That means that I have to use the cellar to clean,or inspect or adjust it.
The die also sizes down the case more then is necessary.
I solved the problem by buying a set of RCBS dies.
I do use the bullet seater die for jacketed bullets only.
The worst part is thatwhen I reported my problem to Hornaday,they were not interested.
Frank

Hornady is sending me a clip for my seater die. If that doesn't fix it pronto, RCBS or Lee here I come.

JimC

JimC,
The problems with my dies are :
The bullet seater puts a deeper scar on my lead bullets then any of the many dies that I have.
more importantly,the expander is not solidly attached to the die body,and gets stuck inside the cartridge case in use.
I took it to the cellar and,with a machineist vise and a large wrench,managed to tighten it enough to operate.That means that I have to use the cellar to clean,or inspect or adjust it.
The die also sizes down the case more then is necessary.
I solved the problem by buying a set of RCBS dies.
I do use the bullet seater die for jacketed bullets only.
The worst part is thatwhen I reported my problem to Hornaday,they were not interested.
Frank

When setting up the Hornady two die set for bottleneck cartridges, you must disassemble the decapping/expander pin and clean the preservative coating off. It's a grease and makes the decapper/expander pin slip. Use acetone, nail polish remover, choke cleaner, not something like paint thinner that leaves a residue. Clean the inside of the collet that retains the pin. Put it all back together, adjust the die to touch the ram, lock the ring down and use a box wrench to firmly tighten the collet. That pin will stay in place, unless something blocks the decapping pin from punching out the fired primer. It will slip before it breaks, just what it is supposed to do. Same for the Lee dies - they also use a compression nut decapper/expander pin.

On three die sets Hornady's expander/flare stem is integral to the die. It's plunge cut - the whole thing is one piece, die and expander. Raise the ram with a sized and properly trimmed case, screw the die into the press and guide the expander into the case. Keep screwing the die down into the case until a bit of resistance is felt. Lower the ram and check to see if the case mouth is belled a bit. If it is, lock the die down, if not, adjust it down a tiny bit and raise the ram. Keep making tiny adjustments until a bullet just slips into the case. Lock down the die. They adjust with the 7/8"-14tpi die body thread which makes the adjustment more coarse than with the finer thread of the separate expander stem, you make smaller adjustments or find your case has turned into a funnel.

Also, don't shake the seating die with the captured seating bushing back and forth, or allow the bushing to violently drop down, or it acts as a slide hammer and shears off the retaining clip leg.

These dies were engineered to keep cost down, and work just fine if we understand the differences between them and our old traditional dies. That little clip is a weak link, but my guess is Hornady will send along a few.

Seater punches often scar bullets because of the various bullet shapes, dies are made one-size-fits-all. Most manufacturers will alter a seating punch to fit a bullet if both are sent back. One other trick is to use epoxy (in the old days sealing wax) to match the bullet to the punch. (That's why each cast bullet has a specific nose punch for the lubri-sizer press - to fit the bullet with distorting it.) Just be sure to use release agent on the bullet or you get a bullet bonded to the punch. Some well heeled sports buy separate seating punches for each bullet and have them customized.

Oh, and I ain't so smart. I learned this stuff the hard way, broken clips, slipping pins, funnel shaped cases.

axlenut

Had a set for my 7x57 and do not like them. The expander ball seemed way too tight and was very hard to pull back thru the mouth of the case, even after brushing and dry lubing the inside of the case mouth. The spindle frequently pulled loose during this process no matter how tightly it was secured in the die, due to Hornady's somewhat unique locking method. I finally got tired of it and replaced them with a Redding sizer and a Forster Ultra seater, both of which work beautifully. Some people may like the Hornady dies, but this has shied me away from buying any more of then. Oh, and I disassembled and cleaned the dies before using them.

Had a set for my 7x57 and do not like them. The expander ball seemed way too tight and was very hard to pull back thru the mouth of the case, even after brushing and dry lubing the inside of the case mouth. The spindle frequently pulled loose during this process no matter how tightly it was secured in the die, due to Hornady's somewhat unique locking method. I finally got tired of it and replaced them with a Redding sizer and a Forster Ultra seater, both of which work beautifully. Some people may like the Hornady dies, but this has shied me away from buying any more of then. Oh, and I disassembled and cleaned the dies before using them.

Yeah, sometimes it's just too much hassle to try to make a poor design work. I too wouldn't buy any more Hornady dies. The price may be low, but it's more than made up in frustration and lost brass.

axlenut

Yeah, sometimes it's just too much hassle to try to make a poor design work. I too wouldn't buy any more Hornady dies. The price may be low, but it's more than made up in frustration and lost brass.

axlenut
Amen! Brother.
Frank

I've got 4 sets of Hornady dies, and they've got their good and bad points. I did have the expander ball slip on unlubed .30-06 nickel case necks. Fixed that with some lube and more torque on the spindle nuts, but I think the real solution here is junking the nickle cases.

A set of Hornady titanium nitride dies cost little more than a RCBS carbide resizer die by the time my pre-carbide RCBS pistol resizers were worn out from too many nickel cases. The Hornady pistol resizers work fine. The pistol expander dies are no substitute for a Lyman M-Die and they quickly went to the attic. The split lock rings make adjusting them tricky and I see RCBS has gone back to solid rings, thankfully. It's easy to overflare cases with RCBS and Lyman dies too, so start with the die backed off and lower it a bit at a time until you can start a bullet. The bullet you're loading is your gauge.

The Hornady pistol seaters fit XTP bullets, naturally, and I lapped the seater plugs so they won't mark the lead bullets. Put a bit of lapping compound on the nose of a lead bullet, chuck it in a slow-speed drill and work over your seater plug with it. The .38 Special/.357 seater is too small for unsized cast bullets that go .359. So it's a case of using the old RCBS seater or sizing the bullets.

I bought a set of Hornady .222 dies because of a neck runout problem with my RCBS dies. No more runout. This is a common RCBS problem, as they drill the neck portion of the die then ream the body portion separately, and too often loose alightment.

The oversized boxes Hornady dies come in now are too big for my tool chest, and I wish they'll stayed with the old small boxes.

My best dies are an old set of Pacific Dura-Chrome dies in .35 Remington. Would I buy Hornady dies again. Yes. Did I say I don't like nickel cases?

Bye
Jack

I love my Hornady dies FOR RIFLE AMMO. But for pistol ammo I preffer the Lee. The Lee powder through die is great. I use to be a RCBS person, but the new Hornady die are hands down better for RIFLE AMMO, and the Lee dies are better than the RCBS for handgun. BOTH COST LESS THAN RCBS. :)

I own two sets of the dies mentioned, I bought the 450 marlin die's when they first came out and the 44mag die's there after, I have no problems using them other than the clip that holds the seater wears and needs to be replace, In my box there is a sponge, under the sponge there is a flat based seater and a extra clip, also I notice sometimes the seater makes marks on the bullet, circular, seems the seater makes a light mark, I use a lee factory crimp for crimping, I use a degreaser for cleaning the cavities of the die's, seems to work well, drys 100% and takes out any crap that builds up in them, simple hoppies will work or any gun cleaner, make sure to wipe it clean of solvent. Aim small hit small. RAMbo.

I love the Hornady dies in both bottle-neck and revolver cases. Getting the expander to not slide out was an initial problem but this was an operator error. I suggest using the wrench they make for their dies. You can really tighten those unique hex nuts with it. No need to go to the vice. For 5-6 dollars, it is one of the best tools I have purchased in years. I had the clip break on one seating die but all the others have worked really well. Expanding the case should be done with caution and is often not necessary, ie. expand as little as possible. The Redding 'Competition' die sets do not even have an expander. RCBS have been the most problematic and inconsistent dies I have ever used. I finally got rid of all of them. Lee pistol dies are quite good, only once you get everything set up properly. I hate to move anything on them after that point though.
Keep working with the Hornady dies. They will work for you.