Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Hornady new dimension die's junk

The only Hornady die I have is for the 480 R... works fine.

Did have a problem with the little clip thing but they sent me 3 more and they are fine�

I like the separate crimping die.

I looked for a set in 45Colt but could not find one so I got a RCBS.

Did you give them a call and let them make things right?

I had one set of 243 dies that luckily I bought cheap... They got sold and everything else I have is in green boxes..

Goodness, all these problems. I have or have had dies from every current maker but Dillon and have stuck cases in virtually all of them. Never had an "issue" with any of the dies and every stuck case I've EVER had was my fault, usually due to trying alternative lubes.

Hornady's aren't my favorite dies (don't care for their seaters) but their FL sizers have worked fine for me. Do need to properly tighten the decapper stem collet, new or old, but that seems a given. ??

IMHO, there isn't a better neck die on the market for factory rifles than the Lee but it has a moving part that seems to baffle some users, it's not a simple "push the case in, pull the case out" thing. Those unwilling to learn to use it properly would be better served with a more simple conventional or bushing neck die.

I had the same problem with my 338-06 FLS die and sent it back to them with an explanation of the issue. It came back with no outline of anything they'd done to correct the problem, nor any denial of the existence of said problem, but it still has that issue.

It oversizes on the down stroke and then the expander ball isn't quite big enough so you can see the bottom of the bullet when it is seated. What I started doing is just using the FLS die for sizing up the 270 Win brass I use, then running it through a Redding neck sizer, then annealing and using only the Redding from there on out.

I won't be buying Hornady sets again, though I did buy one of their seaters for my 257 AI and will do so for my 6mm Int'l as well. Those are great. Its a shame they can't get their crap in order to match their great seater with an equally exceptional FLS die.

I agree, some of you have to start mixing and matching your dies. You can try locating bits and pieces of different sets at gun shows or from friends or acquaintances at your gun club.

A Redding body die, if it's available for your particular cartridge, makes for a fine full length resizer, without touching the neck. They are great for nudging the shoulder back and cheap.

A bushing die or a Lee collet die for the necks. Collet dies are probably best. They are less expensive, don't work harden the brass nearly as much as dies that use an expander ball and you don't have to lube the brass. Just give it a wipe before you resize. I replace the die rings with them though.

Personally, I don't like any resizing die - neck or FL - that uses an expander ball. Every conventional die set squeezes the case neck undersize and then you pull the expander ball through it to stretch it out to the proper diameter. The cases get over worked twice - once on the upstroke and once on the downstroke.

Then pick the seating die of your choice.

I have six Hornady die sets and can honestly say that I've never used the sizing die. Each is a common as dirt calibre, bought at gun shows just for the box and the seater die. You can put a body die, collet die, crimp die and shellholder in the box.

All my sets end up being mixes of what I consider to be the best offerings of several companies.

I had Hornady build me a custom 25/204 Ruger FL die set. Everything is perfect. I really like their taperred expander ball, it takes 204 cases to .25 in one pass with little distortion. On fired cases it barrly touches the neck wall on the way out. I have a set of Redding dies with a taperred expander but have to go to .24 first then finish with the .25 or the mouths look like they are scalloped and take a couple of firings before they can be trimmed square. I try and use the Hornady seaters for everything specially trying to seat 35gr FB's in the Bee, no pinched finger or cocked bullets.

Never had any warm fuzzys for RCBS stuff, pretty much overated to me. I like Forester , Redding and Hornady for FL dies, Hornady seaters, Lee collet and crimp dies in fact for some run of the mill stuff Lee FL dies work pretty well, wish they had a locking nut on the die, I change them if I use it alot.

erich

+1

Preach on brother!

For off the wall cartridges like my 9.3x57 or 6mm Int'l I have found it most cost effective to buy an RCBS or Hornady die set used (need the FLS die for initial case forming) and then get a Hornady seater and Lee collet neck sizer. The latter of these can be ordered directly using 3 fired cases from your rifle cheaper than RCBS charges for such hard to find neck sizers (their's have expander balls which SUCK!).

Great set up right there and surprisingly inexpensive for what you end up with.

I had same problem with .270 die. I measured the expander and found it was for a .284 case. Sent unit back to Hornady. It came back with correct expander installed. Works fine now, but I don't like collect-style stem. Went back to RCBS for all dies.
WYLD

I have 4 sets of Hornady ND. They're not my faves, but they're on par with others in the same price range, IME.

Call Hornady.....these folks are great. They'll fix or replace. And maybe they'll send you some bullets too.....

The Collet style stem drove me crazy, it would sure be to their advantage to change it to a screw in system.

Ditto very happy with them.

I personally didn't notice any lack of quality.(7mm,30-06,45-70).I thought their 45-70 dies did a superb job of seating and crimping speer 405 grs.I had virtually no runout on all 45-70 ammo loaded.The 7mm and 06 show more run out but still acceptable.All and all i'm satisfied with the quality of the ND die sets.JMO

Purchased 2 sets of Hornady dies from Midway (270 and 300 WSM). Worked with a Hornady tech for a week trying to figure out what was the problem. The final straw was when he made a comment about the case shoulder angle and why would anyone create a case with that dimension? That's when I put in the call to Midway. I had the dies for over 3 weeks and they still allowed me to exchange them (plus a couple of bucks difference) for some RCBS dies.

I have a 6.5x55 on its way (September 2010) and I was thinking about giving them another try ... nah that's ok.

I've got one set in 308. The first week I ran those dies(zip spindle) I broke the spindle. I called Hornady and they were great to deal with. They sent out free parts promptly and I was up and running. I've done over a thousand rounds since with that set of dies with no issues. Plus Hornady gave me a box of "free" bullets with the set of dies. No problems here with Hornady, I think they are a great company to deal with. An added plus is the messages on their answering system are very funny.

That's what I've been doing since I tried my first set of Redding dies.

Some of my die sets, Reddings included, use a collet type method for "securing" the decapping pin. That can be frustrating. No brand is perfect in every way. No brand is complete garbage either. It has been pretty rare when I even considered that I might be able to blame a die for not making a 300 yard shot. I'm not sure if any brand has a lock on that "privilege" either. I've made a lot of ammo on at least three versions of Pacific/Hornady dies. Sometimes I've cussed them, but generally they make fine, accurate ammo. There are many ways to mess up the process of ammo-making. Using the dies well enough to make decent ammo, whatever the brand, is not rocket science.

I think Hornady's QC sucks for sure. I bought a set of 416 Taylor dies because they were affordable. Sized a case and it didn't look right. Looked at the sizing die and it said 416 Rigby. Case label was 416 Taylor.

I hesitated buying Hornady dies again in the first place because I had a set previously - can't remember the caliber - that the decapper/expander stem kept slipping on. I think the zip dies or whatever they call them are crap. I'd rather use Lees. But I strictly use Redding these days.

I've recently used Hornady ND dies to load for my new .375 Ruger...they are the first Hornady dies I've owned. I also own Redding, RCBS, and Lee, and still use them in various calibers.

The Hornady dies loaded the ammo that shot this 100 yard 3-shot group:




and this one:




and this one:





and this one:






Very little run out, and they seem to be shooting okay....especially for a load with over 4000 ft. lbs....


Manny

I have had good luck with ND dies, I have 5 sets and they all turn out accurate ammo. It does help to polish the expander ball, I have done this on a few of them. Customer service is great, I screwed up one expander by over polishing it, made it too small, I called them to order a new one, explained that I messed it up, they sent me a new one free, no hassle.

I have several sets of them and have been happy with them with one exception. I bought a set of .357 dies and tried to run them in my Dillon 650. Several crushed cases later with the sizing die, I bought a set of Dillon dies and my 650 has been running like a champ ever since cranking out .357 ammo.

As a matter of fact, I bought a set of Redding dies in .45-70 that I wish were Hornady New Dimension. No one seemed to have Hornady New Dimension at ther time so I bought the Redding. Doing compressed loads of black powder with a lead bullet, the Redding seating die cuts a very large ring in the lead bullet. I'm also not thrilled with the crimp that it does on the brass either.