Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Mule Deer- Suggested Hornady Dies successful

Hello Mule Deer and all members

John you were right about the Hornany full resizing dies(9.3 x 62) being able to easily expand 30-06 up to 9.3 caliber. I followed your advice and purchased a set of the 9.3 x 62 dies and they worked very well AND easily. I've reloaded for 45 years and never owned Hornady dies, always RCBS. I am pleased with Hornady Co.


Also, I purchased a used, old Bonanza press(before Hornady purchased Bonanza Reloading Co.) three years ago off of ebay. It needed the missing set of primer feeder tubes, and a spring for the primer feeder tubes to properly feed primers to seat them. They were sent to me for FREE! For FREE! Postage paid. The die set was ordered from Midway USA. The new parts for my new/old press worked perfectly and I can still purchase the same press from Hornady that was made by Bonanza over fifty years ago. I've never experienced any difference in accuracy by not hand seating the primers. Maybe you guys have. Also, I stopped standardizing primer pocket holes, and just now clean out the primer flash hole after Mule Deer wrote a article about not standardizing the dept of the holes. I tried it and there was NO difference except not having the aggravation of doing the primer pockets. My rifles are not competition rifles and it just doesn't matter.

I am impressed with Hornady. I'm impressed! I've used Hornady bullets most of my life as they expanded well,were accurate, and performed very well on North East Tennessee's mid size whitetail deer.

Thanks for the advice.

roanmtn(Roan Mountain)

Thanks for the report! Both on the Hornady dies and the experiment with primer pockets.

I have had excellent luck with Hornady dies, both because of the tapered expand ball and the seater, which has a sleeve to align bullets as they're seated.

Have also had excellent experiences with their customer service.

Agree its certainly nice to be able to just run '06 brass into the die, but after the die sizes the neck up to take 9.3 bullets how does the '06 shoulder get moved ahead more than .090 inch to meet the 9.3X62 specs?

That is a lot of extra space.

Ted

I also just bought my first set of Hornady dies (308 Winchester) after decades of being an RCBS-or-nothing guy.

Hornady dies are superb.


Okie John

Hornady does would be okay if they threaded the damn spindle on the size die. I use prefer Redding..

Guess I am puzzled. In ALL the Hornady rifle dies I have the spindle is threaded on the sizing die So what are you talking about?

I also like and use Redding dies, of all sorts. In fact probably have as many Reddings as any brand.

But due to my profession I try to use (and understand) all sorts of dies.

They do. And have done so for years.

Me too, they make good dies.

Like any company, Hornady has had a few hiccups. The unthreaded spindles on older dies were problematic, but kits are available to upgrade these older sets. I had a couple of neck sizing dies that had a smooth spindle, but upgraded.

The only argument you might get from a purist is the sleeve of a Forster seating die is tighter and therefore, aligns better.

I have compared my Hornady, Redding and Forster seaters for 308 Winchester and the latter two do more consistently load straighter cartridges.

What's the TPI on 'em?

Asking for a friend....

"The only argument you might get from a purist is the sleeve of a Forster seating die is tighter and therefore, aligns better."

Yep, but with many of today's longer, heavier, longer-shanked bullets I haven't been able to measure a difference in seated bullets between the Forster and Hornady seaters will the same bullet and cartridge.

Plus, in general have found how well the die's seating stem fits the specific bullet can make more difference in how straightly a specific bullet is seated.

On the Hornady die, it is 0.0555 up or down per full turn.

The seating stem is just as important as the sleeve in these dies. I use Hornady and Forster for seating all my cartridges. Runout is less of a problem, compared to my old RCBS and Lee dies. In conjunction with the seating stem, Lee and RCBS std dies would allow the bullet to sit cockeyed. These last two left me unimpressed. These are the std die sets of which I speak.

Edited to add: I do have a couple of Wilson sets that have a great seating die as well.

Edited once again: You will also find, depending on the bullet, that ye olde fashioned Lee Loader does a good job of seating bullets.

Hornady sizing dies remind me a lot of LEE dies, for some reason...

It might be me, but I would trust Hornady sizing dies over the Lee dies. I am not a fan of Lee's spindles. We all have different methods to achieve our ends. For me, all my die sets are mixed. Depending on the cartridge, of course. The 6x45mm die set below is a mix. Hornady box and FL sizer, Forster seating die. Lee Collet and crimp die. Not all companies make dies for every cartridge.

Note the threaded spindle on the sizing die.

Steve,

Loved your statement, "You will also find, depending on the bullet, that ye olde fashioned Lee Loader does a good job of seating bullets."

Have used the Lee Loader since 1966, and it works on the same principle as most ":benchrest" dies.

A few years ago I bought a new Lee Loader die set for the .22 Hornet. It resulted in sub-half-inch groups ( 5 shots, not 3) at 100 yards.

Hi John. Thanks. While it is possible to screw up the machining of a Lee Loader, I think it's fair to say that there is less of a chance, compared to regular dies. Just drill the hole straight.

When I was younger, I used to pick this grey sealant off buildings and use it with my Lee Loader seating stems. I cannot affirm that it helped, but I thought that shaping the opening to fit the bullet was a good idea.

John, Back, sometime in the 80s, when Hornady stopped using Pacific dies & came out with their "New Dimension" line of dies the decapping rod was not threaded, but a friction only fit in an outside threaded tapered collar which squeezed the decapping rod. This worked for about the first 2 or 300 uses but over time the collar ran out of grip or the rod got polished too much from slippage. The dies became almost unusable no matter how much the collar was tightened. I've pitched 3 or 4 of these sizers & moved on to other manufacturer's dies. No such problems with Redding, or RCBS, or Forster, or CH, so there's never been a reason to consider Hornady dies ever again..

In all fairness Hornady's seating die seemed like a pretty slick idea & it appears that they have improved their sizing dies in the interim. Do they still use those junky clear red boxes with the ill-fitting lids that come off completely?

Hi Ted. After the 30-06 case is expanded it must be fire formed in the 9.3 x 62 chamber. The bullet should touch the lands. This forces the base back onto the bolt face and assures that the case shoulder is formed farther forward than the 30-06 with no problems. Years ago I fireformed 50 cases that I used up for practice.

These cases were Winchester cases and they lasted forever as I only neck sized them with the cheap Lee Collet Die Set. The Lee Collet set has produced much, much better accuracy than any other dies of any other make for me. I have borrowed very expensive dies from buddies here in Johnson City, Tennessee. Those expensive dies have never produced better accuracy than the Lee Collet Dies in spite of their much cheaper cost. My 9.3 x 62 can place three bullets at 1/2 inch when I settle down and really concentrate using 286 gr Barnes X bullets. I used these components on my only once in a life time African hunt. I can't afford another trip. The first trip emptied my checking account. I had to be real careful with the 286 gr spitzers as they seemed to slip back into the cases.... so I was careful and carried them
with the cartridges pointing forward and not up or down. It all worked out just fine. The collet neck sizing die was not tight enough.

roanmtn....Glenn