Home Forums Reloading Handgun Reloading Question about Bonanza dies

Hey I have a question
I got a set of Bonanza straight wall cartrige dies

They are 3 dies like others
But the set had a FL die and it looks like the expander is on the decapping pin

I have never used dies like this

Do you use the FL die first and than use the decapping die second and than seating of course last?

Am I looking at this right?

Hank

The only Bonanza dies I have are for rifle, but some brands of older pistol dies the 2nd die (xpander) had the decapping pin. Thinking I had an old Lyman 38/357 set like this back in the day. They worked fine. Got any scrap brass to experiment with?

I just grabbed a piece this AM and tried it
If you do the decapper first of course when you run it through the FL die it takes the flange out

So I guess the way to do it is size first
than decap and flair

Thats seems right just looking for confirmation or not from an experienced user

Thanks Hank

Always resize first. Old RCBS green box dies are different than the new gray box dies. Hasbeen

If you were to run the brass with the decapper and sizer button, it would not do any good.You undersize the brass with the sizer die first to reduce the diameter and the open it backup to the correct diameter to get the right neck tension and put a bell on the case mouth

Old RCBS worked in this fashion.

FL die, then the decap/flare.

I kinda prefer them because I decap before I clean in a pin tumbler, so I removed the decapping pin.

The flares on those older dies had more of a gradual, full angle transition instead of the machined ledges on most newer dies. They tend to eliminate the cast bullet shaving when the bullet isn't perfectly aligned.

Thank you all Gor the info

It confirms what I suspected

Hank