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

Bought a set of these for my 25-06. Cleaned dies lubed cases and sized my first case. Everything came to a screeching halt on the up stroke. Took the stem loose and sprayed some one shot lube in it and finally got the expander pulled thru. Made sure next one was lubed well and tried it again. Same results looked at both cases and found the necks way out of alingment. Cleaned next case with a brass brush and lubed the inside of neck with the old rcbs lube and tried it with the same results. Finally in a fit of madness i managed to break off the expander ball and got the case out of the die. Measured the expander ball and a case that had been ran into the die without the expander and it looks to me like the expander is having to expand the neck about .010 on the upstroke. I then got to asking a few buddies if they like these dies everyone said the had the same problems and either threw them away or quit using them. So i guess for thirty dollars I got a nifty seating die. Anyone else ran into this problem

I once bought a set of Hornday dies to load for a .204 Ruger. They nearly caused me to pull the last hairs off my head. I got so mad I just threw them in the trash and counted them a lesson learned.

Ive always thought they produced good stuff but these dies just suck.

Never have had a problem with any of mine and the seating dies are really good for a standard die set.
Maybe their QC is slipping.

For the price the standard seating die is okay, although it's not nearly as good as the sliding sleeve on my Forster dies. I had the same problem with my .243 Win. sizing die, then sent my two different die bodies, same problem, and this was in the days when they were collet locking on the decapping rod, and no matter how tight I made it, the darn thing kept slipping. I finally gave up. I'll never use or recommend Hornady ND dies to anyone.

My experience exactly. Decapping/expander rod kept slipping. Never will use them again.

I didn't like the one die set I bought either, so they went down the road. I mostly use Redding or Forster now, and my older die sets are almost all RCBS (except for several one-of sets for odd calibers).

jim

I gotta agree the ND dies suck!! I bought a set for my 25/06 as well and had nothing but problems. I stuck 3 cases in this die set. shoulda known after the first one but thought i may of did something wrong. switched lubes and stuck another one. after the 3rd time i left the case in the die and sent it back to hornady. To my supprise they removed he case said they cleaned the die and sent it back with a completely new set of dies as well... well i thought ok maybe i got a bad die. so i tried it again and again it stuck on me.. both sizer dies are in a landfill. bullet seaters give me good results...

I have several ND dies and have found them to be good dies and the best standard seating die out there. The problem that 7mmMato describes I have had with other dies as well, Redding, RCBS and Lee. The solution is not to throw the dies in the trash, hell if you don't want them, I'll take them. The solution is to take the expander ball and place it in a drill or drill press and POLISH the expander ball with very fine emery cloth (1000 or 1200 grit) or crocus cloth. When it is shiny it will slide threw the cases with ease. Polishing does not significantly alter the diameter of the expanding ball.

The issue that I see with them is they squeeze the neck down to far and the expander has to stretch it back out to far. It seems like it really overworks the brass. I wish I had measured the length on these cases before hand so I could tell how much it stretched them. The only good thing is I think I will really like the seating die. I guess Ill go back to using my old lee neck die again.

The Lee collet neck sizer is really a great die. Cheap too.

The only time I've stuck lubed cases has been when using a lube with a carrier that needs time to evaporate before it becomes a reliable lube - and I haven't waited. Lee, RCBS, Redding, Hornady; it seems to matter not as to brand of die. I like Hornady as well as any of similar price. RCBS is better in some ways, worse in others; it doesn't seem to matter.

I always remind my students that they are smarter than the things we use and the tools which help us work. Sometimes it may require the mind of the maker to help sort things out. Such may be the case here. Human errors are brand blind.

Just tried a set of them on some 243 win reloads, and they met all of my expectations. Of course I expected them to be complete POS and sure enough they were.

If I couldn't find Redding, RCBS, Lee, Lyman, Foster, or any factory loads I would then use hornady dies.

Maybe, but when several experienced reloaders that I personally know have had the same problems and then several people on this same sight have the same problems it makes a guy think that there may be a issue. After my second stuck case I reread the directions that came with the die. Proceeded to stick the third one. Ive been reloading for at least fifteen years and have never had this problem. I think they may need to rethink there dies. If there is some kind of secret to using there die's I am all ears.

Just buy some Redding dies, life is too short to be screwing around with sub par dies.

Handloading is supposed to be enjoyable, not an exercise in frustration!

MtnHtr

Well I use 4 sets of Hornady ND dies 270WSM,300WSM,260Rem. & 30-06 now mine all have the zip spindle and never have had a problem I use the Lyman spray on lube but let it die some. The only die I have had a stuck case in was a RCBS the problem was lube(user error) not the die. So I can't say any thing bad about the ND die they make just as good as ammo as any other dies I use.I could just be lucky but haven't won the lottery yet.

Alan

This is my experience as well. I tried polishing the expander ball at the suggestion of a Hornady tech, didn't make a difference. I also tried putting Imperial case lube on the expander ball, still difficult. If Imperial doesn't fix it, nothing is going to help, at least in my experience.

I had one stem pull loose in a Hornady and reefed on the lock nuts with a pair of cresent wrenches when I retightened it. I have never had a further problem with them and I`ve 3 sets, none have the new spindle.
As already noted Hornady has addressed the problem the last few years with a threaded spindle to give the locking collet something to grab. You can get a new style spindle from Hornady or try roughing yours with a piece of emery and see if it helps 1st.
This problem aside Hornady dies give me some of the straightest ammo I`ve loaded and are a quality die IMHO.

I'm not sure what to tell you. I own the new dies in 6.5x55, 7x57, 8x68s, 7.62x39, 204 Ruger, 225 Win, 45-70, 480 Ruger, as well as the older smooth stem collet version in many more calibers and also the earlier Pacific brand. I also have RCBS in like numbers as well as fewer Lee and Redding and a few other brands. I am familiar with a few different designs. There is no problem with any of them in general. There could be an issue with a single specific example.

You do want to make sure you are using the die correctly. While it does seem almost like child's play in respect to the basic process, I suppose one could create big problems if they had the expander set too high or something. Lubrication can be another big problem sometimes. Most spray type lubes are mostly carrier. Many of them are not really lubes until the carrier has evaporated. In a new, clean, bare-metal die, using a lube which is still in carrier form for the first few cases is likely to spell trouble regardless the die brand. I am always more generous with the lube on any set of dies which are either clean and dry or haven't been used for awhile. I generally don't even use a recognized case lube either, using Kiwi Mink Oil instead since that is most readily available and seems to work as well as Imperial. When a spray lube is sprayed directly into a die, you must allow time to dry since that is an enclosed space which isn't going to encourage evaporation of the carrier (which isn't a good lubricant.)

I would also suggest using a brush to introduce a very minimal quantity of lubricant into the internal section of the neck. A brush can also be helpful in removing a bit of the soot from previous firing.

If you've exhausted all ideas, don't hesitate to contact the die's maker though. It may be possible that a bad set has gotten out. I think I've had issues with three dies out of four or five dozen I've purchased over the years. One, not Hornady, had a poorly machined part; a recent Hornady set had a wrong part (which they quickly replaced); one die set (many years ago) would not size 225 cases which would fit the chamber of the rifle I was using. That could have been the die or it may have been the rifle; I never did figure out the problem. I have been the cause of problems many more times however. I have always been the cause of suck cases regardless the brand of die I happen to be using.

I'll put up a +1 on getting a full length sizer that moves the brass way too much. I haven't stuck any brass in it, but I quit using it after I saw how much it sized down the cases.

No big loss though, I bought the set at a good price to get the seater. The whole set was cheper than what RCBS wanted for a VLD compatible seating stem for the comp seater I already had.