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Hornady 30-06 seat die problems


Cholla

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I haven't reloaded a bottle-nose case in decades. I recently started trying to reload 30-06 and bought a used set of Hornady dies from a local gun shop. I have tried seating the jacketed flat-base bullets but since there isn't a slight bell the bullet wants to fall over. I assumed as long as I held it as it went into the die the bullet would become upright as the shell went into the bullet seater die. I was wrong. The bullet catches inside the die and deforms the case and the bullet. In looking at the die there is a gap between the die shell and the sizer bushing that can easily catch the nose of the bullet. I don't remember having this issue with Lyman or RCBS dies decades ago.
Anyone have some experience with this?

 

Edit: I figured it out. Part of the die is supposed to float and old lube had caused it to stick.

 

 

IMG_2682.JPG

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seating the jacketed flat-base bullets but since there isn't a slight bell

 

There really NEEDS to be a slight bell put in the neck by the deprime sizing die.   The expander button should have a slight step above the main part of the button that, when you screw down the decapping rod a little more, it puts the bell into the top 0.005" of the neck of the case.

 

Flat base slugs are really hard to start into the neck without that bell.   The bell amount should be enough that you can set the bullet on the expanded neck and just a couple of thousands of the bullet slides down into the neck just by weight of the bullet.   Otherwise, the edge of the slug catchs the edge of the case mouth and the case mouth crumples as you apply seating force with the press.  The bell amount is just feelable with fingers, and is measurable with digital or vernier calipers at about 0.002" larger than the rest of the case neck.

 

If that old sizing die won't adjust far enough, call Hornady to ask if you can have a replacement for that expander button that will work properly!  They have always been good to my requests like that.

 

Good luck, GJ

 

 

 

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Just for future reference their support is fantastic and their dies have a lifetime warranty, even if you bought second hand

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 I don't use any Hornady dies but there does need to be a bit of a flair on the case.  Most of  dies that I use put the flair on the case when it goes in the powder drop die.  I use a Lyman M die to put the flair on my 30/06  cases and drop the powder from the measure off press.

Blackfoot

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Yes, I use the Lyman M belling die myself, but only when loading cast bullets.   I don't need it for jacketed slugs because they can stand a little more seating pressure without damage.  Saves having to run cases through another die when I don't need to.

 

Good luck, GJ

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When you trim your cases you have to deburr the outside and inside of case.  Even if I don't have to trim cases, I use a deburring tool on the inside of the neck to put just a bit of tapper to it.

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