Expander stuck / coming off the thread

F

fljp2002

Regular
Rating - 100%
15   0   0
Location
Moncton
Fellows

What am I doing wrong.

The expander on my die keeps getting stuck in the throat of the casing and the thread fails.

1. I lube the outside of the case.

2. I resized 7 casing before encountering this problem

3. These are from hornady dies.

4. I remove the de priming pins since I have a universal de priming die.

Seeking advice.

Thanks

IMG_0508 by fljp, on Flickr
 
I have never experienced that - with using several brands of dies - from your picture, it looks like the threads on the stem are very flat top - not like "V" threads at all - would not have much bite to a female thread?? Is my only guess - no experience with that at all.
 
Stripped threads where the expander ball goes? That is the only thing I can think of (and at least to my eye it looks like the first few threads are damaged?), I'd expect that you would destroy the brass before you strip the threads on the die though?

Potashminer said:
I have never experienced that - with using several brands of dies - from your picture, it looks like the threads on the stem are very flat top - not like "V" threads at all - would not have much bite to a female thread?? Is my only guess - no experience with that at all.
Click to expand...

The threads on the main stem look weird, but they match what I'm seeing on pictures of Hornady dies, it appears to part of their "Zip spindle" design: https://www.hornady.com/reloading/dies/custom-grade-dies#!/
 
Last edited:
Janeau said:
And lube the inside of the neck…dry or wet lube..does not matter..
Click to expand...

Yes, a tiny bit of lube works wonders on the inside of the neck. One other thought... you said that you removed the decapping pin , is the rod slotted where the pin goes in? If so ,perhaps the jaws are compressing a bit without the pin in place, resulting in a slightly smaller diameter on the threads.Maybe try with the pin back in place,and some lube. Just scratching my head. ....catnip
 
Had that happen recently with Lee 300 Savage FL die, not much room for error with that one, pin has to be flush with the nut, or the expander is sitting at the neck junction and crushes the neck.
 
Update: Hornady is sending me two new spindle, expander and pins … sent the. The pics and they said send us you address and replacement will be shipped
, no charge.
 
It's good that they're replacing the parts.

What cartridge are you reloading? Looks like maybe a 222 Rem?

My first thought is that you do have to lube the inside of the neck with something. I use Lee paste lube on a Q-tip. As long as the Q-tip has the lube worked into the fibers, a few twists in the neck area is enough.

Also, if the expander ball/die is new or has been cleaned, put a very light coat of lube on the ball itself and the interior of the die before it's used for the first time. The first one is the most likely to stick.

Clean brass is more likely to give you trouble, particularly ultrasonically cleaned or wet tumbled. A bit of carbon in the neck isn't a bad thing, it lubricates the surface so the ball doesn't grab and gall the surface.

If it were me, I'd leave the decapping pin in place. It may support the inside of the rod so it can't collapse, if that's what's happened. If the primer is already out, the pin is just along for the ride anyway, it won't hurt anything.

I'm familiar with the flattened thread crests on the Hornady decapping/expander rods. I think they're designed to slip if something isn't right, like the ball being set too low and hitting the inside of the case. Lee does something similar with the tapered friction bushing that holds the decapper/expander rod.

But, I thought the Hornady ones only had the modified thread on the upper part of the rod where the depth adjustment is? Yours might have been defective.

Finally, be sure you have the height set correctly. On a short case like the 223 or 222 it's critical since there isn't much room in the case to work with. If the ball is too high, it's possible to have the ball in the neck while it's still squeezed down by the die. That's going to be bad news, you'll have compression and expansion trying to happen at the same time.

You should be able to see and feel the case start to come out of the die by at least the length of the neck itself, BEFORE you feel the added resistance of the expander ball pulling back through the neck on the out stroke.

I had to be careful setting up my 223 dies to avoid this situation. In a long case it's rarely a problem, but short cases are a different story.
 
I've had this recurring problem with 30 cal Lee dies. I've tightened them until they began to strip, with the expander shank completely degreased and anti seize on the threads. Necks are always lubed. Still pulls out. I've been going to Forster and RCBS FL die sets because Lee just sends out replacement parts and the problem persists.
 
Do this

Janeau said:
And lube the inside of the neck…dry or wet lube..does not matter..
Click to expand...

And this (think it's almost like an acme thread style)

woodlotowner said:
The nut on the depriming/neck expanding rod has to be tight. Very very tight. Ask me how I know. I mean tight...
Click to expand...

Or this happens,

woodchopper said:
it looks like your expander is adjusted too high and your trying to size the outside of the neck and expand the neck at the same time
Click to expand...

It it gets stuck enough you can tear the neck off, but usually the rim is torn out of the shell holder first. Then the fun starts trying to salvage something.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom