Hornaby Die Sets

[littleshooter]

Hi There

Can anyone tell me the differents between a Hornady .45-70 Government Custom Grade New Dimension 3 Die Set Part# 546566 and a three die set of Hornady 45/70 Part #040574. The sets look different as well. I am loading 45/70 Lever Revolution and I am looking for the best set. (Yes, I am new to Reloading) Thanks

 

[mmattockx]

If you are looking for the best set then you will want to look at Redding dies. I have a set of Hornady dies in .375 Win and am not particularly impressed with them. The crimping ring works like #### and leaves an uneven crimp, with one side of the case mouth hardly touched and the other side buldged out noticeably.


Mark

 

[alinalberta]

Can you post a link to 040574. The only set on the Hornady website is the 546566 which is pretty much a standard type of set and would do the job nicely. I prefer to crimp as a separate set after seating the bullet. i use the Lee factory crimp die which has the advantage of not being so fussy regarding variations in overall brass length

 

[alinalberta]

I saw the posts and questions you had in the other thread.
I do not know for sure but I do believe that you will indeed need to use the Hornady dies if you use the bullet seating die to crimp the Hornady brass.
I have a 45-70 and use starline brass and cast bullets. The drawbacks of using Lever Revolution bullets and Hornady Brass out way the benefits. You will never make the 45-70 flat shooting and Hornady brass limit your options in terms of using other bullets.
Having said that, the die set 546566 is the set you need.
If you use use a separate crimping die , any brand of dies will work. The issue is that Hornady brass is short and it will not reach the crimping ring in the seater die.
Get a separate crimping die and use that. Seat the bullet with the regular seating die and crimp as a separate operation.
The Lee Factory crimp die will not work with Hornady brass but if you get one and mail it to me, I will lathe trim the bottom to make it work, no charge.Pm me and I will send you my address.
I have never used my Hornady dies for crimping so I cannot comment but I have several sets of Hornady dies and have never had a issue with any of them. They work fine. My 45-70 dies are RCBS and they work well.
I hope this helps. If it instead confuses, PM me and I will try to help.