Howdy, I've recently got myself a single stage loader and its mounted on some iffy wood but it does the job, my Lee die's & Hornady American dies work great. the hornady custom die though im having a real issue with cases needing a TON of force on the downward action to pull out, (caliber is 6.5x55 swedish) after some looking at it I believe it's the expander ball aswell as somone else stating they had brand new hornady custom grade dies from the factory come not correctly spaced. Should i be looking to replace the dies ? im talking 10x the amount of force my other 3 caliber's require almost breaking the wood its mounted as it starts to crack, i have tried different types of lubricants and amounts, aswell as cleaning the dies but dont seem much luck. they came used with the press itself and the original owner bought a new set but never said why so this may have been it ? thanks for your time reading!
Hornady Custom Grade Die's too tight ?
- Thread starter Kondor
- Start date
Does the brass look as if it may have been fired in a semi-auto rifle?
Does the die look like it needs polishing on the inside?
I assume die is marked as 6.5 x55?
Did you remember to lube the inside of the neck? This is crucial with these dies.
I like castor oil as a case lube. Cheap and available at drug stores.
Sacrifice one case for a test.
Place a case on the shell holder, loosen the die off the press by fair amount then tightened the die until it makes contact with the brass.
Turn the die in a couple turns more and resize the brass
Repeat until die is all the way down against the shell holder then measure the case.
There is a chance the die is defective or even a different 6.5 caliber that was marked incorrectly.
Hornady is good at replacing defects. You can use the test case measurements as proof.
Does the die look like it needs polishing on the inside?
I assume die is marked as 6.5 x55?
Did you remember to lube the inside of the neck? This is crucial with these dies.
I like castor oil as a case lube. Cheap and available at drug stores.
Sacrifice one case for a test.
Place a case on the shell holder, loosen the die off the press by fair amount then tightened the die until it makes contact with the brass.
Turn the die in a couple turns more and resize the brass
Repeat until die is all the way down against the shell holder then measure the case.
There is a chance the die is defective or even a different 6.5 caliber that was marked incorrectly.
Hornady is good at replacing defects. You can use the test case measurements as proof.
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- Central AB
Normally when i run into this, i just take out the deprimer/expander rod, chuck it up in a drill, and run the expander button on sandpaper, and then emory cloth, to reduce the size a thous or so, until it comes out of the case with normal resistance.
Thinning the necks of the brass would achieve the same result i suppose.
Thinning the necks of the brass would achieve the same result i suppose.
Interesting ! I have no lubed the inside of the case necks as i thought that may mess up the powder once it goes in! But hornady's one shot lube claims it will be fine. I may sand it down finely aswell if the extra lube. Very interesting that the lee was actually smaller though !
Need to get some more brass to try loading or projectiles lol
Need to get some more brass to try loading or projectiles lol
How do you know if its been fired as a semi auto ?
sadly ALL of my 6.5 cases are currently primed just waiting on some projectiles, aswell as if I am going to get the rifle drilled & tapped. which im not sure it even can be
I didnt buy the dies myself somone else did and sold it to me with the reloading kit, it could be my bench is too weak, but i think its pretty tight. I will adjust it again when i get soem more brass but it does make a bad rubbing nose that sounds more like the inside of the die than the expander ball
sadly ALL of my 6.5 cases are currently primed just waiting on some projectiles, aswell as if I am going to get the rifle drilled & tapped. which im not sure it even can be
I didnt buy the dies myself somone else did and sold it to me with the reloading kit, it could be my bench is too weak, but i think its pretty tight. I will adjust it again when i get soem more brass but it does make a bad rubbing nose that sounds more like the inside of the die than the expander ball
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a liquid or sticky lube can... use graphite powder on the inside of the case neck (there is a tool that brushes the stuff inside the neck) if you do not want to clean the brass after resizing.
