Hornady Dies, I hope I'm wrong about them

[nicholasjohn]

They do have a higher end set of performance dies complete with bushing neck sizer and mic'd seating die. I have one of these for my 280 Ackley after a friend who's been reloading for years recommended them to me over the Redding S series. I should note though, I'm reloading my Ackley for hunting and .5moa to sub 1moa groups and was told the Redding set was better but the Hornady set was a better value as I didn't require single hole accuracy

I've heard that Hornady has a premium line of dies, but I have been kinda stuck on the Redding dies, so that's what I bought recently for a new .280 I just got. Based on experience with their old-style sizing dies, I got the Competition Neck Bushing Die Set. Based on everything I've read on this forum, I think this ought to work well.

The experience I had that turned my thinking to bushing dies was with a Redding sizing die for the 30-06 Ackley. Neck run-out was excessive, so I started reading on what to do about it. I read an article by John Barsness about trouble-shooting the problem, and he said to take out the expander button and size a case to see if the die is straight. Well, the die sized them so straight that the needle didn't even twitch on the Case Master. This suggested that the expander might be the source of the trouble. I spun it on the Case Master and it was all over the place. After chucking it in a drill motor, I polished it with super-fine emery cloth, and it now sizes the cases straight. The rifle groups 180-grain Swift A-Frames into 1/2" at 100 yards, and many animals have gotten their first ride in the back of the pick-up after being shot with this rifle.

I could certainly do that same process again with the .280, but it seems that nowadays everybody prefers to make body sizing and neck sizing separate operations. I'm going to try going that route and see how I like it. Since I don't load in high volume, the extra step is not an issue for me. I'm just getting back into hand-loading after about a 20-year hiatus, and I've got a lot to catch up on. This forum has helped immensely - there's a lot of talent out there, and I really appreciate you guys all sharing your experience and wisdom. Thanks.

 

[Danny Butler]

I'm guilty of using cheap dies but I just set up my first Hornady die. I bought the cheapest seater die (hornady) I could find just so I could seat some bullets in my 300 NM to fire form a couple of cases to send off to get a die set made. My first impression is that the price reflects the quality. Anyway, I guess that I shouldn't complain until I give it a chance. I've had good experiences with cheap dies but I really have my doubts about this Hornady set. I hope I'm wrong.

Buy once cry once. I use Wilson dies.

 

[sceeder]

I tried Hornady dies and I ended up selling all of them. I use either Redding or Forster and RCBS DIES.

 

[MontanaRifleman]

I'm guilty of using cheap dies but I just set up my first Hornady die. I bought the cheapest seater die (hornady) I could find just so I could seat some bullets in my 300 NM to fire form a couple of cases to send off to get a die set made. My first impression is that the price reflects the quality. Anyway, I guess that I shouldn't complain until I give it a chance. I've had good experiences with cheap dies but I really have my doubts about this Hornady set. I hope I'm wrong.

I'm a little confused. If you're getting custom dies made, what's the concern? I have used RCBS, Redding, Forster, Hornady and custom dies. I even had Hornady make custom dies for me. I never had any issues with Hornady and for the price, IMO they are a great buy for a standard die, match or custom for that matter, which ever level you use.

All standard sizing dies will work brass more than custom dies. The most important thing you're shooting for is concentric necks and seating. If you're concerned about that, which you should be if you're goal is precision shooting, then get a good run out gauge.

All my future dies for precision guns will be Whidden Custom made

 

[BountyHunter]

The overworking issue may not be their fault. Inexperienced shooters fail to consider that BOTH chambers and dies can be anywhere in the saami spectrum. If your chamber is large and Hornady is toward the tight end you can assume the issue is your dies when it could be your chamber.

 

[L.Sherm]

The overworking issue may not be their fault. Inexperienced shooters fail to consider that BOTH chambers and dies can be anywhere in the saami spectrum. If your chamber is large and Hornady is toward the tight end you can assume the issue is your dies when it could be your chamber.[/QUOTE
I havent had a factory chamber in probably dozen years. I tried Hornandy dies twice same story, worked the crap out of the brass and run out was bad also.

 

[L.Sherm]

I havent had a factory chamber in probably dozen years. I tried Hornady dies twice same story both times, runout was horrible probably because it worked the crap out of the brass.

 

[DJ Fergus]

I'm a little confused. If you're getting custom dies made, what's the concern? I have used RCBS, Redding, Forster, Hornady and custom dies. I even had Hornady make custom dies for me. I never had any issues with Hornady and for the price, IMO they are a great buy for a standard die, match or custom for that matter, which ever level you use.

All standard sizing dies will work brass more than custom dies. The most important thing you're shooting for is concentric necks and seating. If you're concerned about that, which you should be if you're goal is precision shooting, then get a good run out gauge.

All my future dies for precision guns will be Whidden Custom made

Didn't mean to cofuse you. Sorry about that. I needed something to seat with to fireform & mail off cases for custom dies. So I guess they served their purpose. I might give these a try but will likely just use the custom dies when I get them I could use these in the meantime. I appreciate your recommendation for whidden dies. Would whidden be likely to be better dies than Warner tool or a Redding custom set? Sounds like whidden is got a reputation for being best. Thanks

 

[L.Sherm]

I've got 5 sets of whidden dies, the latest is a 6.5x06AI FL die that I trim the necks and after annealing and FL sizing the runout is .0005 or less.

 

[MontanaRifleman]

Didn't mean to cofuse you. Sorry about that. I needed something to seat with to fireform & mail off cases for custom dies. So I guess they served their purpose. I might give these a try but will likely just use the custom dies when I get them I could use these in the meantime. I appreciate your recommendation for whidden dies. Would whidden be likely to be better dies than Warner tool or a Redding custom set? Sounds like whidden is got a reputation for being best. Thanks

I'm not very familiar with Warner dies. Most custom die makers are probably going to put out a very close quality product, especially well established mom and pop operations. I'm guessing Redding will take considerably longer to get you a custom set. IMO opinion, the best type of FL (including neck) sizing die is a non bushing without expander ball that is machined to your chamber and neck. I like about .002 tension so that requires the die to size the neck about .003 less than the bullet seated OD to account for spring back.

 

[L.Sherm]

The above Whidden die that I mentioned, I am using the expander button.

 

[knapper]

I'm guilty of using cheap dies but I just set up my first Hornady die. I bought the cheapest seater die (hornady) I could find just so I could seat some bullets in my 300 NM to fire form a couple of cases to send off to get a die set made. My first impression is that the price reflects the quality. Anyway, I guess that I shouldn't complain until I give it a chance. I've had good experiences with cheap dies but I really have my doubts about this Hornady set. I hope I'm wrong.

There is an old adage "You get what you pay for"

 

[nicholasjohn]

There is an old adage "You get what you pay for"

There's another concept at work here, and it's the idea of getting our equipment and tools from a specialist. It may be that Hornady has a few too many irons in the fire, whereas these other companies only make loading equipment. As far as I know, bullets were their thing back in the day. I have been perfectly satisfied with the performance of their bullets, and I intend to keep using them. Loading dies may not be their primary focus.

 

[coop2564]

The match grade work just fine for me. I've not used their others.