Thread: 22 Hornet Curved Die Plug

I'm reloading 22 Hornet using a REDDING DELUXE DIE SET which is virtually brand new.
The die plus has a sharp shoulder, which puts a ring indentation on the olgile (ABC?) of the Winchester 40grn HP CANN FB projectiles. I have 200 of these to load and don't want to dent them! These projectiles are the last, of the last, of the old Winchester 22 Magnum half jacket projectiles which Rick W used to buy by the bucket full, and sell by the weighted scoop (not count). I tried to buy a bell shaped, or trumpet shaped REDDING plug, but when it arrived it had the hard shoulder exactly like the first one!

So here is the request, could I please borrow a REDDING plus, or another Brand of seating die, which has a bell, or trumpet shaped plug that won't dent the projectiles. Maybe this is a pistol plug? I don't know???

These projectiles are the only ones which the die dents!!!???? All the rest are fine??

The last weird thing about these projectiles is they vary in length!? I've batched them into three lengths:
- 0.452
- 0.455
- 0.457 - 0.460
So what the process here? Or do in load the longest ones to a specified length, then dial the plug down as the projectiles get shorter. This, I think, will put the base at at the same spacing above the powder, which (in my mind) will keep pressure the same?[

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Maybe...put a plug of gorilla snot in the cavity of the plug you already have..you can remove later on.something like no more nails perhaps?

I have loaded 100s of these projectiles and they all have this ring as they are very soft only being plated lead.
Only way to fix it is to turn seater button to match nose of bullet.
Lyman supply different nose pins for their bullet lube sizers as cast bullets deform easily .

hi I use a lee flaring tool on my cases for these I have a few of them they are sharpe little buggers

What are the dimensions of the plug you have vs what you need? Can't be too hard to knock one out on the lathe?

As far as the variation in pills, if you have a set of digital powder scales pick one of each pill and weigh them. If there is difference in weight between the three lengths that would be more of a concern for me than the actual length and I'd be sorting into three weight batches. Then load and shoot...

If they all weigh the same, then I'd be checking two things, the cannelure groove is the same distance from the base on all of them and the second is the ogive measurement - likely if the weight and groove is the same the difference will be the nose profile most likely which would probably be due to the tooling having slight differences in profile. If it's the ogive measurement that is the only difference - I would be fairly confident to just bang them off as it would not make too much of a difference for a Hornet from my experience.

good little pills those

.44 magnum seater plug is just about flat...that's why I suggest.bunging the convex bit up to make it nearly flat SHOULD work.

Thanks guys for some good ideas.

The next thing I tried was inserting a lead into the die plug and shaping it to receive the pointy end of the projectile....that wasn't successful.

The next thing I tried was, using a selection of drill, Dremel attachments and grinders, was to bell out the inside of the die plug. I finished polishing the bell will a projectile covered in JB BORE CLEANER. I would have done better with valve grinding past but....the end result wasn't to bad and the modified plug did seat the projectile without to many marks. Better than the original plug. Aside from getting a smoother finish on the inside of the plug I'm pretty happy with the completed cartridges.
NOTE: I was quite surprised that the plug steel was not particularly HARD!? Quite easy to shape with basic hand tools. I don't own a lathe unfortunately.

Sweet.

I've been loading for a lot less time than many on this forum. So others may well know more on this.... but, from the get-go I've had soft projectiles ringed by the die plug , Pistol and rifle, mostly cast, but also the little 22mag bullet I also load for the Hornet. I made.enquiries on several forums, wrote to Lee and Hornady, and all I got back was A. Yes you could sometimes get custom.or alternate die plugs to better fit the ogive of a given bullet and not ring it, and B. Why bother if the ring makes no appreciable difference.

So has anyone done the comparative analysis of accuracy of ringed bullets vs unringed?

I prefer the aesthetics of unringed but, hell, the effort and cost of fixing the prob for each particular bullet just did not seem worth it. Maybe the rings are why I miss occasionally. Maybe I would have missed anyway cause I'm not as good a shot as I would like to think I am.

I load the same bullet as well. It used to worry me but I havnt noticed any difference accuracy wise that is the norms for the rifle I shoot them in so I dont worry about it anymore. I did consider coating a pill with release agent and getting some epoxy and bedding a pill to the seating rod in the die tho...

Hey @Tedz50 can you still get these WIN 40grn HP Cann? Or did you get the last of the stock from Richard Wilhelm? I would be interested in buying same if you can put me in touch with a supplier? Cheers, Hugh

Originally Posted by Hugh Shields

Hey @Tedz50 can you still get these WIN 40grn HP Cann? Or did you get the last of the stock from Richard Wilhelm? I would be interested in buying same if you can put me in touch with a supplier? Cheers, Hugh

Hi Hugh.
These came from Richard about 20 or more years ago,and he is on the forum as @Hunter2 .I now use Nosler 35Gr Varmagedon projectiles as they shoot well in my rifle which also came from Richard.

Originally Posted by blip

I load the same bullet as well. It used to worry me but I havnt noticed any difference accuracy wise that is the norms for the rifle I shoot them in so I dont worry about it anymore. I did consider coating a pill with release agent and getting some epoxy and bedding a pill to the seating rod in the die tho...

This,,,this. This. /\