Thread: Hornaday dies?

I gave my 223 sizing die a scrub and wash out with brake cleaner, and ran 30 or so cases through. Now they seem to get hung up on the expander ball and come out with a bang when they go past it, which hasn't happened before.

I polished the expander ball in case that was the problem, but the same thing happened.

I also increased the amount of case lube in case that was the problem. Still they stuck.

Maybe I'm having a bad day, which right now wouldn't surprise me.

In case I'm not, I don't recommend Hornady custom grade sizing dies.

That said, I use the seating die from the same pack, as I'm told by John Herbert (Herbmeister to those of you from Sportshooter forum) that it does a really good job.

I tend to mix and match dies these days, so I cherry pick from sets to do what I want.

Lee - sizing/decapping die
Hornady - seating die
Lyman - M die (for belling the case mouth for flat base projectiles)
Lee - crimp die

I never use expander balls in any of my dies these days. I expand with a K&M mandrel first then bushing neck die on outside turned cases to get precise tension. Before I arrived at this way of doing things seating projectiles seemed to require different force every time. Now they all seat just the same.

I never liked dragging an expander ball back through my case necks.

Just my way and I know there are a thousand answers to the same question in reloading, but this works for me.