Thread: Problem with Hornady brass

Started reloading some .308 brass this morning. Sako and Remington brass were fine but first Hornady case ripped off the case rim and got case stuck in full length size die. Swapped tp just a neck size die and the same thing happened. Now got both dies out of action. Has anyone else had this happen? By the way all were fired in the same rifle.

Are you sure you have the right shell holder? And are you using decent lubricant?

I have reloaded heaps of hornady .308/.308 match and .223. All with full size and neck size dies.

Also in .308 - lapua/pmc/ppu/winchester/remington brass

Never had any problem with resizing hornady brass and while some of the above listed feel nicer in the press, it isn't by much.

Anneal it.
Lube it, inside and out.

Just to add. IMO there is way too much BS out there about lube.
For 30 years I just used 90 diff oil for 30.06
Now I'm using coconut oil. No issue.

I use the use for all, vaseline

Originally Posted by SmokeyJason

I use the use for all, vaseline

Lol.
I've often wondered how graphite grease would go. Got about 3kg of the stuff.

When FLS the ram only exerts about 50kg. Not a lot in the scheme of things.

Case length? I've found an issue with Hornady dies - not so much cases - with cases getting stuck in the dies. The Hornady dies produce very concentric ammo but take some massive force to operate on the press. Way more than any other brand of dies I've used...

With the cases I'm not sure why you would be having an issue with just that brand of cases - are they the same number of firings, same length and same shoulder length etc etc? Worth while doing a couple of basic tests to check the neck hardness, crush with pliers and then cut from the mouth to the shoulder with sidecutters - that will give you a comparison between a Hornady case and one of the others you aren't having the issue with as a 'hand-draulic' measurement value. The other is an inspection of the case rims, and a check on how the cases fit the shellholder. Might well be that you need a different shellholder for the Hornady cases, have struck this with some Lapua cases and then tearing rims off Norma in the next cycle as the Norma cases didn't fit the same shellholder the Lapua cases did.

Originally Posted by Oldbloke

Lol.
I've often wondered how graphite grease would go. Got about 3kg of the stuff.

When FLS the ram only exerts about 50kg. Not a lot in the scheme of things.

Graphite powder is fine, all you need. A little grease is fine if that's what you want to use - but the problem with grease is that things stick to it so if it gets somewhere that it shouldn't you can get clumping and weirdities like that. You used to hear about contamination, but with modern coatings on powder and primers not such a problem. Safer to stick to dry powder lube or one of the waxes if in doubt.

Originally Posted by No.3

Graphite powder is fine, all you need. A little grease is fine if that's what you want to use - but the problem with grease is that things stick to it so if it gets somewhere that it shouldn't you can get clumping and weirdities like that. You used to hear about contamination, but with modern coatings on powder and primers not such a problem. Safer to stick to dry powder lube or one of the waxes if in doubt.

He is FLSing

had weird crimped primers in hornady brass but otherwise fine... S&B brass was shit in .308 .

Originally Posted by Oldbloke

He is FLSing

Yep. Graphite powder is fine for that, won't build up in the die or any other weird behaviour that wet lube exhibits. You can get a tin of small ball bearings off Redding that you can mix the grahite powder into and shake to mix, then dip the case neck into. Works fine, and you can get more graphite powder from pretty much anywhere if you need to top it up. It's used for locks among other things.

This is the crud: https://www.gunworks.co.nz/shop/item...-dry-neck-lube

I just have some birdshot in lid of a jar mixed with graphite powder.... I dip case neck in this..it lubes inside and out at same time.