Hornady reloading dies

[MikeS]

Hi All.

I recently bought a used set of Hornady reloading dies, and once I got them, they looked more like Lee dies than a top end die set like Hornady dies should look like. First off, the adjuster for the seating die is hand adjustable, without a lock nut, and the adjustment being held with a rubber O-ring like Lee dies. Also with the seater die, the actual seating plug is made from plastic! Not even Lee dies do that! I don't know how old these dies are, but they're in a red clear plastic box, that sort of looks like the boxes Lee uses (but it's NOT a Lee box), does anyone know when Hornady dies came in a clear plastic box? The sizing die is titanium, and I believe like carbide, it doesn't need to be lubed, is that correct?

[HangFireW8]

My oldest bought-new-by-me Hornady dies are in clear plastic boxes, all the new ones are in larger opaque red boxes, I'm thinking clear red means 1990's. Yes they've changed things since then.

I lube occasionally for Carbide and TiNi dies. The cleaner my brass, the less I lube.

HF

[kenyerian]

No lube needed for titanium dies. I have a set of RCBS 38/357 dies made out of Titanium and they work great. Sorry I don't know much about Hornady Dies.

[HangFireW8]

I think RCBS would be Carbide?

[kenyerian]

I do have a set of rcbs in carbide but I also have a set made of Titanium. both are 38 caliber and I have one set up for 38 special and the titanium for 357. Not sure if they still make them but they used to.

[Muddydogs]

The seating die adjustment is actually very good and easy to fine tune. No more getting the seater plug set then tightening the lock nut only to find the plug moved a little during tightening.

[40Super]

I bought 2 new sets of Hornady New Dimention dies this past fall in the red plastic. The seater plug isn't plastic though. The Ti nitrate (TIN)coating they put on the sizer is a really good and wear resistant coating. We get many of our endmills and carbide inserts with that coating(plus a few others that are even better) and you would be surprized at how much use and abuse the coating takes without wearing off.In the sizer application ,it wouldn't ever come close to that kind of use so it should last quite good.

[41 mag fan]

Hornady dies have really came up in the last decade on quality, IMO.
I've picked up 2 or 3 sets of hornady dies over the last 5 yrs.

[singleshot]

I like the Lee ring-lock system much better than set screws. I finally threw away all my RCBS set screw lock rings 'cause I got sick of resetting them. Bought Lee rings for everything and NEVER have my settings change now unless I want them changed.