Hornady dies problem, help

[BOOM BOOM]

HI,
I HAVE A SET OF HORNADY NEW DEMENTION DIES IN 38/357/357MAX.
I have the alignment sleeve coming out with almost every bullet I seat in both 38 with 158 swc bullets, & 357 with the 180gr, Seaco sil bullet( a round nose flat point).
I have tried both seating stems, adjusted both up & down where I crimp.
This is a real PITA, OVER THE LAST 700 ROUNDS.
HELP PLEASE.
I AM NOT HAVING THIS PROBLEM WITH MY 44 SPEC./44MAG DIES. With eather a 250 swc or the RD 265gr .

[Calamity Jake]

At the bottom of the seating die there is a "C" ring that holds the sleeve in the die, it just snaps in a groove and has a hook on one end that fits in a hole thru the die body, that
hook is what keeps the sleeve from comming out.
I beleave that hook is a little to short allowing the sleeve to be pulled out.

Contact Hornady and order another "C" ring

[CATS]

Call Hornaday, they should just send you the needed parts.

[swheeler]

Every set of Hornady New Dimension dies I've bought come with a spare spring in the box, sounds like yours needs replaced.

[Nrut]

Dies it seat jacketed bullets ok?

If so then hone out the seating sleeve until it is just a bit larger that the --CAST-- bullet that you are using..
I do that with all my Hornady rifles dies or go to the next larger cal. seating sleeve if it is fairly close to the cal. that I am loading..

[BOOM BOOM]

HI,
I have also noticed the dies are sizing the base of the 180gr. bullets ogive just above the crimp grove.
This does not seem to be the case with the 158gr. swc bullet.

[BOOM BOOM]

HI,
Got the 1st problem fixed.
But the crimping operation still seems to be sizing the bullet on the base of the odjive just above the crimp groove.
Does anyone know of a fix for that????

[462]

Measure the two boolits at different points along their lengths. I think you'll find that the 158-grain boolit is skinnier than the 180-grainer, thus it's not getting swaged down by the sliding sleeve. If so, you'll have to enlarge the sliding sleeve's inside diameter.

Keep in mind, that dies with sliding sleeves -- Hornady's New Dimension, Lyman's Precision Alignment, etc. -- are designed for jacketed bullets, not cast boolits. Because of that, we casters have to be smarter than the die manufacturers.

[BOOM BOOM]

HI,
It was also sizing down the front driving band of the Lyman 158gr Kieth style swc.
But I took your advice and honed out the inside of the alignment sleeve a bit. Tomorrow will tell if it was enough. Best to go in by small amounts, then load some to see results.

[MtGun44]

The alignment sleeve is probably dimensioned by Hornady for a .357 diameter (clean, not
sticky) jacketed bullet. A fatter and stickier (lubed) boolit may have some interference,
and may require you to hone out the sleeve a thousandth or two or three. I have a set
of these dies and they have never given me a problem, so I have not measured the
sleeve on mine.

We have to remember that we are a pretty small subset of the reloading community and
my guess is that 100 customers for .357 dies load only jacketed for every one of us that
mostly uses fatter than .357 cast boolits.

I wonder if Hornady has any out of tolerance sleeves (too fat and "useless") that they
might send on to us fat boolit users that are having problems - if we asked nicely.
Bill

[fecmech]

Bill--I've run .359 bullets in my Hornaday seater with no problems. I think he's missing his "C" clip. I just use the die for seating only, than taper or roll crimp at the next station on my Auto Champ.

[MtGun44]

I've done .358 diam in mine without issues, not needed or tried .359 yet. It sounded
like some of his designs might be hitting the alignment sleeve.

Bill

[462]

My .30-'06 Hornady die needed to be honed, to accommodate a .310" boolit. All six Lyman Precision Alignment die sliding sleeves required honing, too.

[BOOM BOOM]

HI,
Well I honed it & it worked for a while. 50 rounds. With my old dia. bullet. However when I tried it with bullets from the "BEAGLED " mold. dropping .361 dia. boolits it failed on the 2nd round.
So I have re-honed it out a 2nd time. It works every once in a while.
Think I need a new spring clip. It sure is a fragile method to retain the sleeve.

[462]

Hornady's use of a clip facilitates cleaning better than does Lyman's Precision Alignment design, but the clip is a weak point -- it's easily bent or lost (that's why they supply an extra).

[grubbylabs]

I just ordered some new ones from Hornady and they sent them out Free. They have great customer service and their phone system is worth listening to even if you don't need to call them. The sales gall had me talk to one of their tech reps and he suggested that I not be so aggressive on the crimp and it would help the clip that hold the alignment sleeve in last a little longer.