Originally Posted by
Der Gebirgsjager
I'm a little puzzled by your post, NY_Treeguy. I've been reloading for a long time, many different calibers, and can probably count the number of stuck cases I've had on one hand. I'm going to start by suspecting your lube. Personally, I use Lee Case Sizing Lube, the white stuff that comes in a tube. I use it exclusively on all rifle cartridges for which carbide dies aren't available. A little goes a long way--just a pea-sized dab on the finger will do 3-5 cases. I also use Q-tips to apply a sparing amount to the inside of the necks. This lube is sort of accumulative inside the die, and just to see if it could be done I've sometimes run in a 5th or 6th die without any lube and it's still resized and come back out.
Next thing that seems odd is your expander ball problem. When a case is run into a sizing die it punches out the old primer and squeezes the entire case back to near factory specs (unless it is a neck size only die), and when it is removed from the die on the down stroke (depending on the type of press) the expander ball is the last thing it encounters on the way out, the purpose being to expand the neck's mouth sufficiently to insert the new bullet. If you remove the ball and run the case into sizer die as you described 5 times to get a case to resize something may be wrong with the die's dimensions. However, the way you stated the problem, it's not clear to me that you are resizing brass that was made as 7.35 Carcano and not trying to form it from something else. You said some 6.5 Carcano brass sized without a problem, which is not at all unusual, as the only difference between the two cases is the mouth diameter for a larger bullet, and the two may usually be easily converted from one to the other both ways.
Usually I discount problems where the O.P. says the shell holder and the dies are a different brand, and the odds of this being a problem are unlikely, but perhaps the Hornady shell holder is thinner or thicker than a Lee holder, and assuming dies properly adjusted in the press as per Lee's instructions, the Hornady shell holder may be pushing the case too far into the die, or insufficiently. I think I'd remove the die from the press and start over again with adjustment closely following Lee's instructions.
If none of this works to solve your problem, then I'd recommend sending the die back to Lee. They're very good about replacement of defective dies. You can also phone them. Ask for Peter and explain the situation.
Good luck with your problem.
DG