Bonanza reloading dies

O

oldbear1950

New member
I have acquired a 3 die set of really good Bonanza reloading dies in
38 auto/38 super. I do not have the instruction manual.
the depriming die and bullet seating die are easily recognized.
It has a third die F L S K. I think that stands for full length sizing die, but not sure what the k is? I wonder too about working the case mouth to expand and acceept the bullets.

I purchased a Lee carbide sizing/depriming die. But still wonder about the case mouth being expanded to accept the bullet

any help would be greatly appreciated
 
Are those the dies that size the outside in step 1, then expand and decap in step 2? I think so, but I cannot see or test yours.

I bough some lightly used dies setup in that order and had to get rid of them due to my progressive process.
 
The answer you got at castboolits.gunloads.com is correct. You are describing an old-style set of Bonanza dies. The fellow on that forum even posted an image of the instructions for you, so you should be set. I don't recall what the K stands for, either. The old sets don't have carbide sizing rings, though they transitioned somewhere in the '80s, IIRC. If yours does not, you will need to lube the cases as you would rifle dies.
 
i have a silly question, as long as I lube the cases, can these dies still be used on my hornady lock n load, especially since powder is dispensed between the bell of the case and the seating die?
Click to expand...

I think you will have trouble depriming before the priming step on the Hornady press.
 
Yes, those old dies do things in the wrong sequence for the progressive presses. They all need to pop and drop the spent primer at the first stage or else have it removed before starting the loading sequence. So you would want to put a Lee Universal Depriming Decapping Die on a small single-stage press (I use an old Lee Challenger press for this duty) and deprime before starting the loading sequence with your Bonanza dies on the Hornady press. You will also want to unscrew the decapping pin chuck in the old expander die and remove the decapping pin to avoid jamming the press. Since you hand-prime, as you indicated in the other thread, that becomes a non-issue.
 
RCBS used to put the decapping pin on the expander plug, too. Fortunately the sizing die was threaded so you could put a decapping spindle in it. Even while single staging, I preferred it that way.
 
YEAH, in fact I copied the RCBS instructions for those type of dies as their instructions were a lot more detailed than the instructions I got from a couple of people who had the Bonanza instructions.
Now I have both, and I can use these dies on my Lee Turret Press. I do not think I will be shooting 38 super a lot.
 
Do most of you use the spray lube, instead of the old fashioned pad with a tube of lube. I have both, and am just starting to use the spray lube
 
For pistol, Hornady One Shot is your prepackaged friend! Some folks don’t read the directions and it doesn’t work well.
 
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