Having a heck of a time with Hornady 30.06 sizer.

T

TheFineLine

New member
I've set up 7 other pistol calibers and 223 in rifle and they work like a champ. When setting up the 30.06 deprimer/resizer I had to put serious force on the handle to work. Too much. I set it up just like the books and videos say, lower the die until it just touches it shellplate without camming over and have the deprime pin sticking out 3/8" below, just like all of the others. When it gets to about 3/4s of the way nt something is stopping it. I stopped after the first two because I could tell something was very wrong. I pulled out the deprimer and tried just the sizer and the issue persists. You can see where contact has polished maybe 5/1000s on the case body just below where the shoulder meets the body. They are the Titanium Nitride dies, but I went ahead and got out some case lube thinking that may be it, it isn't. I'm stumped.
 
With the one I forced through all of the dimensions are as they should be as outlined in the Hornady 9th and Lee 2nd manuals. Where it stops I look in with a light and can see the neck having just entered the neck portion of the sizer.
 
Remove the neck sizer/primer punch assemble then try again, I have no clue how much resistance to sizing your case has, there are times the case wins, other times the press wins. Then there is lube, I use a no name lube. If My lube fails I am headed for therapy or I am doing something wrong.

I do not have a Hornady 30/06 sizing die, there is no shortage of other 30/06 dies beyond that. I have 2 RCBS 30/06 full length sizer dies that will not size a 30/06 case, there is no way to stuff a case into those two dies.

F. Guffey
 
Compared to the .223, 30-06 has way more surface area which means more friction and more resistance

If it's coming out sized right without defects then you are doing it right
 
I did remove the deprimer/neck sizer and it is still sticking.
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Die care, there are reloaders that live in a world of chemicals. When cleaning dies I use a towel on a dowel. My favorite towel color is white, when the towel comes out white I know I am finished. Others use chemicals, I do not use chemicals because I like the die finish and want nothing to do with taking the finish back to the beginning, I do not like 'break-in' time.

I do not know what lube you are using, I know nothing about your press. I know nothing about the history of the case. I have a rifle with the ugliest chamber, it hurts my press and die to size cases fired in the ugly chamber. I measure the cases before firing and again after firing. The fired cases would not go into a case gage. Winchester instructed me to shoot the rifle more, to this day I have never figured how shooting the rifle more would reduce the length and diameter of the chamber.

F. Guffey
 
I didn't think the rifle dies were Titanium Nitride so I checked the Hornady website. It states "Our straight wall pistol dies feature a TiN (Titaniun Nitride) coated sizing ring (gold ring)". No mention of TiN rifle dies.

Are you lubing the cases? :rolleyes:
 
I have a set of Hornady 30-06 dies and a set of Lyman 30-06 dies. Neither are titanium or carbide, and both take a lot of force to size. Make sure you are lubing well, but even with proper lube they still take a hefty pull of the handle on my Rock Chucker and my LnL AP. .270 win is the same, so i figure it's just part of the deal to have to muscle them into shape.
 
You are correct on the TIN. My mistake. I'm using the lube that came with the RCBS trim mate. I tried light and separately thick lube both to no avail. I cleaned the die set with alcohol and used a dry lube on it then wiped it off. The problem persists with the decapper/neck sizer removed so it is the full length sizer that i'm having the problem with.

I had to use significant force, at least 50-60 lbs. I'm afraid that I'm going to break something I'm having to use so much force.
 
If its not the lube then its the case (short of fired rounds from a really bad chamber)

You should not have to use major force to get the case to re-size. More than a 223 of course but not exponentially.

The next thing that happens when doing so is the head breaks off in the dies and you have to get the case extractor tool.

Good idea to have one, occasionally cases get weak that did not crack on shooting and I have pulled out 3 I think before I got better at sensing it and not pushing it.
 
Mixed brass should not be an issue for the most part.

Did they come out of your rifle?

If not and they were from random benches (i.e. more than one batch picked up at a single bench location) then it pushes it toward the die.

Lube is still extremely important. If I don't lube right then they don't work right. I have not tried dry lubes but would go with the non dry.

I do know Hornadys new spray is a bit iffy if not done right though I like the results once I have the case coverage correct. the old hand sprayer setup they had worked better.

Others more consistent on lube on them but have to watch the dimples if you get too much.
 
It should not be so hard to size that even a small press (aka RCBS Junior) should have a problem.

Bigger press with more leverage nice but they hand load with hand tools at competition's.

If its just that hard with a bench mount then something is not right.

Chamber blowing out so far it can't, lube or die itself.
 
Sounds like it's time for a replacement sizing die; has anyone suggested that yet? You seem to be coming very close to a sheared off case rim and a stuck case. Try a RCBS sizing die. I've had problems with a few Hornady dies and always go back to RCBS. Regarding case lube, I would stay away from the spray on variety--not nearly as good as something like the RCBS Case Lube 2 and will only add to the possibility of a sheared case rim and stuck case.
 
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Agreed, if its the die then it has to be replaced.

Most of mind are old RCBS but all are normally ok though Hornady seems to come up more often as issue
 
So I disassembled it to clean it again and give it another go and have discovered a good sized burr on the shoulder portion of the sizer. I don't know that i could or should try to remove it. Its a brand new die set. I'll call Hornady on Monday. Thanks everybody.
 
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