Old Hornady die advice

D

dyl

New member
Hey all, I recently purchased some used Hornady die sets, before the Zip Pinole design. The center rod of the decapping die seems to be press for into a threaded sleeve, and the expander button it screwed onto the end on the other side.

Do I just screw the threaded rod/decapping pin down as far as it will go? There doesn’t seem to be a way to lock the threaded rod in place at a particular depth. Also the decapping pin has a little runout, I think around 1/16 of an inch. If I just hope to attain MOA accuracy out of it, should I leave it be?

Your advice is much appreciated
 
You can unscrew the top nut to release the depriming pin. You then use a shell holder as a guide and the depriming pin should not extend beyond the lower lip of shell holder. Where the bottom of the case sits. What do you mean that the pin has a little runout? Sometimes they do get bent.
 
Also the decapping pin has a little runout, I think around 1/16 of an inch. If I just hope to attain MOA accuracy out of it, should I leave it be?
Click to expand...

MOA accurate ammo depends on factors other than decapping. Many dies have some "wiggle" built in to the decapping stem, to allow a degree of "self centering" in cases with slightly off center flash holes without bending or breaking the decapping pin.

It is not a critical measurement, as long as the fired primer is pushed out without the stem coming into firm contact with the inside bottom of the case, its all good.
 
Did any one mention contacting Hornady for die instructions? Maybe even find them on the Hornady web site?

Decapping:
get a Lee Universal Decapping Die, as someone with these worries will HAVE to go to stainless steel pin case cleaning, where all wet cleaning, in my opinion, should be done on deprimed cases only.
 
MOA accuracy has nothing to do with decapping.
You never do anything "as far as it will go" unless that's what is required. Decapping is just enough to pop the old primer out and no more.
Anyway, with elderly kit, you're probably best to contact Hornady and hope there's somebody there who knows where you can get an old manual
 
Many dies have some "wiggle" built in to the decapping stem, to allow a degree of "self centering" in cases with slightly off center flash holes without bending or breaking the decapping pin.
Click to expand...

Most are fixed. There is enough bend to them and the punch pin is small enough that you will hit the hole.

Of one note, the flex type (Forseter is the only one I know of) has a draw back or a trap.

If you resize a miltay case which uses staked primer (3 spots in all I have seen so far) you will break your center pin (not just the end). Don't ask how I know. RCBS would have replaced it free, Forster did not (I don't normally complain about it if I am negligent but never occurred to me it was an issue let alone an issue with stakes that had been reemed off as best I could)

I have broken a number of RCBS pins over the years so I keep a supply on hand.

I have not broken a Forster center since I quit using it on military brass (this is brass I had punched out and reamed the stake off of so it does not take much).

I have a Lee De cap tool I use just to get a primer out.

I have some 7.62 NATO I picked up at a garage sale that it will not punch out the primer even with the Lee de-cap. It might do it if forced by no reason to.

My brother de-caps in a Lee and then sizes. I am not there yet but who knows.
 
Lee Universal Decapping die:
When I bought it, I also bought a box of 10 replacement pins.
15 years later, I have no idea where the replacement pins are, since I've never needed them.
For the last 40 years, my case "prep" prior to cleaning
has consisted of
remove spent primer,
inspect case,
and sort into correct coffee can by cartridge.
I did not like getting "white powder" on my press from sizing/decapping, so I moved decapping out to the garage with the other dirty jobs.
 
Got back from a trip. Sorry, my post was typed on my phone and the autocorrect was terrible and so are my fingers.

It's a 2-die Hornady set. The first die looks to be a decapping / sizer. There is a center rod that screws into the die. It's able to screw in because it appears that it's press-fit into a sleeve that has has threads to match the inner diameter of the die. At the top of this sleeve there's a hex bolt head (but a smooth portion of the rod protrudes up through this). I think the sleeve is press fit into this rod because there are 4 vertical cuts / slits that look like they were supposed to allow some flex to let the rod be pressed through the sleeve.

At the lowest portion of the rod (if it was installed into the die) there is an expander button that can be unscrewed by finger strength. The decapping pin doesn't drop out when I unscrew the expander button, and there's no shoulder / collar for the screw-in expander button to press against to help retain the decapping pin. I guess my concern was that if I notice run-out in the decapping pin, does that mean the expander button has runout, and potentially would cause elliptical shaped case mouths? And if it does, is that a big deal? I guess that in itself would be hard to know depending on the severity.

So you have the smooth rod or threaded rod?
Click to expand...
The rod itself has no visible threads, except for what I think is a press fit sleeve over the mid-section. It is threaded at the expander button area but those are normally not visible.

You can unscrew the top nut to release the depriming pin.
Click to expand...
- the rod has no separate nut at the top to limit travel, but the rod can be screwed in/out, but no way to keep it still at a halfway point. Maybe I'm missing one? Or am I supposed to screw the rod/decapping pin/expander button down all the way and only adjust the whole die using the die lock nut?
 
I believe from your description that these are the old New Dimension dies (hover your mouse over the image for a close look at the upper die in the image). Like Lee dies, they have a smooth shank on the decapping/expander rod that passes through a wider threaded collet that screws into the top of the die. That collet and the die body both have flats machined onto them. You loosen and tighten the collet by using a pair of crescent wrenches or open-end wrenches the right size, one on each set of flats. When the collet is loose (unscrewed; counterclockwise from above), you can then move the rod up and down relative to the die body and collet. If it has been tight a long time, you may need to tap it with a hammer to loosen it. Once you have it in the position you like, you tighten the collet again with the wrenches.

The positive thing about that system is if you accidentally crash your decapper into the bottom of a case with an extra thick web, it will usually slip in the collet before it breaks. The downside is it is a pain to adjust and takes some significant torque to get the collet tight enough not to slip, making it hard to adjust precisely.

In their newer Custom Grade die sets, Hornady has addressed the adjustment bother of the New Dimension system by going to a threaded rod that is tightened by a threaded collet, making it take much less effort to get an adequate grip. The downside is it won't just slip out if you jam the end. But it is so much easier to get an exact setting, I think you would find the difference worthwhile.

You can get an adapter to convert your New Dimension die to the newer Custom Grade style spindle and collet.
 
Yes, I think you've nailed it on the head, mine look just like that.... except that they're a bit.... darker looking. The rod was in the sleeve so tight I had assumed it wasn't supposed to move. That'll show me what happens when you forget to ask for pictures or info. I had assumed they were newer New Dimension dies, but at $28 shipped, I just couldn't say no. Thanks for the links.
 
The hex bolt head is a collet. As you tighten it, it clamps down on the rod.

Get the rod in position so the decapare protrudes 3/16” from the bottom of the die. Measure the length above the nut with calipers. Tighten the nut until the rod doesn’t move when pushed on....medium tight. Then size a case. When the expander is in the case mouth, loosen and re tighten they hex nut tight. Make sure the rod is within 0.05” of where you started. This should center it and allow decapping without slippage.

I’ll bet Hornady would send you the new “New Dimension” threaded rod, if you asked/complained.
 
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