Expander ball resistance

[Jmccracken1214]

On my hornady dies, using lapua 6.5 brass, I feel like im getting more resistance than I should when the expander ball is going in and leaving the case.

I got a set of my matchmaster dies and pulled that titanium coated expander ball off and put it on the hornady die and got the same result....

Got my 22 arc custom hornady dies and sized some hornady brass.... much smoother.

What should I be looking at here? Doesnt seem to be the expander ball when 2 of them give the same feeling.

 

[Hondo64d]

Pull the expander out of the die, size a case without it and see how much the die is reducing neck diameter before it goes over the expander. It is likely a bunch. A common thing in non-bushing dies. One of the reasons I like Redding Body Die combined with the Lee Collet die for the neck.

John

 

[Jmccracken1214]

Pull the expander out of the die, size a case without it and see how much the die is reducing neck diameter before it goes over the expander. It is likely a bunch. A common thing in non-bushing dies. One of the reasons I like Redding Body Die combined with the Lee Collet die for the neck.

John

Done.

1x fired neck OD was 0.295
Sizing with expander in brought it back to 0.289
without the expander, the OD is 0.281

So, a 14 thou difference from fired to sized down. Is that too much?

 

[supercorndogs]

When/why are you getting resistance going into the case?

How are you lubing the inside of your necks?

 

[Jmccracken1214]

When/why are you getting resistance going into the case?

How are you lubing the inside of your necks?

hornady lube. same as any other case/caliber.

I can feel the resistance when the case is coming out/off the ball

 

[Hondo64d]

Done.

1x fired neck OD was 0.295
Sizing with expander in brought it back to 0.289
without the expander, the OD is 0.281

So, a 14 thou difference from fired to sized down. Is that too much?

To me, that is way too much.

John

 

[memilanuk]

To me, that is way too much.

As in "holy $hit, way too much"

 

[Jmccracken1214]

As in "holy $hit, way too much"

Wondering if thats normal for the hornady 6.5 dies or if I just got lucky.

Ill probably order a redding FL sizing set.

 

[hafejd30]

You definitely will benefit from annealing here

That’s a crazy amount of brass working. Ideally you’d size down about .003-.004 and mandrel back or expand back to .0015-.0025 depending on wanted tension and spring back

Rcbs even goes down maybe .006 and back to .003-.004

 

[Jmccracken1214]

You definitely will benefit from annealing here

I do. I have a annie annealer.

 

[hafejd30]

I do. I have an annie annealer.

I was being sarcastic. Added to my original comment.

Your sizing way to much on the down stroke.

.006 isn’t out of the ordinary for that type of die with expander. But sizing that much before expanding is

I personally shoot for .0015 tension. I use Lee collet and Redding body die combo. .006 is a lot of tension. But your dies process to get there will have you cracking necks in a couple loads

 

[AllenOne1]

Wondering if thats normal for the hornady 6.5 dies or if I just got lucky.

Ill probably order a redding FL sizing set.

I would not recommend the Redding FL set. It's likely you will have the same issue or even worse. I would recommend going to a bushing die with a .288 bushing and starting there. Whidden makes a really nice one that uses standard bushings. If that's a little too pricy at this point even the Hornady Match Grade dies work well.

There are a lot of really good dies on the market, so look around and you'll find something you like. They don't have to match either. I'm running a Whidden sizing die, Wilson bushings, Cortina expander and a Forster seating die.

 

[Jmccracken1214]

I would not recommend the Redding FL set. It's likely you will have the same issue or even worse. I would recommend going to a bushing die with a .288 bushing and starting there. Whidden makes a really nice one that uses standard bushings. If that's a little too pricy at this point even the Hornady Match Grade dies work well.

There are a lot of really good dies on the market, so look around and you'll find something you like. They don't have to match either. I'm running a Whidden sizing die, Wilson bushings, Cortina expander and a Forster seating die.

Ive got the matchmaster set and a .287 and .288 bushing.

I just ran some through the .287 bushing and loaded some 140 hybrids. Outside of the loaded neck is 0.289

Ill just run this route I guess and return the hornady dies to the store. Guess I got one made on friday. My 22 arc hornady standard dies make very accurate ammo.

 

[Kaldor]

Done.

1x fired neck OD was 0.295
Sizing with expander in brought it back to 0.289
without the expander, the OD is 0.281

So, a 14 thou difference from fired to sized down. Is that too much?

Its less than perfect and is working your necks a bit more. I pretty much use Hornady or Redding dies for all my FL sizing, but I do not use the expander ball. I just use a Sinclair mandrel die and shoot for 2 thou neck tension. Seems to be alot easier on the necks but does require an extra step.

I do use a neck size bushing Hornady die with a SAC bushing in it for my 6 CM and a Redding die with a SAC bushing for my 6 Grendel. I only size the neck enough that the mandrel only moves the neck maybe 2 thou at most.