Hornady New Dimension custom grade dies?

[hoz53]

I have a couple sets of these and i wonder if anyone could give me their opinion of them if you have used them. Thanks Kim H

 

[Martin52]

I have a couple sets of these and i wonder if anyone could give me their opinion of them if you have used them. Thanks Kim H

Yes, in 0.308, had a chamber on the tight side and the ND die sized the base down a tad more compared to my Redding and Forster FLS dies. Sized to 0.4695 whereas the other 2 were around 0.471 I recall. Low run out too.

 

[msinc]

I have had pretty good results with them....one of the few seater dies you screw in a press and still seat a bullet pretty concentric. Hard to beat for the price. For full length resizing purposes I found it best to use a Hornady shell holder if you are not setting the size die with a headspace gauge and comparator.

 

[hoz53]

I have had pretty good results with them....one of the few seater dies you screw in a press and still seat a bullet pretty concentric. Hard to beat for the price. For full length resizing purposes I found it best to use a Hornady shell holder if you are not setting the size die with a headspace gauge and comparator.

what is interesting to me is the competition seaters from forster and redding with the sleeves in them are supposed to seat the bullet strait because they support the case and hold it in alignment but as you know the hornady sleeve only fits around the neck and supposedly holds it aligned to the bullet. the hornady does not support the case body at all and provides plenty of room for it to move around. i suppose then if the neck is not concentric with the body the hornady still allows the bullet to seat strait in the neck. i would have thought the sleeve type would provide better concentricity but i see thats not necessarily true. Your info helps. I may give them a try. Thanks KH

 

[hoz53]

Yes, in 0.308, had a chamber on the tight side and the ND die sized the base down a tad more compared to my Redding and Forster FLS dies. Sized to 0.4695 whereas the other 2 were around 0.471 I recall. Low run out too.

thank you- thats something i didnt realize and may be handy some day.

 

[LHSmith]

I have one ( a bushing die) as supplied by Gene Beggs for the 6 Beggs chambering. The reamer for my chambering in a LV gun was the Beggs design so one should expect it to size flawlessly....which it does. I use a Wilson seater, so can't comment on their seater dies.

 

[hoz53]

I have one ( a bushing die) as supplied by Gene Beggs for the 6 Beggs chambering. The reamer for my chambering in a LV gun was the Beggs design so one should expect it to size flawlessly....which it does. I use a Wilson seater, so can't comment on their seater dies.

so that sizer is a hornady modified by Gene Beggs? Those wilson seaters hold the whole case in alignment which seems better to me. Thanks for your reply

 

[LHSmith]

so that sizer is a hornady modified by Gene Beggs? Those wilson seaters hold the whole case in alignment which seems better to me. Thanks for your reply

No Hornady manufactured to Gene's specs. Gene was/is stocking them.

 

[hoz53]

No Hornady manufactured to Gene's specs.

oh ok thanks again

 

[msinc]

Hoz, sometimes it's not the seater that is not doing it's job...it can be caused by the sizer die. The folks at Forster told me to check a case, remove the expander ball and resize it. Check it again to see if it is concentric at the neck. If not then the die has to go back to the factory and be replaced. At this point, obviously the case cannot be used as is. If the sizer is right you should be able to run non-concentric neck cases thru it and have them come out corrected and perfect zero.
Next step, reinstall the expander and run the case thru again. If it now comes out inconcentric at the neck you can try to adjust the expander by running another case thru with the expander loose. Run the case all the way up and as you bring it back down stop when the expander {still loose} is in the neck. At this point tighten the expander and run a few cases to see if the sizer now is making them concentric at the neck. If it is you are good to go, at least as far as the sizer is concerned. Point being, if the sizer is not making the necks concentric when you are sizing the cases it don't mater which type of seater you use, you will probably not get concentric bullets. Also, you can fight seaters all day and not get anywhere if the sizer is adding non-concentric necks.

 

[hoz53]

Hoz, sometimes it's not the seater that is not doing it's job...it can be caused by the sizer die. The folks at Forster told me to check a case, remove the expander ball and resize it. Check it again to see if it is concentric at the neck. If not then the die has to go back to the factory and be replaced. At this point, obviously the case cannot be used as is. If the sizer is right you should be able to run non-concentric neck cases thru it and have them come out corrected and perfect zero.
Next step, reinstall the expander and run the case thru again. If it now comes out inconcentric at the neck you can try t adjust the expander by running another case thru with the expander loose. Run the case all the way up and as you bring it back down stop when the expander {still loose} is in the neck. At this point tighten the expander and run a few cases to see if the sizer now is making them concentric at the neck. If it is you are good to go, at least as far as the sizer is concerned. Point being, if the sizer is not making the necks concentric when you are sizing the cases it don't mater which type of seater you use, you will probably not get concentric bullets. Also, you can fight seaters all day and not get anywhere if the sizer is adding non-concentric necks.

Yes that all makes sense. But if the case is concentric after sizing then what die would work best to seat a bullet strait in your concentric case. I thought the full length sleeve type would work better than the hornady that only supports the case neck to do this but mabie not. Thanks Kim

 

[Barlow]

I have a set of them for 257 Roberts, and they are straight and true. Barlow

 

[msinc]

Sorry for the delay...not enough hours in the day sometimes!! It has been my experience that it can depend on the seater die itself. Sorry I cant offer more definitive help. In general, I have had very good results with L.E. Wilson straight line seater dies. But, I have several sets of the Hornady dies you are asking about and I have yet to find any others that will seat bullets as well as the one I have for my 223. I have them for my 7mm-08 too and they work very well. I do not use Wilson dies for either of these calibers...just no reason to.
I have always read and been told that if you can seat bullets to .003" or less you will not be able to tell the difference in accuracy between that and dead perfect zero. I have found this to be true, but then again, I am not the best shot in the world. I would suggest that if you have the Hornady dies already definitely try them and see, you might be surprised. If not, I will say that you cannot go wrong with the L.E. Wilson dies. You can also buy the Wilson dies as just a caliber specific seater that you ream with the same die you used to chamber your barrel. I realize this is not practical for everyone. i have gone this route several times and honestly cannot tell any difference. Again, I aint the best shot either.
As far as the full length sleeve or so called "benchrest" type dies go I have two sets and I have used them and they are okay, but nothing was really a standout. That long tube is supposed to better support the case and it can, but it still has to fit the case properly to be an improvement. I do believe that these types seem to have a stem that fits a wider variety of bullets. That is an issue of it's own...the seater stem must fit the shape of the bullet properly to get a good concentric bullet. I've never had to get one for the Hornady dies, but several manufacturers of dies offer a special seater stem for VLD type bullets. Usually, you will know when you need one because the bullet will not only be out of concentricity, it will also have a mark on it where the seater gunched into it. Good luck!!!