Hornady Match Bushing Dies 308

[Ram]

Are the Hornady Match Bushing Dies in 308 small base dies? I received this dies yesterday, cleaned it as going to use it to process some new Lapua 308 brass, and I almost stuck the case several times. I tried Hornady Unique, RCBS case lube and Imperial die wax, with the same results. I was only able to get one piece of Remington brass all the way in and out. I have never needed to apply this much force on any 308 brass, even fired brass in a loose chamber. The machining appears fine, with a decent finish on the interior. Its not the neck bushing because the results are the same without the bushing installed.

Anyone else use this die?

 

[Martin52]

I use the same die for my tighter chambered .308 palma rifle because it sizes the base of the case, immediately above the extractor ring, a tad more than my other dies will do.

My chamber won't accept brass greater than 0.470 measured at this point. New Lapua brass is around 0.468 and the Hornady die resizes to ~ 0.4685.

If you are resizing brass fired in a larger chamber with this die you probably find it will require a little more pressure on the press arm.

 

[jonbearman]

Some brass requires some oomph to get them to size. However if it were me I would take it to a friends house or have someone over to feel the pressure to see if he thinks it is nothing to worry about. My thought would be when they reamed it at hornady or bored it, it never had a finish pass and the die would be undersized. Call hornady when you can and see what they think. How did the case (Remington) measure up when you got it to go in? Was it undersized grossly? I use new lapua in many calibers and never had much resistance with it at all. If the die is not marked on the box and die as small base,it probably is just a full length standard die so to speak.

 

[Ram]

The weird thing is these were all new pieces of brass, and the one piece of brass I was able to make it through measured the same diameter as before sizing. However, the amount of force required was, by feel, at least four times as much as my standard FL RCBS die.

 

[jonbearman]

Send it back for sure then.

 

[243winxb]

I tried Hornady Unique, RCBS case lube and Imperial die wax, with the same results.

RCBS 2 using a pad should work.

But first you need to clean out all the other lubes. Start fresh. The first case into the die should have extra lube. A bit on the neck, in and outside. Is the vent hole open, if die has one? Factory new brass should size without problems. Bad die is my guess.

 

[Martin52]

....the one piece of brass I was able to make it through measured the same diameter as before sizing. However, the amount of force required was, by feel, at least four times as much as my standard FL RCBS die.

What is the diameter of the case immediately above the extractor ring for the case that did make it through the die and how does this compare to the other cases that are more problematic?

 

[amlevin]

If you read Hornady's instructions they recommend that you squirt a healthy quantity of their case lube in the die after cleaning. Just lubing the case won't cut it alone as the die wipes a lot of the lube away as it sizes. I stuck a .223 case in one of my new Hornady dies before I learned to read the instructions first.

It gets better with time but you might try wiping down the inside of the die first with a q-tip loaded up with Hornady Unique then try sizing your case. Like I said, it does get better with use.