New reloader

[rb765]

Now that my wife is working nights and she can't bother me while I'm working on a project, I decided to pull out my rag-tag box of reloading equipment I have been collecting to give it a try.

So first I inventory everything to make sure I have what I need. Nope! I run to the Sportsman Warehouse just down the street from me and they are out of only one shell holder size, the one I need. So across town I go to the other store with reloading stuff and get what I need.

After getting home and pulling setup videos, I take the recapping/sizing die out of my used set of dies. Get it dialed in, but all the time thinking this is a little too easy. It turns out the depapping plug is in the wrong die, so none of my shells resized. So I try to install the correct die...and it won't seat all the way down.

Mind you these dies look brand new with not a speck of anything on them, but one die just won't screw down. I contacted the manufacturer to see if anything can be done, but if not, it's back to the store for new dies. Not a great start to my reloading career.

[Fordtrucks]

Post detailed pics of ur dies if u can, it will help to diagnose the prob.

Some of the older RCBS dies had the decaping pin on the expanding die. But not very common in newer dies made in the last 30 or so years. Again pics should help.

[rb765]

By golly I think you are right. The decapper has the expander on it. So I assume #1 is empty, just resize, #2 is deprime and expand, and #3 is seat and crimp. Now if I can get #1 fixed.

I will post pictures in the morning. Thanks.

BTW, this is a Pacific by Hornady set.

[John Browning]

What reloading manual did you read to walk you through the how to of reloading? Lyman and Speer are both great. Is there a Fresno CGN reloading clinic?

Welcome to the hobby!

[rb765]

I have the Speer book, but honestly I have been just watching videos and getting walk through by friends. As far as I know, there is no CGN Clinic her in the Valley, but who knows, maybe if I get good, and take a certification class through NRA, I might start one.

[rb765]

Thanks for that info on Ken Waters. it looks like a good read. I am just going to be loading .38 special for now and be doing rather light loads for training my wife and her girlfriends. The one thing that I thought was strange, when I started to look up recipes for the powders that my reloader friends started me out with, they all say that the plated bullets have more friction than non plated bullets and not to under load them so there is no problems getting them stuck in the barrel. I thought the purpose of the coating was to reduce friction, not increase it.

[Divernhunter]

The main purpose of the coating is so that you do not lead the barrels, not need lube like lead bullets and so they can be pushed faster if you want.

[stilly]

By golly I think you are right. The decapper has the expander on it. So I assume #1 is empty, just resize, #2 is deprime and expand, and #3 is seat and crimp. Now if I can get #1 fixed.

I will post pictures in the morning. Thanks.

BTW, this is a Pacific by Hornady set.

Holy ****.

I feel like you are a 75 yr old 110lb guy with a beard down to the floor and drags by about 5 inches...

If you have a set like that and it is brand new- DAMN...

I would not worry too much about dies. You will have several collections possibly. Worst case you can always throw them on fleabay and get a few pence for them...

But DAMN... Reloading is certainly a lot better to me when I have newer equipment. The dies being newer is what I am referring to, you can have any kind of SS press as long as it is strong enough to do the job it should be fine, but dies have little differences and design updates and work nicer it seems as the technology gets better. But DAMN... :\ Okay so I agree you should post some photos here. We like photos...

[rb765]

Here are the photos of the dies. I checked super close and there are little bumps where the threads are cut too shallow causing my problems.







I had no idea how old they where when I bought them. They look like new. Lets see what Hornady says about the defective threads before I do anything else.

[gunboat]

Gee stilly if old dies are no good guess I will have to throw most of mine away -
What utter nonsense --

[liber]

Gee stilly if old dies are no good guess I will have to throw most of mine away -

Do you have any 30-06 dies you'll be throwing out? I need a set of those...I'm in San Jose so you won't have to throw them too far! LOL

(I know you were jesting, and couldn't agree more! )

[stilly]

Gee stilly if old dies are no good guess I will have to throw most of mine away -
What utter nonsense --

I NEVER said they were no good, I said that to ME I like the newer ones. What came first? Steel dies or carbide dies? What came first? a single universal bullet seater or a one that has to be changed out? (that is a trick question actually because different brands do things differently and I have not researched enough for the correct answer yet...)

I would rather have a newer die set from RCBS or from Redding or Lee than any old STEEL sets from when dinosaurs roamed the earth and cavemen often started fires in their caves because they needed to keep the damn torch on their reloading bench to see what they were doing...

Come on now.

[rb765]

I heard back from Hornady about these dies. It appears that they can't do anything with them and suggested I run a threading die over it to re-cut the threads. Before I go out and try to find a die that size, I think I will try knocking the bumps off with a triangle file first. And I was correct. These dies are designed to resize #1 only. #2 de-primes and expands, and #3 seats and crimps. If I cannot get this die to work, then I will see about getting a new set.

[gunboat]

Of course they can fix them -- for some reason they don't want to -

Anyroad, while a three cornered file will likely do the job an actual thread file of 14tpi will do a better job -- probably available at a local machine tool supply house.
thread files are about 1/2" square, about 6" long, usually with eight different thread pitches. four at each end.
they usually have about 4 to five threads per cutting face --

[stilly]

I heard back from Hornady about these dies. It appears that they can't do anything with them and suggested I run a threading die over it to re-cut the threads. Before I go out and try to find a die that size, I think I will try knocking the bumps off with a triangle file first. And I was correct. These dies are designed to resize #1 only. #2 de-primes and expands, and #3 seats and crimps. If I cannot get this die to work, then I will see about getting a new set.

Call up Dillon and tell them that they sent you the wrong dies and you want to exchange them for the proper Dillon dies.

If they try to get a word in edgewise cut them off and tell them you do not think it is very funny that you ordered Dillon dies and they sent you Pacific Islander (what name were they again?) dies or whatever they are called... Those dirty scoundrels!

Better yet, just send them in. If they return them to you then send them back with a note stating that Barry gave you an RMA of 1186DDT and said to send them in and they would be swapped out under some no nonsense BS warranty. Be very nice and thank them 4 times in advance for doing that...

Then get back to us with the results... Damn, that is a good idea, I wish I had thought of that for my Lyman .357 max dies...