Hornady 308 Die Problems

Spray lubes have failed to do there job before, change lube type. Next, make sure you expander button is adjusted correctly. If down to far, the expander stops the case from entering the die fully. What gun has the brass been fired in? Brass fired in Fluted chambers can require more extraforce to full length resize. Some dies have a vent hole in the thread area, make sure its open so your not compressing air. New dies, clean them good. Are you using the correct die?

I measured the ID of the die at the mouth and it's only .466, when my loading manual says the diameter of a 308 case at the head is .470. Could I have gotten an undersized die or am I missing something?

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The .466" is OK, most brass is on the small side. All standard dies size the neck down more that needed, as much as .010" +. The expander then opens the neck back up to the correct inside diameter, about .003" under bullet diameter. Read you instruction for the dies again if all else fails. Good luck.

Screw the primer decapping shaft up to it's highest point. Try to get the case in.

If it goes in all they way, screw the decapping shaft down till it makes contact. Remove the case and screw the decapping shaft down 2-3 turns more. Test to see if it deprimes. Keep screwing down til it does deprime.

I'd go with the lube problem. I have a Hornady SS LnL that drove me nuts until some on this board mentioned it. I went to the rollon lube pad and problem went away. If you're using One-shot, let it dry first...

On my rifle reloads I put some Break-Free on a plastic lid and about every 10 or 12th case I tap the neck on the lid to lube the edge.

I've got that .308 die set. It's 15 years old but basically the same. Sometimes you gotta really crank on the press handle to get a case resized.

Here's what I'd do. Take the die apart and clean it with brake cleaner. Really degrease it. Lube the case, but don't over due it. If it's a spray lube let it dry for at least ten minutes. Adjust the die body down till it touches the shell plate then back it off a couple of turns. Put a case in the shell holder then crank the hell out of it. One of three things will happen: 1) the case sizes like it should, 2) the case buckles and collapse, 3) the case becomes stuck in the die.

With "1" all's right with the world. With "2" or "3" it's either bad brass or a bad die. Doubt it's the brass since it's already been through your match grade rifle. Get on the phone to Hornady and get a return authorization number. Somthing's wrong dimensionally, rare but it's been known to happen.

If all else fails, give Hornady a call. My .308 sizing die left a faint "c" on the shoulder. Turned out, the air hole needed to be deburred. They sent over another sizing die body a couple days later free of charge. Great customer service for me.

Jon Sno

Look into the die and see if it looks like a 308 and that it is finished all the way up.

There have been several problems similar to yours lately. There are a few reports of dies being drilled with reamers other than the one stamped on the die.
A lot of companies are doing land rush business with current price hikes in ammo and fear of the Obamanation effect on all things firearms related. It seems a few things are leaving the factories that are not up to par.

The brass measures .470

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The measurement your getting .466" of the die is smaller because most dies have a bevel at the start of the die. Your measuring the taper of the die. Remember the web of the brass does not get sized when using standard dies. Try a different lube and but some muscle into sizing.

There is absolutely no reason that you shouldn't be able to size any brass .308 case in a .308 FL sizing die.

Something is wrong, and it isn't that the cases measure .470".

Keep looking!

rc

I echo what rcmodel says, there has got to be something wrong with the die that you're not able to see. Maybe you can locate a friend with another set of dies to try your cases with. Then you'll know whether to send the dies back or not.

You sure do not want to neck size for an M1A, because chances are you'll get a FTF at some point with the unsized cases.

NCsmitty

Just exactly what are you using for resizing lube?

What reloading press are you using?

Brands, etc?

rc

M1A brass needs to be FL resized (possibly SB, but not often).

You've either got a press with no leverage or are using a really bad case lube.

Any chance you are spraying the cases with them setting base down in a loading block?

That will do it every time.

The thick web section that is covered by the loading block isn't getting any lube, and that is exactly where they need it the most!

Try spraying some of the RCBS lube on them while spread on a newspaper, then mix them around. Then, as you pick each one up, spread the lube all over the case with your fingers until you just have a very light coating all over.

rc

When it gets stuck, is it a hard stop? Is it as difficult to get the brass out as it is to get it in?

Tim

I had a similer problem with my 22-250 die, I was using RCBS case lube and pad but it just wasn't cutting it, I had to put all of my weight on the press to get it to re-size. I switched to Hornady Unique case lube, and my problems were solved! I havent tried imperial wax but I hear that its similar to Unique, I would give that a try.

Get some Imperial sizing wax, If that dosn't work you don't have a lube problem. I would call Hornadays customer service and run the problem by them. Also, make sure the air vent hole is open in the die.

There is no question then.

You have a die defect of some sort.

I would send the whole mess back to Hornady, along with some of your empty cases, and see if they can get it to work.

rc

Jon Snow

What length is the case?

Not meaning to offend here, but are you sure you are using a 308 case and not a 30-06 case?

I'm still leaning towards a lubrication issue. Read instructions carefully and then follow exactly. Some lubes have a limited shelf life.

Maybe, but a Hornady LNL press should put a .308 case in a .243 die dry if it is adjusted properly. Course, you won't get it back out, but still!

Make sure you don't have the sizing die screwed in so far you can't get full ram travel & linkage toggle-over.

If the ram is hitting the die before full ram travel is reached, you would have exactly the problem you are having, because the press can't develop full leverage before the linkage is almost fully extended.

Suggest you back the die out until you have 1/4" clearance from the shell holder and try it.
See what comes out at that setting, then continue to adjust the die down a little at a time until you get it in there, or not.

The resulting sized case will show you what the die problem is, if there is one.

rc

The only possible die problems I can think of would be an incorrectly labelled die or one that was rusted up.

Operator issues would be lack of adequate lube, trying to stuff the wrong caliber into the die, lack of leverage (which I think we can rule out) and simply not pushing hard enough.

The tooling they they use to make them is what it is and limits what can go wrong on the side to a few things--but the shell not entering is not one of those things.

My final $0.02 is to pull the die apart, clean it good, squirt some lube in there and start over.