hornady 45-70 custom dies question.

[Axis II]

I just setup my hornady 45-70 custom dies and the flare die leaves me with questions. it doesn't seem anything like a lee where there is a little piece in the flare die that moves as the hornady is fixed. Hornady directions says put a sized case in and screw the flare die until it touches the mouth. I did this and it wasn't enough for the bullet to sit in the mouth so I kept turning until it finally did and this was about 2-3.5 full turns in past where it touched the case mouth. I made a dummy round and it appears to me there is plenty of neck tension as there is a slight bulge where the bottom of the bullet is.

any clue here guys? To me this is a huge deviation from the directions so I was a little concerned.

 

[Axis II]

also the new starline brass I have grew when sizing and needed to be trimmed about 2-3k. I'm wondering of its just soft brass?

 

[Cheesemaker]

Any pics?
I was resizing and flaring some cases with my Hornady 454 Casull dies earlier today (set them up a while back) and noticed the flare die sits high (ring is low on the die). But, it is set right.

A bulge at the bottom is not likely related to the flare.

 

[FROGO207]

You will get no flare with the expanding stem just touching the neck. You do have to screw it in until the desired expansion is achieved. This is how you can vary the amount of flare when using different components. FWIW the Lee expander die is the only brand that has a moving expander sleeve that I know of.

 

[Axis II]

You will get no flare with the expanding stem just touching the neck. You do have to screw it in until the desired expansion is achieved. This is how you can vary the amount of flare when using different components. FWIW the Lee expander die is the only brand that has a moving expander sleeve that I know of.

Gotcha. All my straight walled dies are lee and when I seen the hornady I said what in the world. The 3 full turns in is what threw up the red flag to me. just making sure the die wasn't missing anything or if it was me. It's been a few years but if I remember right my lee expand dies only need one turn maybe 1.5 at the most.

The seating die is also weird cause the seat stem actually pops out of the bottom of the die and then is pressed back in when seating. If you shake the die you can hear it rattle.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

I have a set of Hornady 45-70 dies and they work very well for me. I bought them slightly used but without the instruction sheet. I'm fairly sure the instructions tell you to screw the die down until it touches the case mouth AND then screw it down until you achieve the desired flare.

I actually bought the dies before I owned anything in 45-70. I figured I would need them eventually lol. Like I said above, the Hornady dies work well for me and I am considering buying more in the future even though I like RCBS rifle dies too.

 

[Captaingyro]

You don't say whether you're loading jacketed or cast bullets but if they're cast I can't say enough good things about the Lyman M-dies for expanding. They've got a two-stage expander plug that extends deep into the neck for cast bullets but leaves plenty of neck tension. The other stage is what bells the case mouth, but you can adjust it for a minimal amount of belling, just enough to get a cast bullet started. I know once you've sprung for a complete set of dies that it stings a little to buy a separate expander, but a lot of cast bullet shooters think it's worth it.