Are any of you guys using Hornady handgun dies?

by rob , Saturday, April 14, 2018, 14:56 (2352 days ago)
edited by rob, Saturday, April 21, 2018, 11:07

I bought a set of Hornady Titanium Nitride 3 die 10mm dies. They were cheaper than RCBS and looked interesting. They are supposed to seat and crimp in one step...I've always done it in separate steps but early on I used to seat and crimp in one step on 444 Marlin loads with jacketed bullets with no issues and very good accuracy. So on this set of dies, so far, I have adjusted the seating die and sized 40 cases (two 20 ct boxes) of brass. I'm not really impressed with the depriming stem so far. It has obvious runout after the lock nut/collet is tightened. I don't think the stem is bent but I haven't pulled it back out to examine it. It seems to punch the primers out just fine. The titanium ring seems to work just fine but I will say it's not nearly as smooth in operation or feel as a set of RCBS carbide dies. I'm curious if any of you guys are using these dies and what you think of them and if you have any tips and tricks. I need to pick up a box of bullets before adjusting the expander and seating/crimping dies but we'll get there.