Cracked die

[Shooter Mike]

Anyone ever had a die crack? I’ve reloaded maybe 500 rounds with this one.
7PRC Match Grade Die

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[waspocrew]

Dang. Hornady die? I saw a Redding die crack in a similar fashion on a different forum recently.

IIRC, Redding asked for a few pieces of fired brass and made an appropriately sized new die for the customer.

 

[pbroski]

I've never had a die crack on me personally, but I new a guy many years ago that had a Lyman die in .416 Rigby that cracked.

 

[Taudisio]

Well that’s a new problem to watch out for.

 

[Shooter Mike]

Dang. Hornady die? I saw a Redding die crack in a similar fashion on a different forum recently.

IIRC, Redding asked for a few pieces of fired brass and made an appropriately sized new die for the customer.

Yeah, Hornady die.
I’ll call them in the morning.

I checked every piece I just realized, and it all chambers just the same as rounds I reloaded a few hundred ago.

Maybe I can talk them in to a custom die…. Thanks for the heads up on that.


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[TaperPin]

Wow - I’ve never heard of such a thing.

 

[Cascade_Sherpa]

Whoa!! I have never heard or seen anything like that before!

 

[jfk69]

Never seen that. I’m sure they’ll take care of you.

 

[rayporter]

i had a die break in half once, just above the threads.

 

[Shooter Mike]

I called them today- they’re replacing it. I also ordered a custom die. Will be interesting to see the effects of a custom die.


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[Vern400]

It may not have been tempered properly after primary heat treatment. I worked with machined and highly heat treated parts for a number of years. I always liked to see the Rockwell hardness drop maybe 1 point or 2 after tempering. The official metallurgists used to argue and say the tempering temperature and time was adequate even if the hardness didn't drop. I had a hard time accepting that. Unless you did something bizarre with the die they should replace it. Those kind of tools are always running the ragged edge between hardness and ductility. If you break another one you'll probably have to change brands because they have a fundamental problem in the design, material, surface finish, or heat treat. I'm of the opinion that you should be able to run a very slight cam over to the shell holder and not break the die while resizing brass. Not a lot of Cam over. Just a little that you can feel as the linkage goes over center.

 

[Shooter Mike]

It may not have been tempered properly after primary heat treatment. I worked with machined and highly heat treated parts for a number of years. I always liked to see the Rockwell hardness drop maybe 1 point or 2 after tempering. The official metallurgists used to argue and say the tempering temperature and time was adequate even if the hardness didn't drop. I had a hard time accepting that. Unless you did something bizarre with the die they should replace it. Those kind of tools are always running the ragged edge between hardness and ductility. If you break another one you'll probably have to change brands because they have a fundamental problem in the design, material, surface finish, or heat treat. I'm of the opinion that you should be able to run a very slight cam over to the shell holder and not break the die while resizing brass. Not a lot of Cam over. Just a little that you can feel as the linkage goes over center.

I ended up ordering a custom die- will take about 16 weeks they said. I use a SAC Nexus press. The cam over is from the pucks and not the shell holder, so im thinking it could be as you mentioned - a tempering problem.


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[wind gypsy]

In conversations about clickers ive seen reference to this being a possible result of trying to make a die tight in the web area because of how stout the brass is there.

 

[Shooter Mike]

In conversations about clickers ive seen reference to this being a possible result of trying to make a die tight in the web area because of how stout the brass is there.

So far, all of the brass chambers well. I checked every piece I reloaded before noticing the crack, and they all chamber no differently than any other piece I’ve resized. It probably won’t be until December or January before I receive the custom die, but I’m interested to see the dimensional difference between the brass it sizes, compared to the match grade die.


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[Fmuguira]

In 55 years of reloading that s a first to my eyes!! WOW