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Hornady dies... will they hone the neck?

Froggy1129

Sergeant
Full Member
Minuteman
Aug 31, 2005
202
5
Athens, GA
Well I have a 6.5 Bartlein that will be here next week to put on my AI AE in 6.5 Creedmoor. Starting to get all the other necessities together and was looking at dies.

I wanted to order Forster and have them hone the neck as I had done for my .308. It worked incredibly well (better than my Redding bushing setup and saved lots of time). I noticed Forster does not have 6.5 Creedmoor.

So, I guess I will get the Hornady FL die set. Will Hornady hone the necks? I know they will custom cut dies to match your cartridge ($100 +). Not looking for that, just the neck. I think Forster charged me $12.00.

Be safe,

Justin
 
Re: Hornady dies... will they hone the neck?

What do you mean by "hone"?

I use standard Hornady dies with my 6.5 Creedmoor and they work just fine. They give me .002" of neck tension which works perfect for me.
 
Re: Hornady dies... will they hone the neck?

Are you using the expander or have you removed it?

It has been my experience with regular FL dies that they (the expander ball) are a source of runout and working the brass more than necessary.

My .308 Forster dies would take the neck down to .325 from the fired size of .343, then the expander would pull through and give me .332. Having the neck honed to .332 removed the expander from the equation. Runout went from .07 to .01 This was using Hornady brass. Essentially this accomplishes the same thing as bushing dies but I found it to work better and I did not have to stage it (multiple bushings). One press and done.

From Forster's site:

CUSTOM neck honing of Forster FULL LENGTH SIZING or NECK SIZING DIE to your specification. We custom hone the inside neck diameter by using a diamond stoning process. We enlarge the inside diameter to prevent over-sizing of the case neck due to thick neck walls. You may require this service for two reasons: 1) If you use some brands of brass cases, such as Norma or Lapua, which have thicker neck walls. 2) If you do not intend to outside neck turn case necks that have thickened after repeated firings. Please specify desired inside neck diameter. Note: 1) No more than .008" stock removal from your existing die neck diameter is possible. 2) Honing is done in increments of one half thousandth of an inch (.0005"), meaning that your specified inside diameter must be either.XXX0" or .XXX5".
$12.00 plus actual return shipping cost & insurance Please allow 1-3 weeks.

Either way, I'll be taking your advice and getting he Hornady dies as you
suggest.

Be safe,

Justin
 
Re: Hornady dies... will they hone the neck?

Hornady makes the brass, there dies are tailored made for the brass they make, there is no need for bushing dies, honed out dies, just buy a set of Hornady dies and rock on like Rob said.