As indicated in the subject line, both my 38/357 & .40 S&W sizing dies have the nitride ring loose: in the case of the 38/357 it actually moves up and down with an audible "click", the .40 S&W ring just spins with finger pressure...

Is this normal or a warranty situation?

Thanks in advance for your kind consideration!

Sounds like a warranty situation to me. Contact them, and see what they say.

RCBS used to epoxy the carbide ring in place and cautioned against allowing the die to contact the shell holder. I don't know about Hornady, but I'd definitely try customer service.

I had a Hornady 9mm sizing die that the sizing ring would spin in. Contacted Hornady and they said it wouldn't cause a problem as long as it didn't move up and down. That being said it sounds like your 38/357 die is due for warranty replacement.

Definitely a warranty issue on the 38. Contact Hornady.

Thanks to you all, I'll be calling Hornady.

As far as having the die contact the shellholder, I thought that was how you set up the sizing die to begin with? Am I missing something: do I need to back them all off a quarter turn or so?

Hornady instructions, are to make contact with shell holder.

I set mine up to barely make contact with the shellholder when there is no case in the shellholder. That way you get full resizing without having any contact to speak of when resizing due to the resistance of the case when resizing taking just a hair of slack out of the press mechanism.

Over the years I've had much more problems with Hornady dies than RCBS or Lyman or Reddng.

__________________
H Richard
SWCA1967 SWHF244

I'm surprised to hear that Hornady recommends that the base of the die contact the shell-holder. In reading old reloading books, some older than me, it indicated that the base of a carbide die should never contact the shell-holder, the reason given being that carbide by nature is brittle. If the carbide strikes the shell-holder it could crack the resizing ring. Same thing if the die is dropped on a hard surface. I recall the manuals saying that there should be a space between the bottom of the die and the shell-holder that is approximately the width of a nickle coin. This has served me well over the years.

As has been said, contact Hornady and see if they will handle this as a warranty replacement/repair.

Good luck!

JPJ

The Hornady dies aren't carbide. Their manual states to run the die down until it touches the shell plate.

As an update, after a phone call regarding my 38/357 Custom Series II sizing die making an audible "click" and moving up & down, the nice people at Hornady twice sent me (titanium nitride) sizing die bodies, but both are marked 9X21...?

Going to their website I can find the 9mm Luger (or 9X21?) Custom die sets #546515 & #546516 (with taper crimp) listed, both using the same sizing die #046516.

The specific Custom sizing dies for all 38/357 & 357 Max sets is their #046528.

Did they twice send me the wrong replacement die body? Is the titanium nitride sizing ring's diameter the actual crucial measurement and the die bodies actually fully functional & interchangeable, just marked differently?

NOTE, PLEASE: my cleaned 38/357 cases do go through these dies with normal effort and chamber normally. My "other" 9mm dies are a 4-piece LEE set with the FCD.

Any help would be appreciate: I'd hate to call them a 3rd time if the die bodies really are interchangeable...

The 9X21 is a straight sided case (unlike the 9X19) with a .379 body diameter.
The 38 special and 357 magnum are also straight sided case with a body dimension of .379 .
No need to call them a third time , they were correct twice !
You are good to go.
Gary

Thanks, Gary: that's what I was hoping, actually...

Cheers!