Interesting!

Rustydust

Rustydust

Active member
After having 3/4 of a .17 Hornet brass stick in my sizing die and all efforts to pull it out failed I sent the die off to Hornady for them to get it out for me. To my surprise they did not pull it out but just sent me a new one. Thanks Hornady! But I quickly noticed that this die has a small (cannot fit a toothpick into it) hole in the body of the die about halfway up. I wonder if they had problems with this brass sticking in their dies and now the replacement dies have this tiny hole in them for a reason. Is it a vent hole for air or perhaps for excessive lube to escape or what? Never seen this before.

Anyone got a clue?
 
I have a lot of dies and most have a small vent hole in them in the threads of the body. I figured it was a vent of some sort to prevent "vapor lock" and possibly to help with grease dents on the shoulder.
All speculation on my part.
 
It's supposedly a vent for lube and air. I checked about a dozen dies I have from them and most have the hole. I don't recall seeing any of my RCBS that did not have it.

From Redding:

A popular misconception is that sizing dies need a "vent hole" to release air or excessive lubricant. It can be easily demonstrated that a vented die will also dent cases if excessive lubricant is applied to the cases, case dimensions are not compatible with the sizing die or the case shoulder is being bumped excessively.

From FORSTER:

Forster neck and full length dies are unique in the industry due to the “micro” polished expander ball being just under the neck sizing portion of their dies. This is done so the cartridge case neck is still being supported by this area as the cartridge case is withdrawn from the die and goes over the expander ball . This means better concentricity of your cartridge case neck. These dies also have a ”pressure relief” hole on the die body so that excess case lube can escape and so there is no chance of a vacuum to form causing the case to stick in your die.

I believe that shoulder dents occur from too much lube and I seriously doubt that little hole does a whole bunch except cut down on a potential vacuum, and I wonder on that, issue. Like any good reloader though, lol, I do clear the vent holes out when they are on my dies when I prep them from the box the first time.

Greg
 
Originally Posted By: GLShooterIt's supposedly a vent for lube and air. I checked about a dozen dies I have from them and most have the hole. I don't recall seeing any of my RCBS that did not have it.

Greg


Just got back in from the man cave and sure enough, that .17 Hornet Hornady die is the only one that I have with the hole in it. Now some of my dies are several decades old so this is the first time that I have seen it. I noticed it right away when I got it in the mail today and for sure my original die did not have that hole in it. I might just have to give them a call next week and see what they tell me. I doubt that I will be drilling any holes in any of my old dies but I am just as curious as to why my old one had no vent and this one does.
 
I have them both with and without the hole. I get no dents on my case shoulders with the dies with the holes in them. This is with using Imperial wax. The other dies may dent the shoulder from time to time. I'll take the dies with the holes every day of the week and twice on Sunday....This means I prefer Forster dies to Redding dies.
 
Originally Posted By: ackleymanIf you can, locate the die ring so that it will not cover up the hole.

Good advice, Keith. I have not used my new die since I got it but will have to keep that in mind.
 
As for getting a stuck half of a brass out of a die, I use an easy out. They’re tapered so they won’t touch the inside wall of the die and as soon as it bites into the brass a little counter clockwise twist with the pliers and they always pop right out. Hornet brass is pretty thin and seems to be the one I have the most trouble with and.223 I reload I don’t know how many times
 
MANY years ago when I first started loading I kept hearing something... ha, turns out it was the small puff of air coming from the vent hole... sometimes it would make a sound, sometimes not.
 
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