Hydraulic Forming

[MrGee]

in order to make the procees work you need to expand your cases at the neck.. in mine, i go from 25 to 26 cal. this makes the seal when you run the case up into the form die
one trick is to clean or dry with a patch the die each time you form one
don't use any lube on the cases any build up will make dimple or cracks around the shoulder
yes use a rag to stop any splashed just drap or wrap it around the piston
i also run the dead primers in backwards make a tighter seal..

edit : use the patc on the inside of the die
...... put your cases in the form die dry

 

[Donald]

Just an idea....Get a syringe to fill your cases. As trying to pour water in the case traps air and defeats the whole process.

 

[RLHBUSL]

I spoke to Lonnie Hummel at Hornady this morning. I'm going to send him several fired brass and several virgin brass with the necks expanded so they can make a forming die that will match my chamber. He recommends that we neck up the 220 russian brass with the expander mandrel first, then use the hydraulic forming die, and finally turn the necks. This makes sense to me. Does anyone have thoughts about the order in which the process is accomplished?

Thanks to everyone that has provided information so far, and I look forward to hearing more.

Ryan

 

[Centerfire]

Ryan, good point

I suppose Hornady will be able to take all the correct measurements to produce the die correctly but I had wondered which procedure would be the best to follow.
Right now I neck expand first, then I bump the .220 Russian case until it just goes into my chamber and then I trim to length.
After this I neck turn.

I suppose I would neck expand first, then run through the hydraulic die, trim to length, then neck turn, and finally full length resize.
Now not knowing if the id of the case will be larger than what I am used to, due to the hydraulics, I might have to size the case neck so I have a tight fit on the turning mandrel.

What is the consensus of opinion?
Centerfire

 

[Rick A.]

Today I had a talk with JD, my neighbor and he shamed me into finishing what I started. After some brainstorming we hatched a plan and I went back home to finish the project for future reference. I am going to post on my site later with pictures but the short and sweet of it is to expand the necks to a uniform dimension; I used a K&M expander. I measured the ID of the neck and made another piston that was .001 larger than the neck ID. I also made a shell holder and timed it or should I say head spaced it so it was .001 over cam on my press as to seal the case inside the die. Is that necessary????? dunno but that is what I did. I had originally filled the cases with a small squeeze bottle to the top if the neck and used this again. The final test showed that it took very little effort to form these cases and there was very little mess. I am finally impressed with the results and think that those who are forming something like the XC cartridge would benefit.

Attached is a pic of the final 5 cases I formed.

Rick