Hornady Shell Holder 21

[Ellsnjel]

Does Hornady test these with actual brass?

I recently purchased a Hornady #21 shell holder so I can start reloading for my carcanos. After a long hassle with the post office, I finally got it yesterday and this morning was going to deprimed all my brass. However, none of my 7.35 or 6.5 carcano brass from multiple sources fits into the holder. To seat the cases into the shell holder I have to take both off the press and give the case a light tap against my reloading bench or with a hammer.

Has anyone else had this problem? I'm not sure whether I should just buy another shell holder from another source or call their customer service.

 

[Reloadron]

You may want to give this thread a read.

While I am sure Hornady, RCBS, and the rest who manufacture shell holders make them to a specific tolerance I haven't a clue to what tolerance. The majority of my shell holders are RCBS, Lee and a set of Lyman shell holders and they all easily fir my old RCBS Rock Chucker (as well as other presses) and accept the cases they were designed for. Hornady claims:

Precision machined from solid steel then heat treated to perform flawlessly for the life of the press. They fit all other Hornady accessories including the Hornady Cam-Lock Case Trimmer and Hand-Held Priming Tool. These shellholders will also fit the presses of most other brands in the industry.

Technical Information

Fits the following calibers:

6.5mm Carcano
7.35mm Carcano

One thing when the shell holder won't fit the press but something else when the cases won't easily fit the shell holder. You can try calling their customer service since the brass (a few flavors) will not fit the shell holder. Your rim diameters should be about 0.448" rim thickness about 0.045". You can try opening the die a little with some folded emery paper. The cases do go in, they just need force and they should slide right in.

I would likely just get a RCBS, Lee or other manufacturer as I tried to open up the Hornady die a little.

Ron

 

[tcoz]

I find that about 5 percent of the once fired 30 Carbine brass that I bought won't fit into the Redding #22 shell holder so I have to use a Lee shell holder which has a slightly wider opening to slide the case into. You may find a similar situation with the Hornady shellholder. Once you tap it and deprime are you then able to slide the case into the shell holder? If so, you may have very slightly bent case head that straightens just enough with the tap and deprime to slide right in the second time.

 

[ZGunner]

I have a few Hornady shell holders for my common calibers like .223 and .308 but I've never had a problem getting brass in them. I have however, noticed they seem to be tighter than my Lee shell holders in the same caliber.

I would call customer service and see what they suggest.

 

[Ellsnjel]

I'm going to call customer service first thing monday but Im likely switching to RCBS or another brand regardless of the outcome. Along with the shell holder, I had ordered an automatic primer feeder, which was of the flimsiest construction. It broke the first day I used it. Even if they replace the primer feeder tube and the shell holder, Its not worth the hassle.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

The only Hornady Shellholder I have is a #14 for the 45-70 and it works perfectly. Please let us know what Hornady says.

 

[tcoz]

What I was trying to illustrate in my previous post (#3) is that the issue might be with the brass. Some brands of shell holders such as Redding and possibly Hornady hold the brass tighter by design than a Lee shellholder for example. The extraction process of the rifle that the brass was last fired in may have been particularly "tight" and bent the case head rims very slightly as it was extracting hence the difficulty in fitting them into a tighter shell holder. In the case of my 30 Carbine brass it's hardly enough to be visible to the eye but it's enough to make them difficult to slide into the Redding shell holder but not the Lee. After I load and fire them in my carbine they slide right into the Redding.