35 Krag dies arrived!

[rodentrancher]

So it took 5 months, but my .35 Krag custom die set from Hornady arrived today:

35 krag dies-2.jpg (323.44 KiB) Viewed 152 times

35 krag dies-1.jpg (590.65 KiB) Viewed 152 times

They look good, hope to have time to load with them in a few days, will post when I do.

[waterman]

Were these made from measurements or a chamber cast from your rifle?

[rodentrancher]

For mine, they just needed three fired cases. But I think they will make them from a chamber cast if you have one.

[rodentrancher]

Update: just resized a few already necked-up previously fired 35 Krag cases. Worked like a charm.

However, I won't be able to use the resize die for the initial necking up of 30-40 cases to 35. The Hornady zip spindle expander "lets go" before the expander ball enters the case, unless it is really tightened down gorilla-style - in which case the case neck crushes before the expander ball enters the case. I think this is in inherent flaw of the zip spindle system.

Going to try and see if the expander ball/decapping assembly from a .358 Win RCBS set will work in the Hornady dies.
Edit: Nope. Hornady and RCBS don't use the same screw threads to hold that assembly. Stuck with necking up as a separate operation.