Hydraulic Case form Die

[GRG]

I'm planning on ordering a few Die body blanks and making Hydraulic Forming Dies for a few Ackley cartridges. I haven't seen anything fairly new on using these but Feel that they have been proven they will work well in the cartridge's I am doing.

Is there anyone that is using hydraulic dies now and can give any tips. Seems pretty self explanatory so not to concerned as The die body's wont go to waste if I decide I don't like them. I have done plenty of fire forming but figure this is a great way to get the case dimension need for practice and barrel break in without wasting components of any kind.

I can get the blanks through Midway, PTG I cant tell if they have them or not and always worry about their customer service.

Thanks

Glenn

 

[DoneNOut]

Have you seen:

Hydraulic Form Die - Whidden Gunworks

6mm Dasher Starter Kit Why Do I Need The Hydraulic Form Die? The Whidden Gunworks Hydraulic Form Die was developed to allow forming of many wildcat

www.whiddengunworks.com

 

[GRG]

Kind of expensive compared to around $40 making them myself. I don't need all the other stuff. That has nothing negative to say about Whidden quality, great products. I will be chambering barrels anyway so not much extra time and no additional cost to chamber these and making the plungers.

22-250 Ackley
243 Ackley
7mm-08 Ackley

 

[FEENIX]

Kind of expensive compared to around $40 making them myself. I don't need all the other stuff. That has nothing negative to say about Whidden quality, great products. I will be chambering barrels anyway so not much extra time and no additional cost to chamber these and making the plungers.

22-250 Ackley
243 Ackley
7mm-08 Ackley

My first hydraulic forming and reloading dies were custom-built by John Whidden. For my 2nd (picking it up today), my GS built it using a blank die from Newlon and a plunger kit from Whidden to reduce the cost and lead time. If you can do it yourself, it is the way to go, including the reloading dies. My GS also built the reloading die set using blanks since I have all the reamers.

Both of the chamberings are wildcats. I have a .270 AI and do not use a hydraulic forming due - I have accuracy load for .270 Win and .270 AI. On my .30 Gibbs, I considered a hydraulic forming die made but did the COW method instead. I have enough fire-formed and purchased headstamped brass from Qual Cart, so I am good for now. Good luck with your project, and keep us posted!

Ed

 

[GRG]

Ed,
Thank you for the info and I would love to here how your new die works for you.

Yes lead time is a big issue as some of these companies are way out there. My big thing though is I like the length of the die body on the ones from Midway etc. It allows you to have plenty of body where as I can run a reamer in through the portion above the case and have plenty of length yet to guide a piston with no tipping etc due to a short channel especially on longer cases. These also seem to be in stock through multiple outlets. Edit, doing a little more checking PTG reams the through hole to the calliber requested where as the others are smaller, .224 or smaller.

I just have seen so many bad comments on PTG for being up front on inventory and shipping times I hate to order from them. Has anyone dealt with them lately and what were your results?

Thanks again for the info.

Glenn

 

[DoneNOut]

Kind of expensive compared to around $40 making them myself. I don't need all the other stuff. That has nothing negative to say about Whidden quality, great products. I will be chambering barrels anyway so not much extra time and no additional cost to chamber these and making the plungers.

22-250 Ackley
243 Ackley
7mm-08 Ackley

Roger that. I succumb to this AI business recently with 243AI & 7-08AI on the way. It would be nice to form the brass like this. If you make it work I'd be interested in buying a couple off you!

 

[GRG]

Sounds good, I will keep this thread updated as I get things done. Some times I get a little bogged down dealing with chemo effects but not to bad right now.

I'm thinking I will end up chambering the Hydro forming die a hair long as I want the press to cam over and lock with the full case in the die to make things as rigid as possible. Then the actual sizing die will form more of the 40 deg taper and shoulder to the actual chamber dimension. If someone disagrees I would be more than happy to hear why.

 

[DoneNOut]

Sounds good, I will keep this thread updated as I get things done. Some times I get a little bogged down dealing with chemo effects but not to bad right now.

I'm thinking I will end up chambering the Hydro forming die a hair long as I want the press to cam over and lock with the full case in the die to make things as rigid as possible. Then the actual sizing die will form more of the 40 deg taper and shoulder to the actual chamber dimension. If someone disagrees I would be more than happy to hear why.

Sounds like solid logic to me. What press are you using?

 

[GRG]

I actually have an extra C&H 333 I can use as well as a Old Herters which is what I will probably use. It is heavy duty and rock solid as is the C&H but I will leave this one mounted out in the shop on a very heavy duty bench to eliminate any bounce.

 

[FEENIX]

Ed,
Thank you for the info and I would love to here how your new die works for you.

Yes lead time is a big issue as some of these companies are way out there. My big thing though is I like the length of the die body on the ones from Midway etc. It allows you to have plenty of body where as I can run a reamer in through the portion above the case and have plenty of length yet to guide a piston with no tipping etc due to a short channel especially on longer cases. These also seem to be in stock through multiple outlets. Edit, doing a little more checking PTG reams the through hole to the calliber requested where as the others are smaller, .224 or smaller.

I just have seen so many bad comments on PTG for being up front on inventory and shipping times I hate to order from them. Has anyone dealt with them lately and what were your results?

Thanks again for the info.

Glenn

Glenn,

My GS did 50 for a friend already, and he said it worked great. I will let you know when I get to do some forming.

Ed

 

[randy86314]

Ed,
Thank you for the info and I would love to here how your new die works for you.

Yes lead time is a big issue as some of these companies are way out there. My big thing though is I like the length of the die body on the ones from Midway etc. It allows you to have plenty of body where as I can run a reamer in through the portion above the case and have plenty of length yet to guide a piston with no tipping etc due to a short channel especially on longer cases. These also seem to be in stock through multiple outlets. Edit, doing a little more checking PTG reams the through hole to the calliber requested where as the others are smaller, .224 or smaller.

I just have seen so many bad comments on PTG for being up front on inventory and shipping times I hate to order from them. Has anyone dealt with them lately and what were your results?

Thanks again for the info.

Glenn

I recently bought several extractors for Rem700 (.308 size) from PTG. Nobody (Remington, Brownell's, etc) else had them. Ebay was thru the roof on price! Delivery was 3 weeks, compared to 2 months predicted. I have always been very happy with PTG quality and delivery.

 

[C-130 Dude]

Sounds good, I will keep this thread updated as I get things done. Some times I get a little bogged down dealing with chemo effects but not to bad right now.

I'm thinking I will end up chambering the Hydro forming die a hair long as I want the press to cam over and lock with the full case in the die to make things as rigid as possible. Then the actual sizing die will form more of the 40 deg taper and shoulder to the actual chamber dimension. If someone disagrees I would be more than happy to hear why.

Sorry to hear about the chemo crap. Hang tough!

 

[Sealesniper]

Glenn,
This is not really any answer to hydraulic forming as I have not done that, but I fire form all my brass with a factory load of powder and bullet in my virgin brass. Shoulders form perfectly and the load is accurate to 300 yards in most of my calibers. I can then load the full AI load.

 

[GRG]

Randy, Thanks for the PTG update. I may put the order in as it will be a while probably before I can get the reamer anyway.

Sealsniper, I have also fireformed for over 35 years I would guess. Never had a problem but I am trying to get away from having 2 different loads in the same barrel for the same bullet. Hydraulic form close enough to full dimension should do this. When it comes down to accuracy, a factory load and parent case has always shot excellent when the barrel is set back .004 on a parent original.