Guys, while waiting for my E. Arthur Brown single-shot rifle in 6.5BRM -- which is simply a .264 bullet on a sized-down .30-30 case - I've decided to do a few dummy loads with various .264 bullets. I have some loaded ammo from E. Arthur Brown. The bullets are Hornady A-Max and the cartridges have an overall length of 3.08. The cases have been full-lelngth resized and chamfered.
The dies sent by EABCO (E. Arthur Brown Co.) include a Lee full-sizing die/deprimer and a Hornady seating die. All of my dies for other guns are Lee or RCBS. The only differences in the Hornady die that I can see are the seating sleeve and a small retaining ring. From the illustrated parts breakdown I'm not sure where this retaining ring goes.
Anyway, on my first couple attempts I have been able to properly seat a moly coated 140 grain A-Max but attempts to seat 140-grain Nosler Custom Competition HPBTs have resulted in crumpled shoulders.
Do I need a little neck lube on these?
I have reloaded lots of ammo but the .30-30 case and the .264 caliber are both new to me. Moly is new to me too. I bought these Moly A-Maxes on a whim.

So, I have several questions: thoughts on Hornady dies including retaining ring? Cause of crumpled case necks? Any reason why the moly bullets seat and the Noslers don't? I've only attempted a few cases and could probably figure this out on my own, but with the price of brass and all the knowledge here to help, why bother? Thanks.

Hi Sunday,
We both know that 30-30 are on the thin side. Two thoughts. Inside neck ream and size again after re-forming the case(this if the neck walls are too thick).

Flare the necks abit to ease bullet entry on seating.

Cheezywan

The retaining ring is that thin wire dime sized bit over half a circle ring, right? It fits in the groove at the bottom of the seater die. The hook on one end goes through a hole in the groove and keeps the sliding seater from falling out. Hornady usually throws an extra one in the box.

A Lyman M-Die does a proper job of flaring the case mouth. The moly is slippery and you may need some inside neck lube for the other bullets. I'd recommend a dry lube like powdered graphite or Imperial Dry Neck Lube.

Hornady seaters don't support the case like RCBS and most other seaters do. An RCBS seater is just a bit larger than the sizer and that helps prevent case collapse. I'm not sure if that would help your neck collapse problem.

Bye
Jack

Check the inside dia of a sized case. Might be your expander is not quite large enough, causing too much neck tension when seating.

Thanks, guys. Good tips. That retainer ring that had me mystified is an extra. That solved that mystery. After tweaking the dies more I have seated a couple of the Nosler bullets with no problem. I think the problem was mostly me. The dies are a little different that I am used to and the cartridge is essentially a benchrest cartridge that's barely seated. We will see how things go after the rifle arrives and I begin the barrel break-in process.

Used to have a 6.5 Bullberry, which is the 30-30 case shortened a bit and necked down. As previously said, hafta be careful with the thin brass of the 30-30 case to keep from crumpling the shoulders when working.

Hmm. Then I suppose I will have case-stretching issues, too?

You didn't mention it, but the usual source of problem with crumpled necks with .30-30 is trying to crimp them with uneven case lengths. If you were trying to crimp these bullets, without a crimp groove, you could end up with crumpled necks.