Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Weatherby branded dies?

I just had a set of Weatherby .257 Dies given to me by a friend. I have a set of .257 RCBS dies in FL, Neck and seater. I have been using these just fine. The Weatherby branded dies are in like new condition. Are these a higer quality Die set? Thanks
Lee

They were just dies for the Weatherby cartridges.

On average, one brand of dies works as well as any other.

Carrying the Weatherby name usually just means a higher price,not higher quality.

"Higher quality" generally refers to appearance and machining, you can evaluate that as well as anyone else.

To me higher quality refers to better tolerances,better materials,and better design.You can't always judge those qualities by the exterior appearance.I would rather have a product made to the highest tolerances with the best materials,with a plain exterior finish,than a product made to lesser tolerances with lower grade materials,but with a much nicer exterior finish.

This is one of the times I totally agree with Stubblejumper. One of my hunting partners using my die just stuck a case with what should have been enough lube. It also might be a strike against nickle plated cases.

I wonder who made the Weatherby dies.

stubble, we would all like "better tolerances" in our dies. Question; how does that work out in application?

Thing is, SAAMI die tolerances are not a given dimension, plus or minus a certain amount. Die dimension tolerances are a range, from an absolute maximum to some smaller minimum; anything within that range is as fully within tolerance as any other. I know of no die makers that don't stay within the SAAMI tolerance ranges and don't know which end of the ranges they would have to be in order to qualify as "higher (tighter?)tolerance" dies. ??

I've measured the output from a lot of dies and die brands, made "chamber" casts of the sizers. The results varied as much between dies of the same brand as between brands; all of them. (Meaning Lee's dies are, on average, as good inside as any other conventional designs.)

All dies will last far longer than all but the highest volume reloaders will ever produce. Seaters (and expanders for three die sets) are very low stress devices, the bodies need not be case hardened at all but many are. Sizers need to be cased for high wear resistance. Some brands, and any on some production runs, don't case harden quite as deeply as others but even they should last well over 100,000 rounds if the cases are clean and properly lubed.

In my experience, what we pay for with expensive dies is pretty exteriors, not greater precision. Weatherby marketed some very pretty dies, but not enough of them to keep it up so they didn't last long in the market.

If your Wby dies are like mine it has a bushing so you can neck size also,plus the seating die has a cut out to slide the bullet in.Good dies,try them.

I generally buy RCBS or Redding dies,and I have yet to have an issue with any of them,but I did have an issue with some LEE and Hornady dies that I bought,because they were all that was available locally,and I was in a hurry to try out a couple of new guns.I will never again buy any collet type die by any manufacturer as a result of those experiences.

Only thing not covered was the tolerances and wear of the reamers used for both the dies and the chambers of the guns to which they pertain. As reamers are used they wear, they're sharpened and used until the tolerances are exceed, then they are replaced by larger ones made especially to allow several sharpenings, and this applies to both the rifle makers and the die makers.

I completely agree with all of boomtube's points, and he emphasizes my point.

A cheap, ugly die, if it mates well with a rifle chamber, can be much better in any given application and it's just luck of the draw as to how well it matches your gun.

Thanks guys. I was not trying to start a battle over here. These dies do have the cut out for the bullets and a bushing. I am not really able to look at a die and tell if it will work on not. I am not that good I don't guess. These dies appear to look good. I was just wondering if anybody knew anything about them and didn't want to use them and then found out that they were "crap" or something.

I am not interested in the Weatherby name or anything like that. I didn't pay for these at all. I just want to use quality dies. I'll see if they make better ammo than what I have been using.

I am guessing that these are "Weatherby" dies. The quality of the one set I have looks to be excellent. Now, if you would like to read the story and description of the die set, enjoy!

I ended up with a set of Weatherby dies that came with a used Weatherby Varmintmaster with a shot out barrel I traded an older doctor for in Houston in 1976. This box of Weatherby brand dies are more of a curiosity than anything else. They are bright chrome plated in a blue hard plastic box, marked on the top of the box "Chrome Plated", "Pacific" "Reloading Dies". The ends of the box have paper sticker panels that are printed with " Weatherby Reloading Dies", and hand stamped 224 Weatherby. By the looks of all the contents they were never used. They are in .224 Weatherby caliber, the paper work in the die box says "These Dies were produced exclusively for Weatherby Inc. for the reloading of Weatherby Cartridges", by Pacific Gun Sight Co. The die box is divided into three compartments, one for each die (2) and one for the paper work with a tiny plastic bottle of die lube with one extra decapping pin. There was some type of plastic foam used to secure the dies that has almost turned to powder. Judging by the amount of dust that was on that box of dies and the fact that Varmintmaster was produced early in the first year of production, I would guess the dies are about the same age. The sizing die is marked on the body "Weatherby" in larger letters, then on the other side in small almost fine print "pacific" and on top just like you would expect, on the full length sizer: A SX 224 WEA - pacific. The seater has nothing stamped on the body, but has: A S 224 WEA - pacific, on top. Both of the dies have unusually large finger friendly knurled tops and lock rings easily adjusted by hand. All the other Weatherby dies I have and use are either RCBS or Redding.
Good shooting,
Marcus.

Pacific was bought by Hornady a good while back (meaning, I don't know exactly when). I have a set of Pacific dies. Most notable was the design of the lock ring, a two-piece affair that impressed me as an unperfected concept.

I've had a RCBS die that required much more lube than the same caliber Lee did,and a Redding die that scratched the brass.