Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Need advice on Redding Dies

I have used RCBS for the past 20 years but would like to try a set of Redding dies. Maybe I am just plain stupid but the more I look into their dies the more confused I get. There are a bunch of different dies with this feature and that feature and I just need the no bs cut-to-the chase recomendation as to whcih kind provides the best accuracy for a hunting rifle. I reload for 7mm-8, 30-06 and 300 Win Mag. I do not shoot competition but am willing to pay top dollar to get my guns to shoot the best they can. Thanks for your help.

I've tried several of their dies, and I have had great results from the S die set, which uses the bushing neck die, the body die, with the regular seater. If you want to spend a little more, go ahead and get the competition seater. It's a little easier to seat the bullet straight, but I've noticed if I use the 1/4 turn technique with the regular seater, I can easily keep runouts under .005". The key is having good straight brass to seat a bullet into, in the first place. This starts all the way back at your fired brass, and whether or not is is coming out on the chamber straight.

I have also used the bushing full length die, and although it works well, I seem to have the best luck with the neck die. When the bolt goes to closing hard, I just run them through the body die. This method seems to keep case trimming to a minimum. FWIW, and I hope this helps.

Steve

The only competition seating die I will bother with for my standard hunting rifles is the RCBS, and then only because it has an opening on the side through which one can drop the bullet.

Redding makes excellent dies, and I really like their deluxe set for bottleneck cartridges. These come in a set of three: FL resizing die, neck sizing die, and a seating die. It is less expensive to buy the set of three than buying a set of two and then adding a neck sizer.

The Redding Type S dies allow one to "custom" resize the necks for desired tension to accommodate particular brass neck thickness. For example, the '06 dies have S-bushing ranging from 0.331 to 0.339 inches in 0.001" increments.

The varying brass thickness comes about because of necessary manufacturing tolerances. Standard resizing dies must be manufactured to accommodate the thinnest brass within SAAMI specs, and this will often cause the necks of more or less standard brass cases to be overworked leading to stress distortion (i.e., uneven bullet grip and neck runout) and shorter case life (i.e., premature stress cracks along the neck).

Does any of this matter much? Not that I've seen, but I've only used the S-die on two of my cartridges -- the '06 and the .280 Remington. While all of my rifles are hunting-type rifles, all of them from the 6mm Remington to the .375 H&H will all hold MOA or better out to 300 yards with the tailored loads I make for them using more or less conventional dies from RCBS, Redding, and Lyman. My .45-70, Browning 1885 falling block (which I load for using a set of Redding dies), will hold 1-1/2 MOA out to 150 yards.

Still, tailoring the neck resizing with an S bushing might have more impact on accuracy and/or case life if my rifles were super accurate varmint or target rifles rather than hunting-type rifles.

I get the standard full length sizer and the seater for all of my rifles..IMO they are the best deal going.

I like to use the full length die until the round just chambers with a little resistance.


Mike

Thanks guys for the repsonses. Sounds like Redding make a quality product no matter what route you go.