Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Does anyone have any feedback on these?

I recently bought a T/C venture in 6.5x284 Norma and I need some dies. I usually by Lee dies and I refuse to buy Chinese RCBS. I have it narrowed down to the following dies and was wondering if people here could give some feedback to them in the calibers you load for.


Graf & Sons - REDDING 6.5MM/284 WIN FL SET 2-DIE SERIES B

Graf & Sons - FORSTER 6.5MMx284 WIN FL SIZER & BR SEATER SET


thanks for the feedback.;)

I load about twenty or twenty-five calibers, rifle and handgun and probably half my dies are Redding. Any time I buy new dies now I buy Redding. I like them better than any others I've used.

Can't go wrong with either. Redding's customer service is great. Never had to use the other. Most of my dies are Redding. Several of my other tools are Forster.

Very happy with both.

Redding & Redding & Redding & ............................ing

LC

Believe your money is well spent on Redding.

Been an RCBS man since 1978, and always well satisfied. But, my last die set was a Redding .223 deluxe set, with both FL and neck sizer dies. I am impressed with the quality, and will buy Redding in the future.

I probably reload for as many differant firearms as cra1948, and the last 12-16 die sets I have had made by CH-4D. Excellent quality, and ya know that they are made in the U.S.A.
Twink

Redding.


Travis

Lachmiller...

Redding are good dies.

For my 6.5-284, I use a Lee neck sizing collet die and have a Redding body die to use when the case gets tight to chamber. I use a Wilson seater, cut with the chamber reamer. Then, I check concentricity with a Sinclair tool, using a Tru Tool to correct any runout over .002". Most don't need fixing.

This rifle, a custom pre-64 M-70 with Bordens Bumps, Jewell trigger and 26" Kreiger #4, shoots teens and twos at a hundred and 4 1/2" at 600 with Z5 3.5-18x44 BT. I shoot 140 gr. Bergers at 3,000 fps with RL-17.

DF

When did RCBS start making their dies in China?

DF

Reddings are great but so is the Forester BR seater. Eabco.com usually has Reddings for a good price.

Thanks for the info fellas.

dirtfarmer,
I would like to know where you found 6.5x284 anything from Lee. I don't see that caliber listed anywhere in thier inventory.

Please say this isn't so...

Only the electric parts and some castings are made in China. Everything else including dies are made about an hour away from me in Oroville California. Bear

I see Thanks

Being you mention it, I must have sent a case for a custom neck sizing collet die. Been a while, so I can't specifically remember. If not listed, then that's what happened.

The mandrel type neck sizer along with a Redding body die is an nice combo. I wanted to avoid the expander being dragged back thru the case neck. There are other ways to do that.

DF

The only Lee die for the 6.5-284 that I can find listed is a factory crimp die.


Oops.

I failed to account for the shoulder diameter of the 6.5-284 case vs the shoulder diameter reamed into the 6.5x55 collet.

If the 6.5x55 collet die is used to neck size a 6.5-284 case, the shoulder of the 6.5-284 case is likely to mushroom. The effect will be worsened if the collet is shortened as I described above.

An unmodified 6.5x55 collet can work with the 6.5-284 case if a spacer is put between the shell holder and the bottom opening of the collet. A simple spacer can be a washer with an opening large enough for the case body. The washer-spacer should be about 0.025-0.030" thick.

The result is that about 0.07 of the case neck will be unsized, rather than the 0.04" described above.

--Bob

A thumbs up on theCH-4D dies. I have die sets from Lee, RCBS, Redding, Herters, Pacific, Hornady. And some I'm not even sure of. Most of my RCBS dies are older ones and I have been leaning away from some of the Lee sets I have. I have had to order repair parts from CH and they were great to do business with and the products were priced well and well made. Will most surely purchase more from them in the future.

Redding FL rifle dies do not have an air bleed hole like the RCBS dies do and are more likely to dent shoulders.

In fact that happened to me recently when I reached for some .300 Win. Mag. die and I have both Redding and RCBS. The Redding Fl die dented the shoulder on the first pass.

Most of the newer dies I have are RCBS. I used Lyman since 1953 and got my first RCBS press in the early 60's. I have a RCBS A2 and a Supreme.

I called Redding a few years ago and they were rude.