Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles if starting over, which reloading dies?

If I was starting over, I'd have the knowledge of years of reloading. I assume that you mean regular dies for ordinary, off the shelf firearms. Every maker has good and not so good features.

I would buy buy whatever dies offered the best bang for the buck. I am definitely not brand loyal. I'd buy whatever's on sale, at a gun show, or Lee. You have to start somewhere, but most reloaders add other dies over time - extras like neck sizers, or additional seating dies for different bullet shapes. I know from looking at the dies on my shelf that they are a mix of five or six manufacturers.

But you want a simple answer. What dies would you buy?

I would start at the tables at gun shows. Dies can be had for much cheaper there, and some are brand new or lightly used. I wouldn't be brand specific. If I came across a set that I needed and they were inexpensive, I'd buy them. This is how I get additional seating dies and steel die rings. Even today, there are plenty of seating dies for $3 to $5 ea. There are a few dealers where I live that sell estate sale items.

Lee dies are the least expensive and work well. If I had to buy new from a place like Midway or Midsouth, I'd probably buy these. Lee doesn't make the best dies for every situation, but their collet and seating dies do a good job. And they include a shell holder. For me, their downside is the cheap, aluminum die rings.

I like Hornady's seater die with the floating sleeve. I also like their stackable die boxes. They are roomy, should you wish to store extra dies later. If I needed a new set and Hornady dies were on sale, I would be tempted to buy them.

RCBS, Redding, Forster all make good dies, but their prices are usually higher. Of the standard die sets, I do not think any of these stand out above the others. Especially for reloading hunting rifles.

Of course, your own preferences and prejudices take precedence.

I mostly make up a die set for a given caliber with mixed brands. Lee collet neck die, Forster seating die & a Redding body to bump shoulder back when needed.

If I were gonna go with one brand only, it would be Forster. Outstanding quality at reasonable price.

I have RCBS, Redding and Hornady.


If I had to start over, I would probably buy Hornady.

Redding sizing dies--even though some reason Redding won't put a vent hole in 'em,, and Forster seaters. I can't get my Forster sizing dies to make necks quite as straight as my Reddings.

Looks like I'm the only one that would make a substantial change. I've got mostly Redding, and quite a few RCBS. I would go with L E Wilson / Sinclair hand dies and Redding body dies. I'm slowly changing over to them. I don't have a complaint with Redding or RCBS, but I am able to reduce runout maybe because of the L E Wilson seaters, but maybe because of some other steps I've added to brass prep too. Looks like I'm on a limb by myself though.

You may the only person who would make a substantial change, but lastround asked about regular dies, not specialty dies.

Over the years, I have found that much of the prep and time that I used to invest, made no difference downrange with my hunting rifles. The difficulty with answering this question is what you use your firearms for - competition, hunting, or plinking. Requirements are different for each, as are people's perceptions of what must be done to shoot well enough to be successful.

One brand?

Forester.

Redding

Forester then Redding.

Not a lot of love here for hornady dies. All of the ones I have had worked great when set up properly. They very consistently bump shoulders back and their seating did does a great job of seating bullets straight and to a consistent length.

My choices are evolving over the winter . ( I actually have a WTB ad up now looking for dies ) Most of the dies I have are RCBS, but I have a few sets of Redding , only one Hornady set, and a few Lee collet dies. To do it all over again I'm sure I'd still have a few different brands, but for serious paper punching I am replacing the sizers I have with Forster FL sizer dies. I'll follow that by seating with a arbor press and L.E. Wilson seaters.

The Lee collet dies are a good bang for the buck, but you still have to shoulder bump now and then and I think with neck sizing you can get to a point that the case is to tight and is binding . I still feel FL sizing is the best way to go, but with a die neck honed to work with your specific size prepped brass, so i'm heading that direction. Reloading is something that you'll end up with 2 of everything in your quest of bettering your craft.

Forster is my first choice followed by Redding second.

Lee collets and Redding body dies

I have more disposable income now then when I started reloading, so I would go with Forester dies.

I moved away from a wall full of rcbs dies . I prefer Forster , followed by Redding . I use Lee collet neck dies and factory crimp dies .

Forster got it right with the expander location / setup . They will hone your neck to suit your brass for a minimal fee . To my knowledge they are still made is the USA , as well as Redding . I don't know about Lee ... but rcbs isn't anymore , if country or origin matters to you .



Forster co-ax press really made me happy as well , though I don't care to use it with the Lee collet dies due to the shell holder "jaws" setup

I use many brands of dies, mostly because I want to try each and see what advantages/disadvantages each has. All can produce very good, straight ammo if other aspects of handloading are adhered to.

The few dies that absolutely sucked were, oddly enough, RCBS dies made in the USA a few decades ago. For a while they made their FL resizing dies for many common cartridges by first reaming the case body, then reaming the case neck in a separate operation. As an example, they'd ream the ".30-06 bodies" in .25-06, 6.5-06, .270 Winchester, .30-06, .338-06 and .35 Whelen sizing dies, then later ream the neck portion, depending on demand.
They did the same with .308-bases rounds, and some others.

As a result, the neck portion could be out-of-line with the body portion of the FL die. I eventually ended up with three of these out-of-line sizing dies, which as you might imagine didn't tend to make very accurate ammo, before an older guy in the business informed of what the problem was. I was just getting into using a bullet concentricity gauge, and tested a few cases sized in each die, with the expander ball removed. Sure enough, the necks were measureably out-of-line with the case bodies.

One of these was a .358 Wincheer die purchased new in a sporting goods store in the late 1970's, and another an older .280 Remington purchased used at a gun show. But the one that really got to me was a CUSTOM .338-06 die, also ordered in the late 1970's, before the round became a SAAMI cartridge. I paid a pretty steep price for the .338-06 dies, when I was still going to college part-time and the price was a real stretch.

Anyway, for those who might pick up used dies at gun shows or garage sales, be forewarned. It's been a while since RCBS used this technique for making sizing dies, but they still show up now and then.

If Redding would put a relief hole in there die to relieve vacuum would prefer them, and a square side to use a wrench rather than pliers!

I prefer to use a Lee Collet die, then a Redding body die any more.

RCBS had those quality issues in the late 1970s. That was in the CCI, Speer, RCBS, Blount, Omark days, when those companies were buying and selling each other. Vernon Speer had just died. I bought a set of 30-06 RCBS dies that were crap. Once bitten, twice shy.

Even though that was a while ago, I haven't bought any RCBS die sets since, except for a 303 Epps set in the early 80s. There was quite a kerfuffle over RCBSes QC issues. The positive thing I took away from that experience was to pick and choose what went on my reloading bench. As a result, all of my die sets became a mix.

In the late 1970s, I came to appreciate Lee Loaders more. I had been using them for 7 or 8 years, but didn't realize that simple was often better.

I was almost shamed into ridding myself of the Lee Loaders I had, by other, older shooters. Thank goodness I kept them. The RCBS QC problem made me realize that it would be foolish to get rid of my LLs. They were well made and produced good ammunition. They were simpler and cheaper than traditional die sets, but as we all know, they were slower and only neck sized. That is not necessarily a disadvantage for everyone, but time marches on. I stopped using the LLs when Lee introduced the collet die.

Lee Collet die
Redding Body die
Forster Seating die
Lee Factory Crimp die

If I don't want to put that set together, then just buy a Lee 4-die Deluxe Set and be done with it.

Are you guys that are using Redding body dies and Lee collet dies bumping the shoulder back every time, or just when you "feel" it needs it?