Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Die recommendations

What’s the consensus us on rifle dies these days. Almost all mine are RCBS, but I haven’t bought any in 30 or 40 years.

I just purchased a “budget “ rifle in a new-to-me cartridge (which shall remain unnamed ) and wondering if a particular brand stands out. THANKS

Redding.

For whatever reason I haven't had any luck with RCBS dies.

If you're just looking to reload, then RCBS is good stuff. I have a lot of their equipment and no complaint. But if you want the moa stuff then Redding is my go to especially in the bullet seating.

Redding mostly but have a few sets of RCBS dies that do the trick.

I use plain ol RCBS for .30-30 and .375 Winchester, but for my bolt guns it's Lee Collet dies for neck sizing, Redding body dies when needed, and Forster Benchrest seaters. If collet dies are unavailable for a cartridge I'll use bushing neck die. Haven't ordered a custom collet die, yet.

Lee has been rising thru the ranks ...
give them a good look before you pull the trigger... no pun intended.

Forster fan here.

Yep.

I'm not a fan of run out, so I'm a Forster fan as well.

Me too.

John

I just started using some Forster dies a couple of years ago and have been impressed so far. Not to hijack the thread but has anyone tried their neck bump dies? They sound like a great idea to me. Other than that, it's RCBS and Redding.

My favorite. Redding a close second. Hasbeen

For small to medium bores where I'm trying to get maximum accuracy, I generally buy an inexpensive RCBS or Lee sizer to start. If there's a Forester seater available, I'll buy that - great dies. If not I'll get a cheap seater too. Then in either case I'll make some fired cases and order a micrometer bushing sizer from Whidden and a seater too if Forester doesn't make one.

I almost always use a Lee factory crimp die. I've noticed no variation in accuracy or maximum safe velocity, powder charges go down a hair (making more case space), and the mechanical robustness of the ammo goes way up compared to just a couple thousandths neck tension.

I avoid Redding seaters because I'm sick of them not hardening them and then bitching when people want to shoot compressed loads. It's not 1957, powders have gotten slower, and Redding needs to get with the times.

Forster benchrest die sets are my default choice.

Anybody use the the RCBS competition dies ?
The gold medal seating die looks good , bullet drops into the Die from a side window and rides in a sleeve keeping it entering the case straight thoughout the seating stroke .

What's this all about?

I have some of the first they introduced. Came in wooden boxes. You can change the sleeve and stem and use the same body for different calibers. I like the Forster dies better.

The regular RCBS Competition seaters have not produced runout numbers quite as good as the Forster and Redding sliding support sleeve dies. The Gold Medal RCBS description mentions a floating and self centering bullet seating system, and I haven't used that version to compare.

Forster
Redding
RCBS

In that order

I mostly have RCBS, a few Redding, a couple Hornady dies.

Almost all of my reloading dies are RCBS dies. Redding are fine, and I have some of them, too. I use RCBS competition seating dies in some calibers, and I have an old Vickerman seater I use for the 30-06. I like and use Lee Factory Crimp dies for much of my ammo reloading. RCBS customer service has been top notch in my experience.

Jerseyboy-How do you like that Vickernan? I've been considering one for my Roberts but have not researched it.

Forester Or Redding competition dies

Forster is my pick for seating, shoulder bump, and resizing. I also get a lee collet die for each new rifle. I get them separate but if it only comes with the Lee seater I turn that into a bump dye like Dirt Farmer. I think the RCBS competition seater is not worthwhile, they are convenient especially with small 17 caliber bullets but the run out was higher than even a Lee seater at least for me.

I do have a mix of a number of brands. Haven't had any issues with Forster or Hornady seaters, I prefer the seaters with a sliding sleeve, they do seem to work better. Where I can, I have replaced my neck dies with the Forster neck bushing/bump die, they work well for me, quite convenient, have 4 or 5 of them now, would be nice if they made a bigger selection. Only once had an issue with an RCBS, had the wrong sizing ball in it right off the bat, easy fix. I like oddball cartridges, so I have to get what dies I can for them, really never had any issues with what I've picked up, usually RCBS., occasionally Redding, usually used ones. For the ones I can't get a bushing die for, I have taken to using a neck die with no button and Sinclair expanders where possible.

I use mostly......

Redding body die
Lee collett neck die
Forster benchrest seater

If I had it to do over it would possibly be ......

Forster Benchrest Bushing Bump Neck Die
Forster Benchrest Seater

The first recommendation has the advantage if you need to full length size used brass for a different chamber but would be easy to just add a Redding body die if needed to the Forster set below


Trystan

It also has the advantage of being a collet neck die rather than a bushing die...

The type S full length bushing dies are nice as they can be used as a neck size only, fL sizer, or a bump die using an oversized bushing. When possible I get a seating die reamed with the same one used for the chamber, this usually produces low run out.

Does anyone else think this is BS, or is there something I do not know that I obviously SHOULD know? Does this have something to do with an alleged weakness of Redding's version of the sliding sleeve competition seater?

Puzzled me so much I felt dizzy , yeah .

Direct from Redding's website:

Thanks mathman...I thought it had something to do with the competition seater. I think there's a nub or projection in that die somewhere that can cause issues, but I've never examined one and always chose Forster for that type of die.

Standard Redding seaters never gave me any such problem and I've done some heavily compressed loads with them.

I like RCBS dies as good as any, I have Redding, Lee and RCBS dies and for my purpose I dont see much difference in any of them.....Most of my reloading equipment is also RCBS, but if I were in the market for a new press id get a Redding Big Boss single stage 👍.......Hb

Just about all the dies made now are serviceable. The better ones do have tighter tolerances in general but if set up properly it might be difficult to prove the superiority of one over another. A target rifle could but the typical hunting rifle there would be too many other variables to test which is better.

The seating dies are where the variations in run out come into play with some designs better than others. The was an extensive test done on seating dies maybe on accurate shooter that showed a wide range of results for run out.

I can't imagine compressing a load enough to damage even an unhardened seater die. The stem maybe but if that compressed you are asking for other issues as well.

Forster