Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Best reloading dies?

Agree
Jim

Lee, Lee, Lee and Lee.

Lee for me, with the occasional Redding body die.

I’ve got about everything on the shelf, but most of my die boxes are a mix.

This trio is probably my favorite. Forster comp seater, Lee collet and a Redding body . Tough to beat for my needs.

roundoak,

Yeah, I had some Herter's dies as well. Heard years later they were RCBS seconds, but dunno if that was true. But had really suck luck with one set of .243 dies.

Do know that for a while in the 1970's, RCBS was saving money by reaming sizing-die bodies first, for cartridges based on the same basic case, such as .308 or .30-06. Then they'd ream the necks later, depending on how many order they got for particular cartridges.

I know this because I bought two sets of RCBS dies in the 1970's that had the necks of the full-length sizers measurably out of alignment with the body of the die. This was proven by taken once-fired brass, which measured pretty much absolutely straight, then running it through the FL sizer with a expander, decapper rod removed. This pissed me off, since one of the dies was a "custom" set of .338-06 dies, which I spent quite a bit of money on while still in college. They corrected that production mistake a few years later.

When I first started reloading in the 70's I bought a set of Herters Worlds Best 30-06 dies . I got a manual and loaded a dozen or so before I pushed a bullet down into the case with my thumb and it fell inside.
I went to visit the town's reloading guru and he pointed out that the expanding ball was too big. After he helped me turn it down with some sandpaper to the correct diameter for the 308 bullets, I started using those dies for many years-----until I went big time with RCBS and Redding.
I think the quality of the cheap reloading presses floating around we responsible for a lot of the die troubles.

Ken

for the average Joe.......

Forster or Redding

Lee offers some good choices too

I'm same way.....mix & match......

Forster......Redding......Lee

they all have good options.....

Lee is good......but

The Redding bushing dies FL or neck are great...

for example...necking down a 222 to 20/222

or a 223 to 20 Practical

221 FB to 20 Vartarg

all super p/dog cartridges

A lot of it depends on how much nit-picky stuff he wants to get involved in.

I do a lot of mixing/matching dies myself, but most just want to buy dies and start loading.

I've used them all, including less common ones like Neil Jones, Wilson, and R.F. Wells. Everyone make good dies most of the time, or that's been my experience since the mid-'60s.

What JG said.

You can spend more, but this combo will produce some of the most concentric ammo possible.

I like the Deluxe Lee set which comes with 4 dies, neck sizer, FL sizer, seater and factory crimp die. Not a fan of their FL sizer; it makes a great body die by grinding out the die neck to clear the case neck. Cheaper than buying a Redding body die.

Now, my favorite seater is the Forester with floating bullet guide. Have Wilson seaters with arbor press for some rounds. I check and correct run out, certain rounds, not all.

Saw your post after posting mine.

Exactly what I was saying.

I like your powder choices, too.

DF

I use a set of Bonanza Match Dies for my 222 Rem. They came with the rifle when I traded for it.

Are there many Bonanza dies around anymore? They have that floating bullet guide that pinches my fingers if I don't watch it!

Ken

I continue to check for runout, but since using Lee Collet dies the TruAngle tool sees little or no use.

Most of my dies are Lee. That said, most of what I buy are Redding.

roundoak,

At least as much depends on brass quality as dies.

Bought my first set of Redding dies in 1991, partly due to the recommendation of a custom riflemaker, a standard FL/seater set for the 7mm Remington Magnum. Have been using them a lot for around 6 weeks, due to an upcoming article on new powders and bullets for that cartridge. Very few of the loaded rounds have exceeded .002 in bullet run-out, due to the consistent dimensions (especially neck-thickness) of the brass used. Which is FAR more common these days than it was back when I bought the dies.....

For bottleneck rifle I use RCBS and Redding sizing dies and my seaters are Hornady. Handgun dies are Hornady, I altered the expander to a powder thru design and mounted an RCBS Little Dandy measure to it.

I like the quality of Redding.
10 seconds with them, and you can tell they machine with pride.
Never had any bushing dies, just standard and neck sizer.

Hornady New Dimension's have been nice, until I broke a depriming stem.
Had to call them and order it, none around here. A bit expensive, i bought 2.

RCBS, is the standard to me.

Lee, honestly I would judge them as junk on first appearance. And I did.
But, since I had bought them, I used them and they work fine.
Got a collet with my 6.5 Sweede , I have a hard time trusting the collet
to size enough. It left me with some loose bullets once, I guess I should measure
neck diameter after sizing. Just to check.

Lyman, similar to RCBS, seem a step behind, dont know why.