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Joined: Feb 2009
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OP
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I want to buy a very good set of dies for the 45 70.
I have now a set of dillon dies and the lee FCD die.
Set up worked fine for cranking out fun target ammo for a lever gun. Back when I only owned a dillon press.
I now have a single stage press and a shiloh sharps on the way.
My purpose is still fun target shooting.
But the gun is going to be a lot more accurate.
Should I change up the dies?
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Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 17,305
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Jan 2008
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Nope. Dillon dies are very capable of making accurate ammo.
Screw you! I'm voting for Trump again!
Ecc 10:2
The heart of the wise inclines to the right, but that of a fool to the 24HCF.
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Campfire Tracker
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I can't think of any reason you would need anything fancy for a plain jane vanilla straight wall cartridge like that. Too many people give credit to the dies for making their gun accurate....it's really the other way around. Wait till you get your new gun.....if it's made right you won't need anything more than what you have.
BTW--do you have a concentricity gauge? I'm thinking the only way your dies could make inaccurate ammo is if it was not straight. Usually straight wall stuff turns out great with standard dies.
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Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 17,491
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
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If you're planning to load long cast bullets, RCBS makes the better expander die, at least of the three brands I own: RCBS, Lyman, and Hornady. For seating somewhat pointy bullets though, Hornady has the better seater stem (and RCBS, though they sent me two additional types gratis, still does not seat bullets like the Barnes 400 semi-spitzer soft point, at least not in slightly compressed loads, without flattening the bullet tip.
Sometimes, the air you 'let in'matters less than the air you 'let out'.
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Joined: Mar 2004
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Campfire Regular
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Joined: Mar 2004
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I use the RCBS cowboy dies for loading cast bullets, they don't size quite as much as their standard dies, and the expanding dies seem to work better for cast bullets, but I'm not sure why. very smooth to work with and very accurate. I shoot the Lyman 457122 gould bullet out of my 1886 Extra-lightweight.
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Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 196
Campfire Member
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Campfire Member
Joined: Feb 2006
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Sounds like you have a good combo to me. I have a set of Hornady dies and am looking to replace the seat die. Too much slop and I get non-concentric ammo. Got suckered into the free bullet offer when I bought the dies. I have a set of Lyman dies coming my way to compare against. The Lyman M-die is reported to be the best expander design on the market.
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Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 6,284
Campfire Tracker
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I started out with a set of Hornady New Dimension dies for my 45/70 - never could get tightly gripped bullets due to the fixed nature of the expanding die. Bought a set of the standard Redding three die set for the 45/70 and have had perfect performance with both lead and jacketed bullets ever since.
One of the sanest, surest, and most generous joys of life comes from being happy over the good fortune of others.
Archibald Rutledge
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Joined: Sep 2004
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Campfire Tracker
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Standard RCBS 45-70 dies will work just fine. At least, mine have for years.
μολὼν λαβέ
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Joined: Apr 2003
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Campfire Tracker
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The one additonal die you might consider for your straight-walled .45/70 cartridge case is a RCBS CARBIDE re-sizing die IF such a die is available (and I believe it is). With a CARBIDE re-sizing die, you do NOT have to LUBRICATE the case prior to re-sizing it which takes a lot of the effort and mess outta reloading the cartridge. The carbide die not only re-sizes the case with greater ease, it actually "polishes" the case as well... and since there is no messy lub to wipe off the case after re-sizing, it speeds up the reloading process a considerable amount and makes the whole process easier and considerably faster. The carbide re-sizing die is available as part of a new set for most straight-walled cases... or as an individual die alone. Jus' my 2 cents...  Strength & Honor... Ron T.
It's smart to hang around old guys 'cause they know lotsa stuff...
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Joined: Feb 2009
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Campfire Member
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OP
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Woops I actually have Hornady New Dimension dies.
Dillon does not make 45 70. My mistake.
Do guys neck size only for the 45 70???
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Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 37,087
Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Nov 2010
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The one additonal die you might consider for your straight-walled .45/70 cartridge case is a RCBS CARBIDE re-sizing die IF such a die is available (and I believe it is). With a CARBIDE re-sizing die, you do NOT have to LUBRICATE the case prior to re-sizing it which takes a lot of the effort and mess outta reloading the cartridge. The carbide die not only re-sizes the case with greater ease, it actually "polishes" the case as well... and since there is no messy lub to wipe off the case after re-sizing, it speeds up the reloading process a considerable amount and makes the whole process easier and considerably faster. The carbide re-sizing die is available as part of a new set for most straight-walled cases... or as an individual die alone. Jus' my 2 cents... Strength & Honor... Ron T. The 45-70 is NOT a straight walled case, although I could see how one may come to that conclusion. If you look carefully at a case, you'll see what I'm talking about. There are no carbide 45-70 dies on the market and for that reason. You can buy neck sizing dies for the 45-70. In fact, I have one made by Redding. Everything else you said about carbide dies is true... DF
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Joined: Apr 2003
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Campfire Tracker
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My mistake... thanx for the correction. It sure looks "straight-walled" to me... but I don't have a 45/70 and have never reloaded for a .45/70 during the almost 50 years I've been reloading. Sorry for the mis-information.  Ron T.
It's smart to hang around old guys 'cause they know lotsa stuff...
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Joined: Jul 2001
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Campfire Kahuna
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Campfire Kahuna
Joined: Jul 2001
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There are a bunch of good .45-70 dies out there, but there are differences. Lately I have been having my best luck with Redding Competition dies.
“Montana seems to me to be what a small boy would think Texas is like from hearing Texans.”
John Steinbeck
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Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 21,953
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 21,953 |
The one additonal die you might consider for your straight-walled .45/70 cartridge case is a RCBS CARBIDE re-sizing die IF such a die is available (and I believe it is). With a CARBIDE re-sizing die, you do NOT have to LUBRICATE the case prior to re-sizing it which takes a lot of the effort and mess outta reloading the cartridge. The carbide die not only re-sizes the case with greater ease, it actually "polishes" the case as well... and since there is no messy lub to wipe off the case after re-sizing, it speeds up the reloading process a considerable amount and makes the whole process easier and considerably faster. The carbide re-sizing die is available as part of a new set for most straight-walled cases... or as an individual die alone. Jus' my 2 cents... Strength & Honor... Ron T. The 45-70 is NOT a straight walled case, although I could see how one may come to that conclusion. If you look carefully at a case, you'll see what I'm talking about. There are no carbide 45-70 dies on the market and for that reason. You can buy neck sizing dies for the 45-70. In fact, I have one made by Redding. Everything else you said about carbide dies is true... DF Can't think of a die set for carbide that IS for a straight walled case; just about all of them have some taper.
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Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 490
Campfire Member
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Campfire Member
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If you're planning to load long cast bullets, RCBS makes the better expander die, at least of the three brands I own: RCBS, Lyman, and Hornady. For seating somewhat pointy bullets though, Hornady has the better seater stem (and RCBS, though they sent me two additional types gratis, still does not seat bullets like the Barnes 400 semi-spitzer soft point, at least not in slightly compressed loads, without flattening the bullet tip. UniqueTek has a 'tip' for using a glue gun to make a custom bullet seating stem. You can get it from their website-they have a kind of funky process though. You send them an email requesting the tip and they email it back to you. Not sure why they do it that way, but that's what's required. If that's a problem, PM me and I'll try to email you a Word document with the tip.
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Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 37,087
Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 37,087 |
The one additonal die you might consider for your straight-walled .45/70 cartridge case is a RCBS CARBIDE re-sizing die IF such a die is available (and I believe it is). With a CARBIDE re-sizing die, you do NOT have to LUBRICATE the case prior to re-sizing it which takes a lot of the effort and mess outta reloading the cartridge. The carbide die not only re-sizes the case with greater ease, it actually "polishes" the case as well... and since there is no messy lub to wipe off the case after re-sizing, it speeds up the reloading process a considerable amount and makes the whole process easier and considerably faster. The carbide re-sizing die is available as part of a new set for most straight-walled cases... or as an individual die alone. Jus' my 2 cents... Strength & Honor... Ron T. The 45-70 is NOT a straight walled case, although I could see how one may come to that conclusion. If you look carefully at a case, you'll see what I'm talking about. There are no carbide 45-70 dies on the market and for that reason. You can buy neck sizing dies for the 45-70. In fact, I have one made by Redding. Everything else you said about carbide dies is true... DF Can't think of a die set for carbide that IS for a straight walled case; just about all of them have some taper. You are right. Even the straight walled cases have some taper. Otherwise, they'd be hard to load and extract. But, as you well know, cases like the .357, .44's, .45's, etc., are referred to as "straight walled". The 45-70 looks kinda like that, but isn't.
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Joined: Jun 2007
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Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
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I use steel dies for all of those too!
I have used RCBS dies for 45/70 and have to agree, the seater plugs fit RCBS moulds and bullets well, be not a lot of the customs of other makes.
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