For those of you that reload for it, which brand of reloading dies do you use?

Thanks in advance.

Redding first chkice and RCBS second choice.

I have/use Lyman dies its what was available at the time...

I used Hornaday dies for a while and just hated them. Got some RCBS and they are OK, somewhat better, but neither die set can be screwed down to anywhere near the shellholder and really full length re size properly. I shoot this rifle so little that I have learned to live with the poor dies but want to get and try some Redding Dies for this caliber someday.

Newer dies from Hornaday or RCBS might work fine, but my two sets are not so great.

79S,

Any issues with the Lyman dies?

Many thanks to all that answered.

When I had my Dakota I used RCBS dies with Norma brass and never had a problem.

This.

RCBS,no problem as of yet. Early 90's vintage dies and federal brass.

I use lyman dies. It took me some trial, error and a few collapsed shoulders but I finally got it. What I learned may seem obvious but I will share any way.
-If the cases are previously fired polish them first and use
a 416 brush in the neck after polishing.
-Use plenty of case lube.
-Also use graphite neck lube.
-pick a powder charge that is near or over 100% this will help keep the bullets in place during recoil.
-crimp slowly and carefully and a little at a time paying close attention to the shoulder angle. This step is where I goofed up the most. I ended up buying A-Squares's "Any Shot You Want" book and found their crimping section very helpful.
Shoot alot.... The more you shoot the more you reload!!!

RCBS, never had a problem. Crimped good enough to hold onto even heavy loads.

RCBS, although crimping only works with Federal nickel brass for me.

Crimped using jamison brass.

Redding, and enough H-4350 to push the 350 gr TSX's to a comfortable and accurate 2750 fps.

Gunner

ALL my dies are RCBS with the sole exception of a set of 257 Reddings and 450/400 Hornady's. Have never had a problem with any of them and that is for over 17 different calibers. Most of my 416 Rigby brass was BeLL (Mast) and Norma. Had no problems with either case. All shot in a CZ550 custom. All used in Africa with good results.

ALL my dies are RCBS with the sole exception of a set of 257 Reddings and 450/400 Hornady's. Have never had a problem with any of them and that is for over 17 different calibers. Most of my 416 Rigby brass was BeLL (Mast) and Norma. Had no problems with either case. All shot in a CZ550 custom. All used in Africa with good results. Bullets were all Woodleigh's. Either solids or softs.

I'm using a new RCBS set.

No issues and I'm getting lonnnnng case lfe.

As a matter of fact, yes I have problems with my Lyman 416 dies. The sizer will not screw down into the press all the way. It gets tight and stops at a certain depth. It's almost as though the threads are tapered and oversized at the top. They were on sale so I made them work with a little force, but that sizer is very tight. Glad i didn't ruin my old JR3 press. I'd hate to replace that.

I've been using Lyman dies for my Rigby and have never had any problems and I do crimp my reloads. One suggestion is to seat/crimp in two steps. First set your die to seat to the proper length without crimping then adjust your die to crimp without seating. Much better than trying to seat and crimp at the same time.

Warning about the generic Hornady 416 New Dimension, seating dies. I reload a wildcat made from 375 Ruger virgin brass cases. I have a set of Lyman 416 Rigby F.L. dies, and it works with trimming the sizer back .300". The seater works right out of the orange box. I also have a set of custom wildcat Hornady New Dimension reloading dies. Both seating dies leave my undersized cases unsupported at the shoulders. Too much crimping can and does buckle my shoulders.

My Ruger parent cases are much tougher than many of the Rigby ones. I have the complete case forming set to size down from the Ruger Basic Brass. I just run a loaded (buckled) round through one form die to iron out the buckled shoulders. Now I run every loaded round through it just to make sure they will all chamber.

With the different Rigby brass cases being what they are, I would suggest staying with the older RCBS, ect. sets of reloading dies. These support the shoulders much better than do the Hornady New Dimension variety. You may not notice this, but my custom chamber and reloading dies are so close, that any bulging or buckling will stop a round from chambering. I designed in the very same half inch long neck, as the factory 416 Rigby. This is why I can do most, but not all of the reloading process with the Lyman dies, made for the larger diameter Rigby's. I can't full Length resize, but only neck size, expand, seat, and crimp, with my Lyman dies.

My custom New Dimension Hornady wildcat dies, do full length resize, but their generic sleeved seater, by definition, can't fully support any of the .416 family of case shoulders. I hope that making you aware of this problem will prevent it from biting you, in the future.

Remember that with the large tough bullets in a .416, you can't effectively run a loaded and crimped round back through your F.L. sizing die, to iron out buckled shoulders. With my forming die which only touches the tapered case bodies, it is a snap. This die has a faux neck, which is about 11mm, to hold the necks against the hack saw blades. It is also a file trim die. So I run the cases through my .416 F.L. die, and then after I crimp the bullets in, I run every loaded round back through this taper only forming die. After firing, there is no visible bump at the case head, body junction. Any problems with the buckled shoulders are negated by the accuracy of the sleeve, in seating those bullets, inline. One other concern is that the preferred Lyman dies have a bare few thousandth's, step up to the expanding button. The Hornady New Dimension dies have elliptical expander buttons, and will deal with dented case mouths, and such.

Indy and et al,

Thank you for the info. My RCBS dies just arrived today. Will (carefully) play with them this weekend.

Hi Sojerguy, Remember, the only way to get your dies to seat true, is to bottom them out on the shell holder before you tighten down the locking nut. On my 416 Rigby seating die, this won't work, as the seater is shorter. I don't know about the RCBS seating die. It may pay in the long run to buy a generic Hornady New Dimension sleeve seating die. Then you can always run a buckled case back into your RCBS seater, which will have enough clearance for a crimped bullet, if you just back off the seating stem. This 416 caliber seems to have a balance between inline seating, and support for the shoulders. One gives wonderful accuracy, and the other gives super reliability. But if you get superb accuracy with the RCBS dies, why bother going further? I found some canadian Rigby cases which were really soft, compared to the Federal Rigbys. So you may have to shop around for the right cases to reload with your new die set. Some, but not all of these 416 cal. boomers, are wickedly accurate. If you can just hold them down.

Strangely enough, with all my specialty ammo, (22 K-hornet, 300 Whisper, 338-08 {had it made 3 years before the 33 Fed came along}, 9.3x74R, and the .375 HnH), I've always de-primed prior to resizing, use a Lyman "M" die for neck belling, and a Lee hand prime, all before charging the case.

This has given me excellent accuracy, consistent (to my mind a t least) bullet pull and piece of mind.

None of the above rounds listed above get shot up in the several hundred per week, so though this process is slower, it works for me.

I'll likley use the same procedures for my .416.

Lee makes a factory crimp die for the rigby but it has oversize 1-1/4x12 threads and only fits in their Classic Cast press. I would get the works if I shot my Rigby a lot. Here's a link:

http://leeprecision.com/416-rigby-custom-factory-crimp-die.html

Big Redhead,
Thanks for your post. last I checked I was to send them a dummy 416 rigby round to their custom shop and the would build me a Factory Crimp Die. I just never got around to it. After reading your post I ordered one!