die compatability

aawilson

aawilson

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Forgive my ignorance, but i am looking at various kits and presses, and was wondering if dies from one manufacturer woud fit another's press? For example, Lee dies in RCBS Rockchucker press... Is there a standardized size, thread etc, for dies?

thanks
 
Some of the Dillon presses require their own dies and will not take the standard ones although the 550b works with the standard dies. I believe the Lyman tong tool also requires special dies and the dies for the 50 cal BMG can require their own press because they are so large. Most of the standard calibers will interchange.
 
Bitumen said:
And avoid Lee dies...
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After 6000 rounds loaded using Lee dies my only complaint is they don't work well for cartridge conversions (like .30-06 to 8x57mm).

I've never had a decapping rod slip or break. I've never had a round I can't chamber and I've never had them gouge the brass (except when doing cartridge conversion.) I've full length resized several hundred nickle plated cases with no damage to the dies. An RCBS FL die I tried was ruined after a dozen or so nickle plated cases.
 
When I reload 45ACP on my Dillon 550 I use a combination of Lee, RCBS & dillon dies. They all work well together. Haters going to hate and some people have very bad experiences with all major brands. Frankly some of the stories I've read are so over the top I question if the people saying they broke a press or die "the first time" they tried it where smart enough to reload in the 1st place. Use them all, they ALL work.
 
LUTNIT said:
An RCBS FL die I tried was ruined after a dozen or so nickle plated cases.
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I can guarantee it had nothing to do with the dies, or the nickle plating, there had to be another factor involved, dirt, a metal shaving, what exactly happened to the FL Die?
 
Cleftwynd said:
I can guarantee it had nothing to do with the dies, or the nickle plating, there had to be another factor involved, dirt, a metal shaving, what exactly happened to the FL Die?
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Many people on these boards have warned about nickle plated cases scratching dies. I've just never had it happen with Lee dies (yet).

The neck of cases came out gouged with striations around the entire exterior. It worked for a couple dozen brass cases fine, was used for 10 or so nickle plated cases, and after that all brass cases came out with the necks highly textured with gouges. Every single case used was still sitting in the reloading tray and where quadruple checked with a magnet to make sure they weren't really steel. All had Winchester headstamps and where boxer primed. All cases where cleaned and lubed. Looking at the nickle plated cases showed a linear progression of worse and worse gouges from first to last. I had another RCBS FL resizing die have exactly the same thing after a friend put some "mystery" cases through it (I made a thread about it a few months back but my guess is he put steel cases through it to cause it.)

Some mentioned using polishing compound on the inside of the dies but I haven't gotten around to it yet.

*edit*
Did some googling and apparently the most common cause is brass or nickle deposits left in the neck portion of the sizing die scratching the cases. The die itself is normally unharmed. I will take the RCBS die I have that causes the neck scratches and soak it internally with copper solvent overnight. Brass is mostly copper so hopefully it can remove it. I can't actually see what colour the inside of the die is (just looks like polished steel to me) but maybe there is a slight brass colour (the reflections of the highly polished body section make it hard to tell colour).

Forgot to mention I also hand lube all my cases. I put a drop of RCBS case lube 2 on my thumb and apply it to the neck, shoulder, and upper half of the body of each case. It's labour intensive but I don't shoot high volume and it lets me feel for burrs, grit, or defects before it enters the die.
 
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Most of the problems shooters have with resizing dies comes from not setting die height correctly for their particular chamber. I use the Digital Headspace Gauge to accurately make this adjustment for my "particular" chamber. Very simple to operate, and it works on ALL different calibers without requiring special bushings or adapters.
 
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