9mm Die Set

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Nickhoffmeier

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Edmonton, AB
I'm going to be picking up a set of 9mm dies. I found the Lee set for $47 and a RCBS set for $107. I'm going to be using these on a single stage for now and need a little wisdom to help me choose. I will eventually be making 1000-1500 rounds a month. Is the extra money worth it? Should I be looking at something else?

Can you also recommend your favourite reloading guide too please. I have the Nosler, but more reference material is always better.
 
The redding expander die copies the Lyman type "M" die.

Redding 3-Die Set 9mm Luger $47.49
http://www.midwayusa.com/product/397560/redding-3-die-set-9mm-luger

The "step" in this type Redding expander assures the bullets will be seated straight.


mtype_zpsd7a1881f.jpg
 
I got the lee delux 4-die sets for all my calibers(9/40/45/357mag/44spl/44mag) on my dillon 550 and very happy with them.
the only con I can see is the cosmetic coke shape ammo(not much on 9mm, but very obvious on 40s&w and 45acp) which means it works the brass rather hard. when talking to LEE, they suggested me to partially sizing the brass if I care about that too much.
well, I got over it and since the brass(9/40/45) are all free from range, I don't care about the life span either, but so far, for the a few thousands I reloaded, haven't had a bad brass because of the resizing.
so, for these reasons, I would say LEE.

as for the reloading manuals, technically you only need the one from the same powder manufacturer as the powder you use. Then for me, I just like cross-reference, so even though all my powders are from hodgdon(all their data are online for free), I still got paper copy of hornady and lyman on my reloading desk right beside my machine for easy referencing. and for the sake of it, I even bought hodgdon yearly reloading magazine that has the same data as online. I got most of my useful data from hornady and hodgdon, some odd ones from lyman. oh.. and since I am using campro bullets and they do provide data online and through email request too. that's one of my official sources as well.

and the last, but not least, here we have lots of reloading gurus. I got tons great info from them.

with all these, I think you are set for all the reloading fun! Cheers!

if to learn the basic, I think everyone would recommend the abc of reloading.


Nickhoffmeier said:
I'm going to be picking up a set of 9mm dies. I found the Lee set for $47 and a RCBS set for $107. I'm going to be using these on a single stage for now and need a little wisdom to help me choose. I will eventually be making 1000-1500 rounds a month. Is the extra money worth it? Should I be looking at something else?

Can you also recommend your favourite reloading guide too please. I have the Nosler, but more reference material is always better.
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I use the Lee dies as well, Ive made 1500 rounds of 9mm over the course of about three evenings, They work well in my turret press or single stage. Once set up nicely in the press, they work very smooth.
 
I started with the Hornady 3-die set but had some problems with the sizing die. I was finding (and was not alone on this) that the die would not create enough tension on most jacketed bullets (BDX, Hornady) and switched to a Lee U-die for sizing. This only happened when I would use the Federal family of brass (Federal, Blazer, CCI, Speer). Anyways when I switched to the undersize die all those problems stopped.

I still use my Hornady sizing die when I'm loading Berry's bullets as they seem a slight bit wider and makes a better fit over my Lee undersize die. Easier to operate the press too.

I've spoken to a lot of people who use Dillon dies and have nothing but good things to say about them.

As for loading manuals; you can save a lot of money searching the internet. All the powder manufacturers have information posted online that you can use for free.

Finally, I don't know how much time you have on your hands, but I would consider a progressive press when loading pistol rounds. I can't imagine going through every step one by one.
 
My vote is for the Lee dies. My carbide dies have 5,000+ rounds and show no signs of wear. One great thing about the Lee dies is that they have a separate crimping die that also resizes the seated round to ensure that it chambers properly.
 
burnaby said:
Prefer the LEE 4 piece handgun dies for all my handguns. The only exception is the Lyman M expander die for 357 cast bullets to ease the seating lead bullets into the tall skinny case.
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I have the Lee four die 9mm set, a RCBS 9mm carbide three die set and a Hornady 9mm three die set and a Lyman type M die for 9mm. The Lee four die set is great BUT some brands of brass are thicker and it helps to open the case mouth with a type M die with jacketed bullets. I have a Redding die set for my Glock .40 with its type M expander that comes standard with their pistol dies.

typeM_zpsab079dc2.jpg


The type M die expander creates a step and does not over expand the case mouth even if your pistol brass is not trimmed to the same length.

I even use a type M expander when reloading jacketed bullets for my AR15 A2 HBAR because it reduces bullet runout when seating bullets


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Bottom line, type M dies are not just for cast bullets and Redding now uses this type expander with all its pistol dies. "BUT" for the price the Lee four die set is a great buy for "jacketed bullets". But you will also hear cast bullet shooters cursing the carbide factory crimp die for over sizing the case with lead bullets.
 
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