Any idea where I can get 257 Wby dies?

c-fbmi said:
All good seating dies align the neck with the seating stem.......they do not actually touch the neck but have a couple thou clearance. Most dies that do not align the bullet and neck are junk in my opinion and one should check the run out when using these type of seaters as it is usually atrocious. Check out some benchrest micrometer seating dies..........you'll see what I am talking about. I use RCBS dies for each specific cartridge and have had great success with good to excellent accuracy across the board...........
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What if you have thinner brass? That couple of thou turns into 10-15 thou clearance and you are in the same boat as the other die brands where there is no neck support.
Personally for hunting applications I don't think the floating type seater is any better or worse for accurate rounds. Benchrest would be a different story.
 
I can understand your point about using a different die for seating, just make sure it's for the same caliber or you are actually seeking runout. For example use one that is for .257 bullets if seating .257 bullets, not .257 bullets in a die made for .284 bullets. Dies are made to keep the bullet in line with the case, and using too large of a seater can allow the bullet to cant, the greater the difference the greater the chance for runout, or even a messed up case.
 
Forget it Cleftwynd, he obviously knows way more than I do about loading and dies and runout and such.............just another reason why I post less and less............I'll leave these sites to the experts.
 
c-fbmi said:
Forget it Cleftwynd, he obviously knows way more than I do about loading and dies and runout and such.............just another reason why I post less and less............I'll leave these sites to the experts.
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I thought all the serious pro's use Redding and Forester dies....not RCBS. Lol
Anyway, it was a simple question about using a different seater die, I had ordered the set from Brownells which went AWOL, and still not 100% sure the set from Cabellas is even in the mail yet. Never had so much ####ing trouble getting a set of dies in my life.....
 
Cleftwynd said:
I can understand your point about using a different die for seating, just make sure it's for the same caliber or you are actually seeking runout. For example use one that is for .257 bullets if seating .257 bullets, not .257 bullets in a die made for .284 bullets. Dies are made to keep the bullet in line with the case, and using too large of a seater can allow the bullet to cant, the greater the difference the greater the chance for runout, or even a messed up case.
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I think as long as the seater is on the ogive of the bullet when seating it's probably fine. I'd have to smoke a bullet and see where the 7mm seater is making contact. I do have 6mm and 6.5mm seating dies of the same brand that I could swap plugs in to try as well.
If I ever get one of the actual 257wby die sets I ordered I'll do a comparison and post some pics. I seriously doubt the contact area varies much when going up or down one caliber, 2 might be pushing it. Too big or too small would have it seating with the tip and not the ogive which would not be ideal lol
 
.257<.264<.277<.284. That's a large gap. There is also a good chance the seater will push on the tip. Guaranteed it's nowhere near the ogive. The only bullets I have on hand in .257 are flat nose for the 25-35, so I can not measure vs a 7mm seater and post competently on that with proof.
 
Here is a 162gr 7mm pill in the 7mm seater for reference.

117gr .257 in 7mm seater.

Same bullet in 6.5 seater.

Same in 6mm

The tip didn't bottom out on any of them, but the 6mm was making contact very close to it. The seater is drilled out in a way that the tips are protected, like a funnel but with a deeper middle section.
The 6.5 and 7mm would work fine IMHO...
 
Yeah.....so now I have 2 sets of dies and a 3rd on the way....faaacck. Lol
As of Saturday I had no confirmation that the Cabellas RCBS order was a go, they didn't charge my card, no email confirmation, they did say it would be 24-48hrs before they could get Edmonton to send the dies to Calgary to ship them out, if the dies were still there. So I figured that just wasn't going to happen, no charge, no call, no email...they show up yesterday in the mail.
Brownells Hornady order placed Feb 3rd that went to the UK was presumed lost, they gave me a refund, tracking hadn't changed and still said "UK FOR PROCESSING" since Feb 6th, well they show up in the mail today.
Saturday I made a deal with a nice CGN fellow for a set of lightly used RCBS dies, he was super fast and got them in the mail about an hour after I sent the EMT. So I was happy to have one set confirmed, in the mail, arriving this week.
On top of that, I much prefer the RCBS FL die over the Hornady....much less drag over the expander, didn't touch the body of new Hornady brass at all just the neck, while the Hornady die bumped the shoulder and touched the body so I suspect it's sizing more then necessary.
But the RCBS basic seater die is pretty lame..fixed rigid stem, lock nut so not easy to adjust. The Hornady is pretty nice.... Floating stem, sliding neck guide, finger adjustable depth.
I guess I'll have to do a shoot off and keep whatever ones make the better ammo lol
 
So the RCBS FL dies won out over the Hornady...The HRN loaded ammo shot right and low compared and larger groups every time.
Looks like my set will be RCBS FL, Hornady seater, and Redding neck die....take the best stuff and sell the rest lol
 
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