Dies. Does brand name make a difference?
- Thread starter Brianma65
- Start date
on the remark about Lee's locking ring(lock nut), I replaced them with the ones from Dillon which is very slim and thus leave more room between the dies for easier access. with this tweak. lee carbine dies are great value. and as others said, the customer service is very good. if don't mind spend the money, dillon dies are good too, so as their customer service.
- Location
- Fort St John BC
I like redding dies the best. And lee factory crimp dies
After reading and sorting out all the recommendations, I've concluded all the dies are good some maybe better. Ive decided to go with the used Redding set from the EE , seemed like a good deal. I'm sure they'll be fine for what I need them for. Thanks for all the help.
LordEvilPepper
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Under a rusty barge in BC
Ive got one set of hornady dies.... I haven't been over Wowed with them... but its hard to get a good read. its .30 carbine. I havn't used them enough to say they are bad or good Ive only done about 500 rounds on them.
the design is... quarky... with the zip spindle, but so far it hasn't stripped... time will tell i geuss. Not digging the fact that I have to flare the cartridge on separate die then the FL and that the flaring is a "shot in the dark" procedure.
Can't assess run out...its .30 carbine. nor consistency in shoulder bump as it doesn't have it..... probably not the best cartridge to try to form an opinion on a brand of dies with...
I would love to get hold of a set of redding .30 carbine... or even lee but its my white rhino right now.
the design is... quarky... with the zip spindle, but so far it hasn't stripped... time will tell i geuss. Not digging the fact that I have to flare the cartridge on separate die then the FL and that the flaring is a "shot in the dark" procedure.
Can't assess run out...its .30 carbine. nor consistency in shoulder bump as it doesn't have it..... probably not the best cartridge to try to form an opinion on a brand of dies with...
I would love to get hold of a set of redding .30 carbine... or even lee but its my white rhino right now.
Hmmmmmm, never pondered this eye deer.
Used a set of Lee's yesterday for the 7mm-08 and I was paying attention to the effort on the press handle.
Pretty easy.
I decided to mark the die locking nut and die with a black felt at the front so I tighten to this mark pointing
at the front.
I tried resizing 7mm mag brass to fit .257 Weatherby Mag with RCBS dies and had a horrible time.
Not sure wtf as the last go I did with another rifle and another set of RCBS dies I dint have ne'er the hassles.
I even found a Norma brass and it kept up with the resistance.
Tried two different shell holders and nadda.
Cut one brass in arf and the back end would chamber.
Narrowed it down to the shoulder/neck area.
May half to buy some proper case head stamped brass and see if they fit.
longbranch*
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- Victoria,BC.
Of my 25+ set's about 18 are RCBS as they seem to be everywhere. Have a couple of Redding which I really like and the rest are Lee carbide's for pistol as they are way cheaper than RCBS carbide's. I had some C-H which worked OK. Had problem with Lyman quality back in the 80's so never tried since though my Lyman "Orange Crusher" press and and scale worked well over the years. I have never tried Hornady.
LordEvilPepper
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Under a rusty barge in BC
the screw set are garbage too....
once you go to hornady lock rings.. you will never go back. they never slip randomly (it takes a lot of force), and they don't damage the threads... the new ones even have flats on them for a wrench... so when reinserting dies you torque on the lock ring instead of the die... no chance of causing slip (and change in die spacing) as you tighten it down.
worth every penny, I have them on all my dies now
I always bring in the rings from Sinclair to replace the RCBS "new" design ring. I buy them several at a time [12]
I only own a few Lee dies that get used, and one is the universal decapping die, which works fine, the others are collet neck sizers.
Four main die makers are represented in my collection of about 80 sets. In order of numbers: RCBS, Redding, Forster, CH4D.
I think I may have one each of Hornady and Lyman around, but am not using them.
I have 10 sets of competition dies with micrometer seaters, and they are all RCBS or Forster.
Also have 6 specialty dies from Wilson, designed to be used with an arbor press.
As has been noted, in our day of CNC machinery, and extremely fine tolerances, all makers are turning out good products.
It's largely a matter of personal preference. [and whose warranty works best, lol]
Lee has priced their products so as to introduce many neophytes to reloading, that otherwise would not have done so.
I see this as a very positive thing. Additionally, their unique collet neck sizers are a good addition to a reloader's bench.
When I started reloading, the options were much sparser, and some products were hard to find. [but they were a lot less expensive, lol]
Today, we are so fortunate to have such a wide variety to choose from.
Regards, Dave.
I only own a few Lee dies that get used, and one is the universal decapping die, which works fine, the others are collet neck sizers.
Four main die makers are represented in my collection of about 80 sets. In order of numbers: RCBS, Redding, Forster, CH4D.
I think I may have one each of Hornady and Lyman around, but am not using them.
I have 10 sets of competition dies with micrometer seaters, and they are all RCBS or Forster.
Also have 6 specialty dies from Wilson, designed to be used with an arbor press.
As has been noted, in our day of CNC machinery, and extremely fine tolerances, all makers are turning out good products.
It's largely a matter of personal preference. [and whose warranty works best, lol]
Lee has priced their products so as to introduce many neophytes to reloading, that otherwise would not have done so.
I see this as a very positive thing. Additionally, their unique collet neck sizers are a good addition to a reloader's bench.
When I started reloading, the options were much sparser, and some products were hard to find. [but they were a lot less expensive, lol]
Today, we are so fortunate to have such a wide variety to choose from.
Regards, Dave.
It appears all the die sets have small issues except the Redding. I haven't read anything bad about the Redding. I have about six sets of RCBS , rifle and pistol . The only issues I have are the decapping pins come loose, and sometimes the set screw on the lockdown ring comes loose.
I now use Redding dies exclusively, with the exception of a set of RCBS Carbide dies for 357mag. I have micrometer adjusters on every one of my seater dies for rifle cartridges. Many of my dies are the Neck bushing match set.
The worst set of dies I ever owned are a set of Lee 45-70 dies, they loaded bullets visibly off center in the case, I replaced them with Redding dies which are awesome. The only Lee product I like is the rifle factory crimp die, it works very well. I have many dies sets made by Redding, RCBS, Lyman, Forster(Bonanza), Dillon, Hornady and Lee so I have pretty much tried them all.
Bluedevil25
CGN Regular
- Location
- Saskatoon, Sask.
Forster Dies in a Forster or Bonanza Co-Ax Press. I've only ever used Forster dies (I use Redding de-capping dies otherwise) so I'm a little bit biased. 
