Redding dies

[russm86]

Redding dies are not all they are cracked up to be. Compare them to Forster dies before you jump in. Forster are less expensive and have some better features. In particular I like the Bushing Bump Neck Die, and the Ultra Micrometer Seater Die. Mystic Precision and Hirsch Precision can get them for you. You can also get a custom neck size honed in from the factory.

I agree with Ron, I have had probably a dozen sets of Redding dies over the last few years and I've gotten rid of most, nothing but problems with them, QC is horrible. Lots of their decapping/expanding rods aren't straight or are threaded crooked or just bent and I had 3 FL sizing dies (all redding) in different calibres machined off center so bad you could see it with the naked eye. Once you were actually able to get a hold of Redding or if they actually called/e-mailed you back (a month later) they replaced them but I sold the new ones before using them as I've had enough of their crap. It's a royal PITA to have to angle every piece of brass in order for the decapping/expander rod to enter the die properly and smoothly without hitting the bottom of the expander on the top of the case mouth. Forster is much better, heck I even go with RCBS over redding now.

 

[Ron AKA]

Thanks for all the comments,
Change of plans... Not going with a redding deluxe die set
It was recommended that I try using instead a lee collet die, redding body die and foster bullet seater
I researched this combo and it seems to be a popular choice.

I am a fan of the Lee Collet Die, and often recommend it, especially for those who are not wanting to spend more $$'s. There are some issues and limitations with it though. First you have to change the sizing mandrel if you do not get the required bullet interference fit you want, or if you want to change it. I believe Lee offer's different sizes as an option. The Lee die will not push the shoulder back, and if you get to the point of needing that, you will need another die. I am not sure the Redding die bumps the shoulder AND sizes the body. You may want to do more research on that. My experience is that bumping the shoulder is more important than sizing the body, unless you are using brass shot in another gun. Unless money is a barrier, I would suggest the other alternative to this is the Forster Bushing Bump Neck Die. Unlike the Lee Collet Die, this die allows partial neck sizing. The advantage of partial neck sizing is that you can leave 1/3 of the neck full sized to fit your chamber neck tightly, while sizing 2/3 to hold the bullet. If you have any variation in neck brass thickness, this variation is pushed to the outside in the sized portion only, which will not touch the chamber and make your bullet non concentric with the bore. You can do partial neck sizing with a standard neck die, or even FL die, but you cannot bump the shoulder back if you only partially resize the neck. the Forster Bushing/Bump does partial neck sizing and bumps the shoulder at the same time. At least to date in my 6BR (5 firings) this combination of partial neck sizing, and shoulder bumping makes reloads that chamber very easily, with no hint of needing FL or body sizing. And down the road if they do, it is only a matter of buying a standard FL die. And the other advantage of this die is that you can use a bushing to just size the neck down the minimum amount, and also use the expander ball to size up the neck just a touch to make the ID uniform. Just my thoughts on why the Forster BB die is better than the Lee and Redding combination.

As far as the bullet seating die goes, the standard Forster should be fine. The Ultra Micrometer version is handy if you are seating different bullets to different seating depths for a jump and jam. It is more of a convenience issue than a accuracy benefit.

Hope that helps some,