Favorite brand of dies?

9

9mmSkeeter

New member
I have to say Lyman is my favorite simply because I haven't had a single Problems with them. All makers make good dies but I just haven't had luck.

Rcbs has crushed my cases in 380
Hornady had a decapping pin that kept retracting
Lee wouldn't size my 40 correctly no matter how hard I tried and got casings stuck no matter the lube.

Although my lee rifle dies have been excellent so far.

How about you?
 
J

jwrowland77

New member
Mainly Hornady, but I'm with whatever gets the job done that I'm trying to accomplish.

On your Hornady die issue....have you tightened the collet down enough? They set the pin to where it doesn't break but instead come up when you accidentally let a berdan case slip theough
 
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N

Nathan

New member
Hornady. Adjustments are precise and repeatable. Consistency, runout, etc is all good.

Forster is also excellent.

I haven't used them, but I would guess Redding is great too.
 
G

Gregory Gauvin

New member
I have gotten my basket balls broken for using Lee dies, however, I have yet to experience any problems with them except paying 3-4 times less for them than the leading competitor.

RCBS (...or Redding) is the only manufacturer that makes a couple obscure calibers, to which I do not load.

Lee dies have an exceptionally great warranty and customer service is excellent. I had bent a primer pocket swagging rod (operator error), I called Lee and they didn't replace the rod - they sent me an entire new set, free, including shipping. They also replaced a 7.7 Jap resizing die, no charge. Also replaced a decapping rod I had broke when I didn't lube a 30-06 case and jammed it up in the die and had to hammer it out.

Lee offers deluxe sets, so purchasing multiple dies for one caliber is unnecessary.

Lee dies are easy to set up and use. When working up loads, seating adjustment doesn't require you to find a wrench to loosen nuts.

I have produced very accurate and consistent reloads with Lee. I have a lot of experience with RCBS, as this was my buddy's setup, and just don't see the warrant in price difference vs. performance.

My buddy had claimed after a couple thousand rounds of resizing he had cracked a Lee die, hence he moved over to RCBS - We all have our preferences - but, I would be willing to take any one of my Lee dies and hold it against a grinding wheel in the basement and tell the guy with his Hornady set to "Go ahead, now you're turn."

Once I have a die adjusted to my liking, I put a dot with a marker on the adjustment screw, case body, and lock nut. Lee's pistol dies, as far as all straight wall pistol cases, are carbide and shouldn't require lube. I'm surprised to hear of problems with the .40 There is a special die to remove case "belly's" from Glocked up brass, if that is determined to be of issue. Any die of any brand has the potential to ruin a piece of brass if not setup correctly. If your Lee .40 resizing die is sticking brass to the point where the case rim is getting ripped off, I would say send it back. It's out of spec. Glocks probably have some of the loosest chambers, and I have not had any trouble with mine. I do not lube pistol cases.

I cut the Lee paste style resizing luibe at a 8:1 or so ratio with Gas Treatment (red bottle - 99% isopropyl) and mist my rifle brass with a spray bottle. Works great, and application is fast as lightening.
 
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S

Smoke & Recoil

New member
You can get two Lee's compared to the price of one of the other brands, plus
with Lee, you get a shell holder with each die set. I also own several Lee bullet
molds.
 
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W

Wreck-n-Crew

New member
Since I am only currently loading pistol I use the Lee carbide dies. Nary a problem that wasn't me thus far.

Like Smoke said I have the Lee molds too. I aint loving the sprue plates and soon to replace them.
 
Z

zeke

New member
"but I'm with whatever gets the job done that I'm trying to accomplish" as stated by jwrowland77.

Am not brand loyal, as all dies are not created equal and simply don't have the funds to try then all. As a small example, and certainly not a conclusive /exhaustive evaluation. Just actual experience with certain types.

Lee rifle sizer dies for lever actions
Lyman carbide pistol dies for semi's that need sized closer to bottom
Redding comp seater dies and s neck sizers
Bonanza comp seaters for some Redding didn't/doesn't make.
RCBS comp pistol seaters
Redding profile crimp dies for straight walled pistol cartridges
Lee FC dies for semi's with jacketed or smaller dia lead bullets.
 
C

cryogenic419

New member
Started out with RCBS dies and I really don't have anything bad to say about them. They do exactly what they are supposed to do, still using most of them.

Lately I've been picking up Redding dies for certain things. Really loving their competition seater dies and the micrometer crimp dies. Kind of intrigued by their dual carbide ring sizing dies but just can't bring myself to drop the cash to see if I'd even notice a difference.
 
R

rkittine

New member
For pistol calibers that I do not load for on a Star press, I am happy with most of the Carbide Dies that I have used.

For Rifle, I prefer Whidden for anything that I am going to punch paper with and Redding behind that.

Bob
 
M

Mosin-Marauder

New member
I only own Lee Dies for the calibers I reload (7.62x54R and 7.5x55 Swiss) they work fine and are very good values (shellholder is almost always included along with a crimp die and a powder measure/ load data). Only complaint I have with the 7.62 dies is that it uses a .310 expander so I'm wary of using .311 bullets unless I get a .311 expander.
 
F

F. Guffey

New member
I have Herters, Lyman, C&H (old), Hollywood Gun Shop, Texan, Lochmiller, Hornady, Redding, Luger, RCBS lime-fiber boxed and dark green-fiber boxed and the ones in green plastic boxes. Then there are those home made dies.

I sort by color, my dominant color is green, if there was a difference between cases when sized with different dies I could measure the difference.

Again, I purchased 40 pounds of reloading equipment from a dealer at a gun show in Mesquite, TX. It seemed everyone at the gun show had a chance but because they did not know what they were looking at, they passed. I thought 40 pounds for $20.00 was a bargain. First was the .30 cal collet with the bullet puller, then all of the Wilson case holders for the Wilson case trimmer with the trimmer and case sizers without threads. Then there were home made chamber gages. Everything was at least 45 years old except the Lee equipment. There were RCBS and Pacific dies that were identical, in appearance one would think the dies were made by the same manufacturer.

Having no interest in the Lee dies I started sorting them out before leaving. Being generous and not greedy my plan was to leave the Lee dies with the dealer. I explained to the dealer I was giving them back, he explained to me he gave me the Lee dies and I did not pay for them and I was not leaving them. I did not need the Lee dies, the dealer must have had a bias, I did not want to haul the extra weight through the parking lot.

Then there were case gages, most were duplicates, not knowing what goes through reloaders mind when they make a decision I wondered why anyone would pass on 40 pounds of reloading equipment when the 40 pounds include a collet type bullet puller with collet and 3 L.E. Wilson case gages.

F. Guffey
 
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