Choosing Reloading Dies

New Avon Arms
M

muddy42

Well-Known Member
Hi. I did search but couldn't find much.

I am stepping up from my lee loader, how do I go about choosing a 243 die set? Are cheap (Lee etc.) reloading dies best avoided? Lockrings (to lock the depth and position of the nut) seem like a good idea, but most appear not to have these and they need to be bought separately. Or am I missing something?

Any advice appreciated.
 
I've had them all,

I gave up with the hornady ones they worked OK but found them fiddley and the surface finish in side was awful.

I have a set of forster dies for the 308 with micrometer seating die now. I feel that they are alot better built hardly any effort to resize and the seating die makes life so much easier!

admittedly they were 120 quid but they are head and shoulders above the Lee.

they all do the same job I suppose it's all personal preference and how much you enjoy reloading to make the extra money worth it. dont see any difference in group size!
 
muddy42 said:
Thanks all. Are lockrings worth it?
Click to expand...
vital in my mind

the hornady and forster ones are the best and don't cause the earth. they are split with a grub screw so the don't come undone.

the Lee ones dont lock very well they use an o ring and the redding ones use a grub screw onto the threads which I find slip a bit

with lock rings you can set the dies and forget them and will make your ammo more consistent as your dies won't be moving about. everything is set how it should be.
 
In my opinion Lee are the best, they are generally the cheapest and still produce good ammunition, after using reading, rcbs, hornady, lyman etc they all produce ammunition that could shoot better than me, around 0.4 inch at 100 yards with my 223 off the quadbike. I'm not saying that the more expensive brands do not produce empirically better rounds, they might do, but I never able to coax out that better accuracy with more expensive dies.
 
I've got Lee, Hornady and RCBS dies across the calibres I shoot. The only problem that I've had amongst them is the expander on my .223 Lee FL die can be difficult to lock firmly and can move sometimes. The issue is caused by the pin having a smooth that is held by friction against the locknut that acts like a collet. The RCBS dies have pins that are threaded and therefore stay in place.

I agree with the above on lockrings, Hornady better than RCBS (grub screw) and both better than Lee lockings.
 
For sizing dies by all means take the plunge and invest in a set that uses exchangable neck bushings. It‘s shocking to see how much regular dies over-size the necks only to drag them open again with the expander.
This not only work hardens your brass, you also need to (dry) lube the inside of the necks. With a fitting bushing you can skip the lube and in most cases also the expander alltogether.

For seating dies I say Redding with a micrometer. They are top notch and really make your life easier. Seat a bullet long, measure the COAL and adjust the missing seating depth on the micrometer.

And yes, lock rings are a must. But I am not aware that any die is supplied without one. So no worries.
 
I use both RCBS and Lee but find the Lee RGB ones easier to use and for the money you cannot go wrong. Even the Lee powder measure looks cheap but it gives good measures. It all depends what you want as they all do the job.
 
The grub screw locking screw going down onto the die thread is a design flaw IMO, many users put a single piece of 3mm lead shot in the grub screw hole then screw down onto that to avoid damaging said threads.
 
I have RCBS , Lee, Hornaday , and Lyman. I rate RCBS the best but the Lee work fine and I actually have more of them than anything else. I replace the Lee lock rings with Hornaday rings. The Hornaday dies I have give me the most trouble. Particularly with the collet that holds the rod that deprimes the case in the full length resizing die. I have stopped buying them because the rod is always coming loose in my 243 and 22H dies.
 
I have a set of Lee dies for each calibre I own (currently 38spl, 44 Mag, 223, 243, 6.5CM 303 & 308). For the rifle set these include the collet neck-sizer and the factory crimp die. I have had some RCBS dies in the past, but found them more fiddly than the Lee one for no great advantage, so sold them.

For reloading pistol calibres I've had no issues with the Lee dies at all, some of which have been in regular use for twenty years or so. I've no intention of changing them.

For reloading rifle, particularly now I'm getting into more long-range and precision shooting, I've bought Forster micrometer seating dies and Redding body dies. These I pair with the Lee collet neck sizer. Using the Forster seating die has reduced my measured bullet run-out compared to the Lee seating die.

Triffid
 
crow juice said:
I have RCBS , Lee, Hornaday , and Lyman. I rate RCBS the best but the Lee work fine and I actually have more of them than anything else. I replace the Lee lock rings with Hornaday rings. The Hornaday dies I have give me the most trouble. Particularly with the collet that holds the rod that deprimes the case in the full length resizing die. I have stopped buying them because the rod is always coming loose in my 243 and 22H dies.
Click to expand...
I read up on this and one solution on the net was to use fine a emery cloth/wet & dry paper to cut into the too fine ground finish on the rod to get a better grip, I have the same issue on my 6.5 JDJ dies.
 
I was 100% RCBS from when I started reloading in 1976 until maybe ten years ago when I became a convert to Redding dies after seeing them at Norman Clarke in Rugby. Why? Solely because of the option to spend more money and have a carbide expander ball to replace the steel expander ball the standard dies come with.
 
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