What do you consider as the best value reloading die's ?
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What do you consider as the best value reloading die's ?
Value and performance are 2 different things.
For me value doesnt matter - they have to work nicely - Forster and then Redding for Rifle -Dillon Carbide for Pistol
Redding are nicely made for sure, but lack 2 things for me - a vent hole which makes it easy to dent necks especially in some cal's and a sliding seater which means that pills often get shaved on one side when seating (pull some and have a look...)
Forster all the way - I picked up a set of .223's on TM for $30 a few weeks back which just needed a decapping pin: value for money right there :)
Standard dies and new then its Lee, normally the collet set.Iv all the other brands and overall theres no difference,have better and worse in all brands.Worst for runout is a redding 270 type A,worst for internal finish is a hornady 7mm mag FL.
Match grade dies then Forster first,as good as redding but cheaper,but forster dont have the Cal range that redding do so thats second choice,(they both have a slider in the seating die)
I really love Lee collet neck dies for sizing. Forster works for seating/FL sizing or Redding body dies.
Really I'm not super-concerned about it though, I loaded .243 for like 2 years with a $35 Hornady seating die and it worked fine.
Yep
I own Forsters, RCBS, Lyman and Lee
Lee dies are hard to beat in value for money and performance.
Dont really feel qualifyed to answer the poll as I only have a lyman 2 die set. If I am pedantic about prep and lube seems to load pretty straight ammo however seating depth can be tricky with pointy bullets eg amax as you can actually feel it stick for a moment as you retract.Found lubing the point helped but frustrating all the same.Probably not helped by the fact all my loads are compressed.
Would love a collet neck die to speed things up a bit.
I have brought Hornady AMAX seaters and modded others - they DO make a difference. Even SST get stuck in most std profile stemsQuote:
Originally Posted by veitnamcam
Where from Spanners?Quote:
Originally Posted by Spanners
US
I use a combo of Forster (Seater and F/L), Redding (F/L and body) and Lee (Collet neck), with a Lyman decapping die thrown in for good measure.
Redding and Lee die lock rings annoy me though, I tend to put aftermarket ones on.
I use Forster Seater and FL with a Lee Collet die too for my .243 and I just got the same for .260. I've used Lyman 30-06 FL and seater and they were ok.
Forster Ultra, Redding Competition or Wilson - all the ducks nuts :cool:
I've had good luck with the Hornady New Dimension dies for standard calibers.
However for my 6.5mm SAUM, I went Redding 'S' type neck dies with bushings, a Redding 7mm SAUM body die for bumping case shoulders back and a Forster Ultra Micrometer seater die. Using these dies, I have been able to keep my ammunition runout to very small tolerances which translates to small and consistent groups.
I imported the dies from Sinclair International in the US as they were cheaper and much quicker to obtain than buying from the NZ agent.
Wilson seater, Lee collet neck and Redding body make accurate ammo.
my basic old lee loader makes just as accurate ammo as my hornady and lee and redding dies so cant really vote
Redding and Forster my favs
Best value - Lee Ultimate.
Best - Redding competition bushing.
I've used a few. Lee classic made good ammo, but limted and the need to F/L size means you need another method eventually. ( press and die )
Wlson in line, nice good close fitting well machined parts, same applies to as the lee ... eventually need to use a press to size back down.
Lee RGB dies made good ammo and still have to help out a mate and was used to FL size when needed.
Forster Ultra style micro die , good price for that style of die compared to Redding. Although recently gone up price wise.
Lyman, RCBS, Hornady custom. IMHO not worth the upgrade from Lee.
Redding bushing style ... jury still out, like the bump die ( body die ) Using a standard seater die (A series ) with vld stems and micro adjuster. which is less cost wise than the competition dies, but still handy to play with seating depths.
I would like to try the new Wilson sizing dies that take a bushing and fit a standard press. i would also like to try Whidden reloading dies. So they are on a wish list.
Out of it all i would have to say LEE gives best bang for buck, but sometimes I / we like shiny stuff.
My out right favourite though would have to be the Forsters, good design and price point for higher end dies.
As far as lock rings go, Hornadies are great. Lees the worst
Hard to beat RCBS and Redding but I have Lee , Hornady, Lyman and they all work well.
Used to swear by several sets of Redding Comp and a couple of Forster BR seaters covering 7 different cartridges. For seating mostly converted to Wilson in line now - less runout than either Redding Comp or Forster BR seaters. Still using Redding Body dies. CH4D for my 32/20 (great die maker for oddballs). Also have 3 sets of Lyman M dies which are great for loading cast and flat base projectiles.
Developed a real liking Lee collet dies after trying them in 223.
Recently introduced to Titan Reloading by @P38 so will try a few more Lee collet dies in the future.
As far as value - nothing about reloading really relates to value. Just different degrees of expenditure depending upon your choice of brand.
Used to also be a great fan of Fosters when resident in Oz :thumbsup:
The best dies in the world are only assisted by annealing and putting clean brass into them.Run Redding out of preference.