Identifying reloading dies

[d49829]

I am a new member with limited reloading experience. My Father passed away this Summer, and had been reloading since the 80's, with quite an accumulation of reloading dies.

I am now in the process of attempting to identify them for the estate. Most are Lee, Hornady, and RCBS, but I did see one Herters and Herters Press. I did a quick finger count on them yesterday, and counted 223 dies. Some are set up on Lee round turrets, and some on RCBS square green turrets. The rest are in the boxes that dies came in, but not necessarily the right box.

Is there anyway of identifying them by function, type, or size by measuring or ???, especially the unmarked ones?

Thank you for allowing me to post on here!

[MyFlatline]

Sorry to hear of your Fathers passing..

Most of the boxes will say if it is for a 2,3 or 4 die set, most times, caliber is stamped as well as brand. As to each die's purpose they are not labeled to my knowledge. The internet will be your friend in that department, as it will have a multitude of pictures. Go to each manufactures web site and many questions can be answered. Not sure what part of the Country you are in but maybe someone close could help out if you so chose.

[skeettx]

Hello 49829
Welcome on your first posting.
Sorry for your loss.
Maybe if we knew your location, some one close could assist
Anywhere near Amarillo, Texas and I will assist
Mike

[MT Gianni]

If there are instructions in the die boxes the pictures will help ensure that the correct dies are in there.

[ascast]

d49829 my sympathies, and welcome
I am sure we can walk you through this, or narrow it down.. RCBS dies will generally have caliber, year date, and funtion. For example 30 06 87 FL would be a 30-06 full sizing die made in 87. You have a couple progressive presses by your description. De capping dies will have a fine point projecting from the bottom, generally in the FULL SIZING die. You anywhere near Syracuse?

[country gent]

Some die sets are 3 dies ( pistol and straight walled) These have a sizer expander and seater die . Some are 2 die sets ( bottle neck cartridges) these have sizer and seater die. Sizers can be small based ( sizes cases to minimum dimensions for tight chambers or semi autos pumps and lever actions) full length ( sizes case back to Sammi mid specs for most chambers) and Neck sizers ( sizes only the neck portion of the case). Most dies are stamped somewhere top surface or around the body with caliber and dies function. If the Dies are mounted in tool heads or non original packaging then youll need to have the stampings to Id easily. Sizing dies normally have a pin protruding from the bottom to decapp. Expanders are a caliber specific size end up in the die to open the case mouth up to hold a bullet. And last seaters have a stem with a cup in them to hold a bullet while seating. As to caliber if they arnt marked then a cast may need to be made to find out. The stamping is normally fairly small 3/32" -1/16" letters and numbers. I have seen dies stamped between threads and knurl, on the top, and also around the base in the relieved area before the thread start. If your lucky The tool heads have been labled as to what they are.

[d49829]

Thank you to all! I'm in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, but feel a lot more confident in being able to make progress on these from the help you have given me already. He had tried to get me to take it over from him years ago, but I was too distracted by other commitments. I now regret not having paid more attention to his descriptions of everything.

Like my brothers and me, he started shooting before he knew how to write, and it was his main hobby for most of his life. I don't remember when he started reloading, but he was always obsessed with accuracy. In the 1950's, he was a quick draw shooter, and could throw a pie tin into the air, draw an old Colt single action, and put five rounds into it before it hit the ground. That's what he used to hunt small game, and would wait until the rabbit or partridge flushed before drawing and firing. My older brothers said he rarely missed.

Thank you again for all your help and condolences!

Dan

[MyFlatline]

Great Story Dan, treasure those memories..

[Wayne Smith]

Anything you can't identify, get pictures of any markings and post them down on the Reloading Equipment section. Even the old stuff will probably be identifiable.

[JimB..]

Sorry for your loss.

I’ve just gone through sorting out a bunch of dies from an estate. The most infuriating part is when you have incomplete sets, like I have a Redding 40 S&W die set and the seating die is nowhere to be found. At one point I had a couple large tables setup with boxes for each caliber and just sorted everything by caliber and then worked on getting dies back into the original or properly labeled boxes, eating the elephant one bite at a time as they say.

I find the markings on the RCBS and Redding dies to be great, I find the markings on Lee dies to be largely incomprehensible.