die brands

[Brotherbadger]

I own a mix. My pistol dies are all Lee as of now. They are inexpensive and do the job just fine. My rifle dies are a mix of Lee, Lyman and Hornady.

[r1kk1]

I have sets from just about everyone with the least amount of sets going to Lee and Lyman. This year I have bought over 20 die sets from Hornady in wildcat cartridges. I really love the taper crimp die for the 500 Linebaugh. It works extremely well! I look at RCBS in this cartridge but their die set is 1" and the only carbide ones made. Only CH4D and Hornady carried dies in the standard ⅞" size. So I bought the Hornady's. For common pistol cartridges I went with Dillon. They are sweet. For common rifle stuff, I like Forster/Bonanza and Redding.

take care,

r1kk1

[Jtarm]

All green for me with the exception of a Lee collet neck sizer.

[vzerone]

I too have used just about all of them. In my opinion LEE seater dies are junk. I'll explain. Pull one of their rifle seaters apart and take a look inside. Notice just about a non-existent bullet guide section. Yes I know the floating nose attachment above is suppose to center the bullet, but it really is an iffy setup. Look at Forster Benchrest seater. It has a very bullet guide section. I've talked to Forster and asked them if the body sleeves are reamed with chamber reamers and they said that they are. So that sleeve has a chamber that fits the particular cartridge closely and the bullet guide section is integral to it. The whole assembly moves up to press the bullet against a nose seater stem. They make very concentric ammo. I've also found many LEE dies too fat. I have some I can size rifle cartridges without lubing them. To name a few the 30-06 and the 8x57, but you know that's minimum sizing both good for the brass and accuracy. They do have some innovative dies like their collet neck sizers and their crimp dies. LEE is innovative on some things I'll give them that.

I use to be a hardcore RDBS fan. Not anymore. They've changed their die material and finish. Before they were polished raw finish and they were exceptionally hard. Now they have a hard coating and the metal underneath is different. I've machined some of the new style sizer dies and they cut easy on the lather. You wouldn't find that in their older dies. I now prefer other brands. I'm not enamored with Hornday dies. I hate that floating nose seater guide that protrudes from the bottom of the die. For one thing it hangs down so load you can't put a cartridge in the shell holder to seat the bullet because that guide is in the way particularly with long cartridges with long bullets like the 30-06 with 200 grain bullets. That guide serves to crimp the case too should it need it and especially with cast and the lube that gives everywhere on your dies from them stick in that nose guide and often on the down stroke gets pulled out of the die body because of that very thin flimsy ring spring they use to hold it in with. Very shoddy setup and will not use it any more. I also don't like dies that don't have and easy adjustable threaded shaft for the decapper assembly. Like LEE and Hornady choose to use.

It's true all internal dimensions aren't the same. Heck they aren't the same in rifle chambers. So some dies size more, or too much, some don't size enough. Something to know about dies most aren't make for loading cast bullets especially the seaters. Our cast bullets are fatter then jacketed bullets so most up them won't slip into the bullet guide section in the seater die should they be of that design. Even the Forster Benchrest seater is guilty of that. I bore that guide section out for cast bullets.

It boils down to "what you like" in dies.

[Petrol & Powder]

I have a mixture of dies but if given a choice Redding and RCBS are my first choices.

There's a lot of brand loyalty when you start talking reloading equipment and some of it is deserved and some is just pure brand loyalty.

My rifle dies are now all Redding but the collection is much smaller these days.

It is hard to go wrong with RCBS.

I have a mixture of handgun dies on several Dillon tool heads for my 550B including some tool heads with more than one brand on the same tool head.

[DerekP Houston]

I was gifted my lee classic turret and a set of 38/357 dies. As I didn't know better at the time I now have a collection of the sizes I use all in Lee. I thought you had to use the same brand as the press .

[robg]

i started with lyman now all my dies are lee.why pay more when lee work fine for me

[troyboy]

Vzerone while i certainly can appriciate your opinion, the fact of the matter concerning the capability of the Lee seater to produce concentric ammo is that it works very well. Equally as well as RCBS, Hornady, Lyman and many others. In many instances it has less runout. The only seater dies that are better and not by much have been the Forester. I have not tested the Redding yet.

[MT Chambers]

1) Redding
2) Forster
3) RCBS
4) any other make
5) Lee

[flashhole]

Just to show some examples, these are the die combinations I use on the Lee 4-hole Classic Turret, one turret each individual cartridge. I make excellent ammo with these combinations. For rifle cartridges, the best die is the Forster Seat Die, a very close second is the Lee Collet Neck Die. For on-press powder drops the new Lee Auto Drum is fantastic when used with the rifle charge dies.

221 Fireball
CH FL Size Die
Lee Small Rifle Charge Die – Used with Lee Auto Drum
CH Seat Die
Lee Crimp Die

223 Remington
Lee Collet Neck Die
Lee Short Rifle Charge Die – Used with Lee Auto Drum
Forster Bench Rest Seat Die
Redding Taper Crimp Die

25-06
Lee Collet Neck Die
Lee Large Rifle Charge Die – Used with Lee Auto Drum
Forster Ultra Seat Die
Redding Taper Crimp Die

7mm Remington Magnum
Lee Collet Neck Die
Lee Large Rifle Charge Die – Used with Lee Auto Drum
Redding Seat Die
CH Taper Crimp Die

45-70
Hollywood FL Size Die
Lee Powder-Through Expander Die – Used with Lee Auto Drum
Hollywood Seat Die
Redding Taper Crimp Die

40 S&W
Lee Pistol Die Set – Used with Lee Auto Drum

357 Magnum
Bonanza all steel Die Set

Specialty Dies used on a Lee Classic Cast single stage press
Lee Universal Decapper Die
Lee Universal Neck Expander Die
Lee Bullet Sizing Die (.401, .458)
RCBS Form & Trim Die for 223 to 221

[Tom W.]

My handgun dies are all RCBS carbide now. Back when I started I bought Lee, but didn't like them. My rifle dies are Redding, with one exception, a Hornady for the 30-06. The 30-06 A.I. is also a Redding. BTW, my last set of RCBS carbide dies now comes with an M die for the flaring die. I wonder if they sell the innards for the other dies I have????

[oldcanadice]

Had all kinds over many years. Dumped my Lymans except for the m dies. In pistol, RCBS and Lee have been ok. I hate my first-gen Dillon 38/357 dies: they size down way too much and the so-called semi-wadcutter seating punch marks soft bullet noses -- I've called them and they say it's too bad and there's nothing to be done about it. In rifles, I have RCBS and Dillon and especially like my Foresters, and, of course, Wilson is king if you can stand doing things with hand dies.

[Double B]

If you are an average guy like me get the Lee's and save your money. Have exceeded my expectations. Hornady has not. RCBS has been fine but I find myself using Lee's by choice.

[USSRSNPR]

As seems to be the case with most others, I too, have a mix of dies. Lee, RCBS, Lyman and Hornady that I actually use. Herters and pacific that I got in trade deals. My only complaints with any are the Hornady seating die that barely held in bullet guide was the end for me, kept sticking to my 395 grain FP for my 460 S&W, contacted their tech department and they suggested replacing the spring retainer (I had already done this) bought the RCBS carbide set and never looked back.