Definitely the Hornady. Locks Down solid, and can tighten or loosen with a wrench. Plus, they will NEVER damage the threads.
Definitely the Hornady. Locks Down solid, and can tighten or loosen with a wrench. Plus, they will NEVER damage the threads.
Prefer Lee lock rings.
"It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees" Looking for an RCBS Ammomaster and H&R shotgun barrels regardless of condition
Hornady lock rings are the best. All my Lee dies wear them. Never need adjustment. Perfect for loading on the single stage press.
Some dies and die sets do not require precision settings or high quality lock rings.
Straight wall FL dies don't for example and you can use almost any old ring.
Some dies need to be locked but setting them is not tedious. That includes a lot of expander and seating dies. For these dies you often lock the body in place and do the fine adjusting with
the expander or seater stem.
FL dies for bottle neck cases where you want precision control of the shoulder location need a good locking ring.
For this precision application I like the Forster, RCBS and Hornady split clamping dies.
In general I loathe the Lee O ring locking rings but I still use them on some easy to set die and die sets that do not see a lot of use.
I also loathe the lead shot under the set screw set up. Get rid of the lead and use a piece of nylon screw or a nylon ball.
The nylon is elastic and when you back off the set screw the nylon springs away from the die threads allowing you to easily turn the die body.
EDG
Ooh, I like the idea of a nylon ball or piece of a nylon rod or so, should work better than the lead. The only problem with the lead is even after you loosen the set screw you still need to use a tool to move the lock ring since the lead does sort of stick to the threads.
True because the lead is not elastic. When it is smashed against the threads it just stays there wedged tight until you hit the ring right on top of the set screw.
The nylon is not my idea. Lyman used nylon balls under their set screws back in the 1960s until they went to the clamp ring design.
EDG
dillon/forster, even the lee dies without the oring work well...
My newer RCBS dies have retained their hex lock nuts, all other have been converted to the Dillon lock nuts, I have the Dillon wrench but I prefer an ordinary boxend wrench, I set them and forget them!
ASE master certified engine machinist
Brake & Alignment specialist, ricer to class 8
If you are using a lock ring with a set screw and lead slug, a quick rap on the set screw with a plastic hammer or screwdriver handle will let it turn freely. I prefer a split ring like the Hornady. Sinclair makes a nice one, somewhat expensive, that I use on my Giraud trimmer. I keep a wrench on my bench that fits the hex nut style rings.
Or you could just get nylon tipped set screws, designed to not damage threads...https://www.mcmaster.com/#set-screws/=17b6do8
My Anchor is holding fast!
I have used pretty much all kinds of lock rings, and even though initially I didn't care much for the Lee lock rings they have grown on me. One thing that really makes them work well is to get the plastic tool from Titan that they sell for tightening them down. This tool just makes it easier to get a feel for tightening them down consistently and tight enough to really lock them in. It also makes it extremely easy to loosen them and readjust them in a jiffy.
I like the split ring Hornady rings. Now if
fhey only made them as thick as the Forster ones for
the Co-ax I'd be perfectly happy.
The brass set screw RcBS was the most aggravating along with Redding. The Redding set screw simply never held for me.
BP | Bronze Point | IMR | Improved Military Rifle | PTD | Pointed |
BR | Bench Rest | M | Magnum | RN | Round Nose |
BT | Boat Tail | PL | Power-Lokt | SP | Soft Point |
C | Compressed Charge | PR | Primer | SPCL | Soft Point "Core-Lokt" |
HP | Hollow Point | PSPCL | Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" | C.O.L. | Cartridge Overall Length |
PSP | Pointed Soft Point | Spz | Spitzer Point | SBT | Spitzer Boat Tail |
LRN | Lead Round Nose | LWC | Lead Wad Cutter | LSWC | Lead Semi Wad Cutter |
GC | Gas Check |