I'm done with Hornady dies

[Blacktail 8541]

I have both RCBS and a few Redding die sets. Being as I live in Oroville CA were RCBS is located, I tend to buy RCBS. Have a problem, walk in and get it taken care of. But I rarely need to do that. Most any issue is usally user induced.
But I really like the Redding competition seaters.

[Guardian]

The OP knows the same thing would have happened, which is why he replaced them with Lee dies and not RCBS.

Noted.

[Iowa Fox]

I've pretty much tried them all. I won't knock anyones product but some sure work better than others. I like Redding for bottle neck cases and Lyman for straight wall cases. What I really like about the Lyman dies is that if you are a cast bullet shooter and shoot bullets with goofy nose shapes you can get seating stems to match- 429303-358009-287377-ect.

[timtonya]

I like the spring loaded depriming die by Dillon. I use Redding dies for rifles.

[Smoke4320]

most all my wildcats or non traditional calibers are either old pacific or redding.. Std calibers are RCBS
Cabinet contains 1 hornady and 2 lee die sets (lee's get the lock rings changed) and 3 dillons I have never used..
If I can get it in RCBS I will .. they have never let me down .. and the occasional broken decapping pin would have been my fault and easily changed a pack of 10 spares is dirt cheap..

[w0fms]

Most of my dies (except for some RCBS I've added) were inherited from my dad, all RCBS and Redding. Honestly, I don't like the Reddings that much and plan on replacing them with RCBS or even Lee. RCBS are quite a bit more substantial but I've had good luck with Lee FCD's and the Universal decapper so I'd consider it.

But that's probably personal opinion.. for the price difference I'd always buy the RCBS.

I literally HATE the Redding .223 Remington set, tho...

[robg]

started with lyman now all lee

[smokeywolf]

Don't have any Hornady. Hollywood Gun Shop, Pacific and CH, all from the 1940s and '50s. Redding from more recent years.

smokeywolf

[tja6435]

I had to can a Hornady seating die for .45 Auto. With cast bullets, each and everytime, it would slice off just a little, on one side only, some alloy and leave a small divot. I couldn't adjust it out, picked up a RCBS seater and problem gone

[TXGunNut]

My only set of Hornady dies is a New Dementia set in 45-70. I wish I'd waited for an RCBS set. Been using One Shot case lube for years, works great for me. I even use One Shot products for gun and case cleaning. Different strokes, I guess.

[engineer401]

Loathe and despise their 9mm dies. I've had nothing but troubles from them. Bought a Lee set and haven't been happier.

I'm the opposite. I've had great luck with the 9mm dies. I sold all my Lee dies. Go figure.

[gunoil]

Had bad luck with hornaday too.

[DR Owl Creek]

I must be living in some kind of alternate universe. The only brand I've ever had a problem with has been Lee, either defective or out of spec right out of the box, or wore out/broke soon after. I got so fed up with everything I had from Lee, I got rid of everything with the Lee name on it, including the manual. Since I replaced everything with Hornady equipment, I couldn't be happier.

Dave

[dudel]

I must be living in some kind of alternate universe. The only brand I've ever had a problem with has been Lee, either defective or out of spec right out of the box, or wore out/broke soon after. I got so fed up with everything I had from Lee, I got rid of everything with the Lee name on it, including the manual. Since I replaced everything with Hornady equipment, I couldn't be happier.

Dave

You're not alone. Given a choice between Hornady and Lee, I'll take the Hornady's every day, and twice on Sundays. No problems at all with them. The Lee dies that I have are because the stores were out of stock on the Hornady dies (or there were a special type of die like Lee Collet dies for 22 Hornet). Never my first choice.

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

I used to be a real hardcore Hornady support, but quit using Hornady much after I had some problems with a press and no warranty service was forthcoming. I wrote the owner of the outfit a letter. The letter I got back from him indicated he didn't care about my problems one way or another. I got rid of most of my Hornady stuff, including dies and replaced it with RCBS/Lee/Dillon/Redding/Forster.

My reloading experience has improved since getting rid of the Hornady equipment. My new progressive is more reliable, my die sets work better (especially those Forster seaters) and I'm enjoying reloading more than I ever did.

I have one set of Hornady dies (old style) in 30.06 and I may get rid of them pretty soon, replacing them with a mix of Lee and Forster.

[enfieldphile]

I have an early Hornady 45/70 set, late 80's production. No problems so far. I also have a early 2000's set of 308 dies. They also work fine.

But I doubt I would buy anymore Hornady equipment. Not bad, ok, but nothing particularily special about them.

[sirgknight]

When I started reloading metallic I was living from paycheck to paycheck so price was the dominant factor in which dies I purchased. Lee were not only cheaper, but they have performed admirably over the years. My first set was for .38/.357 and I haven't looked back since. I know you usually get what you pay for and Lee may be the chevrolet in a cadillac market, but they get me where I want to go.

[EDG]

Older Lyman dies from the late 60s and 70s are plated. Those dies came in the chumpy black paper boxes.
The current orange box dies are not plated.
The problem with plating is - it is not always uniform. Chrome plating is porous so you can have corrosion grow right through the plating. That is what you see on old cars with chrome bumpers.

You might learn to watch your humidity. Under 50% RH steel does not rust very fast.
Below 40% RH rust is very slow and if well cared for there is almost no rust.

I had no idea Lyman dies are chrome plated. I may have to try a set. I don't care for the upkeep of trying to not have all my dies rusting in the Florida humidity. Even in the A/C raw steel will rust before your eyes. I've taken to wiping dies down with Eezox and that's helped.

[detox]

My Hornaday 308 Winchester inline bullet seater is the only seater a have that fits my fatter .311 oversize cast bullets EXACT without resizing, sticking or shaving bullet during seating. My Redding inline competition seater works only with .3085 diameter bullets and smaller.

I really like Hornadays elliptical neck expander that comes with their sizing dies. Hornaday offers the .307 as standard and optional .310 for larger cast bullets.
http://www.midwayusa.com/product/274...1-310-diameter

I like all manufacturers. Some tools just work better than others

[remy3424]

First and last set of Hornady dies was a used set in 17 Rem, broke or bend the solid decapping rod, can't remember which. The new decapping rod cost the same as I paid for the entire die set. Do love shooting p-dawgs with their V-Max bullets, cheap, accurate and really ruins a p-dawg's day with any kind of a hit.