Redding Competition die work with cast?

[fatelvis]

I was thinking of using a Redding 357 magnum competition seating die with my 357 Maximum loads. I know the sliding inner seating "sleeve" is ground very close to bullet diameter, and was wondering if it would tie up the die, if I used a cast bullet, knowing it is .001" bigger than a jacketed bullet. Does anyone use these with cast bullets? I wrote to Redding, but they never answered. Thanks-

[felix]

Just depends on the luck of the draw. Also, consider lube buildup within the seater. Worth a chance if you need a new die anyway. I have no problems with rifle boolits using Bonanza custom dies. Best to send some sample boolits to the custom department, and they will make the die fit. This is what I do. ... felix

[utk]

I got one for my jacketed 9 mm bullets (shame on me...) but was very disappointed. I had expected that the spring pressure would help align the bullet but instead it seemed as if the spring pressure kept the bullet "cock-eyed" against the case mouth. If I remember correctly, the seating stem sat quite low in the die so that the bullet wasn´t properly aligned when the nose contacted the seater.

So I went back to using the Hornady seating die with it´s sliding sleeve.

[utk]

One more thing, it´s the Redding RIFLE dies that have a sliding sleeve. The pistol seating dies do not...

The Hornady, both rifle and pistol, seating dies have a sliding alignment sleeve that aligns the boolit with thw case pretty well before the seating stem contacts the boolit.

Urban

[Billwnr]

I use the rifle dies and I shoot a .310 diameter bullet. Works for me. I also use the bushing die.

Makes for accurate ammo.

[omgb]

I use the 45-70 comp die with my 45-90. With most cast bullets it works fine. With LFNs it hangs up every time.