which die set to buy?

[adrians]

my wife has graciously agreed to let me buy a new set of dies for my 32-20 i have narrowed my search down to the rcbs cowboy 3 die set OR the redding 3 die set .
the cost difference is only a couple of bucks .
help me decide,,,,,after all she;s paying for em .
:twisted::):twisted:

[Dan Cash]

Both are serviceable and I have both. Redding is more to my taste.

[adrians]

yer i'm partial to redding myself,, but the cowboy description made me wonder if the rcbs dies do something the reddings don't,

[LUBEDUDE]

From my understanding the cowboy dies are designed for boolits. For example my 44-40 set came with a 428 expander plug. Using 428 boolits I have yet to booger up any case necks.

Of course you can order different size plugs. But they don't attack it as one size fits all.

I'm sure Tom, Dick, and Harry will chime in how they never muck up a bottleneck case with their Lees, Lymans, or Hornadys, or etc, etc. :)


And as an extree, for the big bucks, they are awful purdy.

[1hole]

There is precious little difference in the performance of the two but I would go for the Reddings.

[Wayne Smith]

RCBS advertises that the Cowboy dies are designed for lead bullets. Thus they would be the better choice if you are shooting cast.

[EDG]

I have many of both brands. The Reddings are just not as well made as the Cowbosy dies.
The reddings get their reputation from the greasy preservatives in the threads making them very smooth to adjust.
In reality the 7/8 - 14 threads on the OD of most Redding are as rough as a cob.

I rate the Forster dies the best when I can get them.
Then RCBS
Then the old Eagle dies and Reddings close behind tied for 3rd.

[adrians]

Thanks to all ,
Shortly after asking the ? my wife ordered me a set of Redding dies for fathers day ( she's up to no good!) anyhoo they arrived yesterday and i was over the moon BUT when i took the apart to clean ,as recommended by the manufacturer i measured the sizer button and it only measures .264 and the case neck swallows it with room to spare, i expected the button to be at least close to boolit dia i.e .310 .311 or so.

Is this correct or is the wrong size button on the right size decapping stem?.

Other than this the dies as mentioned by EDG are slick and smooth and (in my humble and uneducated opinion) well made.

I'm confused,

p.s i have e-mailed Redding to ask the same button question , no response yet....:evil::veryconfu:evil:

[Wayne Smith]

Yeah, I would say major wrong expander button. .264" button for a .311 boolit?

What do you size your boolits to for the 32-20? Sounds like it's time for a Lyman M die in your set.

[swheeler]

Adrians; 3 die set for straight case that is just the decapper you measured, check expander/flare stem in second die, bet it is what you want.

[1hole]

"...the Cowboy dies are designed for lead bullets. Thus they would be the better choice if you are shooting cast. "

Actually, all that changes is the expander and it's changed less than some seem to think.

Lyman develped a 'two diameter' plus belling flare expander design for all bullets in the early 60s; they call it the "M" die because it came to that when listed it was in their product catalog at the time. When the patent expired, Redding copied it. Then RCBS copied it for their Cowboy dies. Meaning all three makers now use the Lyman M type expander which is excellant for both cast and jacketed bullets.

[adrians]

ok took another look and yup the expander(2nd die) is almost like the Lyman "m".
so the decapping die is just that a decapper and nothing else .

The expander dies "first step" is indeed .311 and the flair section is .316 maybe a tad smaller.

Great now i feel alot better about the set,,, thanks again.. fella's :evil: :coffee: :twisted:

[MT Chambers]

I believe that it is more then just a decapper, is it not the sizing die as well?

[WILDEBILL308]

Remember you need a little neck tension on the bullet. You don’t want to rely on just the crimp to hold the bullet.
Bill