j.c. higgins .243 dies

[izzyjoe]

a coworker give me a set of .243 j.c. higgins dies, and the sizer die is missing the whole decap rod assembly. don't know who made the dies but it was'nt higgins. just need to know if it was rcbs,lyman or whoever, so i can get a replacement part and try to sell them. thanks

[shaune509]

JC Higgins is a Sears name and could have been made by alll most any one of the 20+ die shop in the late 50's to early 70's. much like the Herters name the supplier was dollar driven. You will have to resurch the current companys and compare to the one you have, some pics here may help in getting an idea. Even the current companys have changed some of there designs and may not have the parts. The RCBS, Redding, Lyman, Forstenr, and CH/4D have baught up alot of the older small shops and are probly the ones to check out. Lee and Dillin are to new to the die game to be concidered but i may be wrong.

[AZ-Stew]

I think it's a safe bet it wasn't Lee.

That aside, you might shoot an e-mail to the major manufacturers, asking their help in restoring these "curio" dies to find out what they know about them and their manufacturer. Someone there will surely be curious enough about them to do some research or asking around the shop.

You might also send an e-mail to the NRA firearms museum (if you're a member) and find out if they have any info.

I'm curious about them. I never heard of Sears selling reloading dies. Got photos?

Regards,

Stew

[Shiloh]

I think it's a safe bet it wasn't Lee.

That aside, you might shoot an e-mail to the major manufacturers, asking their help in restoring these "curio" dies to find out what they know about them and their manufacturer. Someone there will surely be curious enough about them to do some research or asking around the shop.

You might also send an e-mail to the NRA firearms museum (if you're a member) and find out if they have any info.

I'm curious about them. I never heard of Sears selling reloading dies. Got photos?

Regards,

Stew

Good suggestion here. I'd like to see them myself.

Shiloh

[izzyjoe]

i'm not to smart when it comes to postin' pics. but i'll see what i can do.:-|

[Pavogrande]

Should be able to cobble something up. Decap rods are usually either a straight threaded rod or a threaded rod thru a bushing. Couple sizes of bushings - Does the die look like it takes a rod or bushed rod ?

I have never seen jc Higgins dies either -- photos would be nice but I have never mastered the photo post bit myself.

[stephen perry]

Izzy
I have a Eagle die set in .222 that was missing a decapping assembly. One of my reloading buds gave me a Hornady decapping assembly, works fine in my Eagle dies.

Stephen Perry
Angeles BR

[357maximum]

I had a set of Herters 30/30 dies and though I never tried swappin parts they sure looked like the old Hornady/Pacific dies.

[1hole]

It's VERY unlikely they were made by RCBS, Lyman, Pacific or other large makers of that level, more likely one of the various small shop makers of the 50s, early 60s. Quality of the small shop dies varied tremendously, even between their own production batches. So far as I know, there's no real "collector" value to any of them.

If you only want to sell them, save the parts money and sell them as they are, only a noob would much care about what's missing. Many old hands use Universal Decappers and a lot of us use Lyman M or other expanders.

How much do you want for them?

[Pepe Ray]

If you only desire to make the set servicable. then it matters NOT who made them.
Borrow a thread gage and determin the size needed to fit. With THAT known, it would be a snap to come up with a substitute.
Pepe Ray

[Pressman]

Try locating a set of early C-H dies, I suspect you will find them to be an exact match.
Ken

[izzyjoe]

well after work today i had some time to get in my shop, man it's hot in there. but i tried swappin' parts. i took the decap ass. out of my redding 30-30 die and it fit same size bushing/threads, of course i had to remove the expander to go though the die. that may be the same size on other dies? these are shorter in lenght than my other dies. i don't have a 243, i just wanted to make them usable for some body. they need to clean up, not rusty just filty.

[Pressman]

I thought I had a set of JC Higgins dies. Found them hiding in an RCBS box.

These are for 30-06 but should be the same. I do not have the original box.

They are different. The die bodies are identical. The seater stem is aluminum as is the decapping top. The rod and expander ball are steel but threaded and epoxied into the aluminum top.
I am guessing they are C-H but the knurled upper does not resemble anything I have seen tham make. C-H did make the JC Higgins presses though they are not an exact copy of the C-H. So it is possible the dies could be C-H also.
The seating and decapping uppers are typical thread and should be an easy replacement from many other die sets. The trick is getting the correct length decapping rod.

Ken

[izzyjoe]

those you have pictured look just like mine, the bushing tread is 7/16 sae. so that my be standard to some dies. yes length is some thought, i think rcbs has alot of adjustment on there rod. so now i know what i have. thanks a-milion guys.