What die Set?

[tzone]

We seem to have a bit of spare time on our hands now that all the kids sports have been cancelled. That will give me a chance to get caught up on the reloading and experimenting.

I need 2 die sets. 6.5 CM and .243 Win. The only ones I currently have are RCBS FL sets and I've not been real impressed with consistency of some of them.

What do you recommend? I'd like 3 die sets if possible.

 

[1_pointer]

I really like the Redding Type S bushing dies with the micrometer seater. Includes a bushing neck die, body die, and the micrometer seater is awesome. Not cheap, but I really like them.

 

[tzone]

Thank you. I'm ok with "not cheap" if they work as advertised.

 

[Deleted member 16014]

I have enjoyed the Redding Type S as well in the past. I also have been liking Forster, which is what I use for my 6.5C currently. Truth is there's probably not many on here who've tried enough samples of each brand to give a consistency review, myself included. I'd get a hold of some high volume shooters (Breaksrunner, Carl Ross, etc.) and get their take.

 

[Fire_9]

I like the Redding bushing two die set with or without the micrometer seater. The micrometer is nice to have but sometimes the price tag is hard to swallow. I full length size everything so I don’t bother with the neck sizer and body die. I just get the FL die and call it good

 

[ImBillT]

Redding or Forster. FL and Seater is fine. Redding Custom Competition dies are probably the best thing out there if you’re not going custom, but the price is pretty high. Their standard and Type-S two die sets are excellent, and much cheaper.

 

[tzone]

Thanks guys

 

[cahunter805]

Redding comp dies are great and highly recommend them. Forster are also nice.
For a true custom die Whidden is what I’d get but most don’t need to get that in depth.

 

[FLS]

Redding Deluxe sets are what I’ve switched to for most of my hunting rifles. Full length sizer with carbide expander and a micrometer seater for a fraction of the competition sets.

 

[Woodrow F Call]

What about your current die setup are you not finding consistent?

I'm using a Lee die set and my rifle seems to group pretty well with it. I did make my own bullet comparator to use when seating the bullets and I find I have to be careful when measuring to be consistent.

 

[Don Fischer]

We seem to have a bit of spare time on our hands now that all the kids sports have been cancelled. That will give me a chance to get caught up on the reloading and experimenting.

I need 2 die sets. 6.5 CM and .243 Win. The only ones I currently have are RCBS FL sets and I've not been real impressed with consistency of some of them.

What do you recommend? I'd like 3 die sets if possible.

So what about the consistency don't you like? I strongly suspect that they are consistent or else it's a user problem. Not that bad set's don't get out now and then but if so they would be consistently bad! I've got a lot of RCBS dies and over the years have had a lot more. Don't recall ever getting a bad set. In fact I've also got Redding, Lyman, Lee and Herter dies and have never had a problem with any of them I can recall. Really like my Redding dies, great finish on them They do the same thing my inexpensive Lee die's do! I like my RCBS die's, very easy to find if I need a new set.

 

[Mallardsx2]

I like the redding dies but I find that the brass set screw on the locking ring just doesnt work well. Unless I am doing something out of order. My die always seems to come loose when I back the big nut off the press to take the die out and I loose my "Set place". So I always have to walk my dies in about every time. The hornady dies seem to have a better locking device on them to hold your "place"

 

[FLS]

I replace the rings on all my RCBS and Redding with Hornady locking rings.

 

[tzone]

What about your current die setup are you not finding consistent?

I'm using a Lee die set and my rifle seems to group pretty well with it. I did make my own bullet comparator to use when seating the bullets and I find I have to be careful when measuring to be consistent.

It's not the groups that are inconsistent. It's the loading process. Most times on the .7x57 seating die, I have to adjust the depth, a lot. At times it varies bullet to bullet. To the point where it takes 3 times as long to load for that round because I have to measure the length of each round. I shouldn't have to do that.

 

[Matt R]

Would highly recommend the lee ultimate 4 die set as I just use the neck sizing die and have produced .5 MOA ammo out of a near stock howa 1500...you don’t have to pay for the expensive stuff always as I don’t believe you’re sacrificing much if anything by using Lee dies and they are still made in Wisconsin USA. Happy shooting

 

[FLS]

It's not the groups that are inconsistent. It's the loading process. Most times on the .7x57 seating die, I have to adjust the depth, a lot. At times it varies bullet to bullet. To the point where it takes 3 times as long to load for that round because I have to measure the length of each round. I shouldn't have to do that.

No you should not. Once your seating stem is set and locked down it should not change. The only variance in OAL should be from individual bullet to bullet.
How much of a difference are you getting?

 

[Brian in Montana]

The only thing I ever used is Hornady Custom grade. I got nothing to compare them to, but they have worked well for me.

 

[Brian in Montana]

Also Hornady has a great rebate in which you can get 100 free bullets. Or used to anyway.

 

[cahunter805]

It's not the groups that are inconsistent. It's the loading process. Most times on the .7x57 seating die, I have to adjust the depth, a lot. At times it varies bullet to bullet. To the point where it takes 3 times as long to load for that round because I have to measure the length of each round. I shouldn't have to do that.

Very common problem with RCBS and other brands. Seems the seating stem is so generic it’s setup for something like a round nose type bullet. The seating stems aren’t very well built. You can drill out the stem so most bullets fit better in them and I’ve seen guys even lap them.
Or you can use a Redding die with VLD stem and never look back.
Just curious what bullet are you loading?

 

[Woodrow F Call]

I did have Lee make a seating stem for my set. I sent them a ELDx bullet and they sent it back with the new plug.