Which dies - Lee, Hornady, or RCBS?

[bow shot]

For seaters, I prefer the Forster over RCBS, and Wilson over Forster. Wilson requires and arbor press or really strong hands though...

For sizers, I prefer any neck sizer over any full length sizer. I use Lee, but have never tried Redding.

[GaryC]

I guess because I'm new to all of this, I must be missing something really big.

I spent the extra bit of money and bought the RCBS Competition die set, and I couldn't be happier. Dial in the seating depth, record the value in your reloading guide, move the cartridge into position and drop the bullet in the window. Pull the handle, and I have a complete cartridge. Consistent, since I check each with a set of calipers, and no marking on either the bullet or the brass.

What am I missing?

Gary

[bow shot]

Gary, being content with what you haveis a great thing, enjoy it!! (No, I'm not being sarcastic, LOL!!)

[GaryC]

Gary, being content with what you have is a great thing, enjoy it!! (No, I'm not being sarcastic, LOL!!)

No, I realize you weren't being sarcastic. Right now, I'm going to stick with what I have, learn a lot more about reloading, and be happy.

Gary

[bow shot]

You got the right attitude!

[Predator1]

When I first got into reloading many yrs back I was all about Redding and Forrester dies. I have both of these brands and have full confidence in their quality and they have always produced very accurate ammo. However, the first time I used a Lee collet die I was hooked. Plus , when you use a collet in conjunction with a good Micro seater like Redding and Forrester I beleive it produces reloads with very little runout. And actually, I remember James Calhoun doing a test on different die sets checking for concentricity and the Lee Collet die produced the most uniform ammo when coupled with a Competition seatin type die like the Redding and Forrester.

On a side note, I also have a Lee Deluxe 3 Die set in 243 and they have loaded ammo that flat out shoots great even using the Lee seater.

[GaCop]

Agree with Redding.

Gotta say though, in my limited experience, those Lee collet dies are as good or superior to Reddings type S bushing neck sizers. And for far less $$.

A big +1!

[btlbrn]

Redding for sure.

+1 what he said!! Just got my first Redding dies recently (competition dies) I was using R C B S before, WHAT a difference, I especially like the seating die. Reloading is much more fun now, and so is shooting bug groups.

[Mega]

For seaters, I prefer the Forster over RCBS, and Wilson over Forster. Wilson requires and arbor press or really strong hands though...

For sizers, I prefer any neck sizer over any full length sizer. I use Lee, but have never tried Redding.

"Really Strong Hands" .... something wrong here....!!!!!

You are only Neck Sizing and Bullet Seating with Wilson In-Line Dies .... no effort required at all. Maybe if you strike a tight primer it needs a little extra but in general I feel they are the best and the whole setup is very portable. Cheap overall setup and very consistant ammo .... I work to around 0.0015 runout or less on bullet and neck.

Full Length Sizing I do with a normal press, actually an RCBS RockChucker and use Forster, RCBS & Redding....depends what was available but I only FLS when absolutely essential. The rest of reloading is all done in Wilson Neck Bushing Dies.....for competition. With a 0.001" to 0.002" neck tension it doesn't take much to seat a bullet.

[GaCop]

For seaters, I prefer the Forster over RCBS, and Wilson over Forster. Wilson requires and arbor press or really strong hands though...

For sizers, I prefer any neck sizer over any full length sizer. I use Lee, but have never tried Redding.

+1 for Forster and Lee collet die.