Dillion .223 carbide dies vs redding

[bwsnyder2005]

I have a 550B and I am looking at getting the either Dillion .223 dies or the Redding ones. Which ones are better, or does it matter? I am partial to the Dillon ones, but I wanna get more opinions. I will be reloading for AR15 platforms for 3gun stuff.

[Steve RA]

Unless you plan to reload in commercial quanties the carbide dies aren't really worth it as you are going to have to lube the cases either way.

[Tom Freeman]

I use the carbide dies. I think they are an improvement over the steel ones. They just make sizing brass that much easier and I can use One Shot and not worry about stuck cases.

[ksshooter223]

+1 on the carbide dies...less lube = smoother operation.

[bwsnyder2005]

Thanks fellows! I am going to get a set tomorrow hopefully. I don't know if they will be carbide, or steel. I lube the case good anyway. Besides lube/operation, are their any other problem from carbide vs steel?

[anm2_man]

Thanks fellows! I am going to get a set tomorrow hopefully. I don't know if they will be carbide, or steel. I lube the case good anyway. Besides lube/operation, are their any other problem from carbide vs steel?

I have a Dillon carbide .223 die and on my second Dillon 30-06 sizing die. Both have run about the same amount of brass thru them. The carbide one is orginal. The original 30-06 one ended up with a scored wall that screwed up some brass (the die had around a 50k count on it). Now Dillon did replace it no cost, but I never did figure out what happened. The carbide die is much harder than the standard steel die and I think it will last my lifetime even if I mix metal chips in the lube.

[cardguy]

I've contacted WMD Guns about having my 223 sizing die coated with nickel boron. No lube needed ! Price quoted is $50 with a 4 week wait. I may do that sometime this winter since I won't be using the die then.

[DyNo!]

I've contacted WMD Guns about having my 223 sizing die coated with nickel boron. No lube needed ! Price quoted is $50 with a 4 week wait. I may do that sometime this winter since I won't be using the die then.

I wonder if that would work...

[cardguy]

I should have added, the email said to lube one case every 100 rounds. I can live with that.

[Coleman]

Let us know how this works!

[benos]

I've contacted WMD Guns about having my 223 sizing die coated with nickel boron. No lube needed ! Price quoted is $50 with a 4 week wait. I may do that sometime this winter since I won't be using the die then.

Is that for a steel die?

[angus6]

I've contacted WMD Guns about having my 223 sizing die coated with nickel boron. No lube needed ! Price quoted is $50 with a 4 week wait. I may do that sometime this winter since I won't be using the die then.

Never thought about getting one coated , used to send our pipe swaging tooling out to get TiN coated worked great untill it wore off

Edited September 6, 2012 by angus6

[reloader901]

I've contacted WMD Guns about having my 223 sizing die coated with nickel boron. No lube needed ! Price quoted is $50 with a 4 week wait. I may do that sometime this winter since I won't be using the die then.

Was searching for a .223/5.56 die discussion and ran across this. Sounded interesting.

I just called them 10/3/12 11:30AM EDT. They said the process didn't work out great, so they have stopped doing it.

Edited October 3, 2012 by reloader901

[dillon]

Years ago we attempted to coat the interior of the size die with titanium nitride, but could not get good coverage deep enough into the die.

[reloader901]

Years ago we attempted to coat the interior of the size die with titanium nitride, but could not get good coverage deep enough into the die.

Regarding your user name "dillon". Are you one specific Dillon representative, or one of several Dillon reps that post under than user name? .... just curious.