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Bought a Mark 7 Evo, need help choosing dies (9mm)


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Recently ordered a Mark 7 Evo and now trying to decide which dies to get. Some questions:

- Are the Redding competition dies worth it? Should I get the whole set or only specific ones?
- Does anyone know what Mark 7 currently gives you for the $300 "optimized" set for 9mm?
- Mighty Armory or FW Arms for the decapper & hold down dies? Has anyone compared them?
- Any other suggestions?

Edited by avastcosmicarena
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I like the Redding premium expander.
Other than that I want some carbide die for sizing.
Mighty Armory for decapping. I ended up purchasing separate toolhead with MA decapping die with the spring to get the more difficult primers out without disturbing priming.

Lyman also launched some optimized dies for progressive presses in shot show, maybe they are worth a look...

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Hornady sizer and seating die. Seating die is fantastic to keep bullets straight. If you load HiTek or Coated bullets, the seater helps prevent that odd tilted bullet from scraping.

 

I like the Lyman M die for expanding..

 

Huge debate about this but Lee FCD works. If using cast bullets, some will get on their high horse about it. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

The Ultimate Die Pack contains: 1 hold down die; 1 carbide sizing die; 1 Universal Decapping die; 1 expansion die; 1 Micrometer adjust seating die; and 1 Micrometer adjust crimp die.

 

My press will arrive today and I plan to use the following setup:

  1. case feed
  2. de-cap
  3. swage (hold down die on toolhead)
  4. prime AND resize
  5. case mouth expansion
  6. powder drop
  7. powder check
  8. bullet drop
  9. bullet seating
  10. crimp
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On 3/6/2020 at 8:46 AM, chgofirefighter said:

Buy their ultimate die pack offering directly from Mark 7~  


I thought about it, but they told me they are replacing it with a full new Lyman set soon. Not sure if it will be of lesser, equal, or better quality though. They probably just want to start selling their own dies to make more profit. Either way, I figured it might be good to wait and see what they come out with. I'm also interested in the FW Arms stuff.

Edited by avastcosmicarena
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You wont beat our dies.. We have taken Dies to another level.  The new TNT is outstanding and Super Duty Decapping die design is coming very soon, it's all steel with unique features, designed specifically for autos.  No question it's the best the industry has ever seen. Our Flare/Expander is glass.  Test flare dies have over 300,000 cycles along with our universal pistol seating die, no wear. Crimps will be available soon. 

 

Any one interested in testing and posting full reviews with pics and videos? 

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Haven't ordered yet. I'm going to grab the 2 dies from FW Arms, but undecided on the rest. The old optimized sets are all showing backordered/out of stock on the Mark 7 site when you add to cart. Maybe that means they have stopped selling them in preparation for the new Lyman dies.

I think I might wait and try the new stainless steel dies from Lyman. They look like they're good. 

Edited by avastcosmicarena
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2 hours ago, avastcosmicarena said:

Haven't ordered yet. I'm going to grab the 2 dies from FW Arms, but undecided on the rest. The old optimized sets are all showing backordered/out of stock on the Mark 7 site when you add to cart. Maybe that means they have stopped selling them in preparation for the new Lyman dies.

I think I might wait and try the new stainless steel dies from Lyman. They look like they good. 

I have my main toolhead setup as BiknSwans listed.

FW Arms decapper or MA decapper with flicker spring -- have both, they've been 100% for me in terms of no sucked back primers.

FW Arms (or MA) swage backer

MA .40S&W sizing die

Redding Expander die

Redding Micrometer seating die

Redding Micrometer crimp die

 

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1 hour ago, candiru said:

I have my main toolhead setup as BiknSwans listed.

FW Arms decapper or MA decapper with flicker spring -- have both, they've been 100% for me in terms of no sucked back primers.

FW Arms (or MA) swage backer

MA .40S&W sizing die

Redding Expander die

Redding Micrometer seating die

Redding Micrometer crimp die

 


 

what makes Redding Expander better than M die? Anything? 

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Spoke to Joe @ Mark 7, and he was really helpful. He was pretty open & honest about a bunch of things, and he thinks the new Lyman Pro dies are as good or better than the current dies they sell in the optimized pack, and I trust that he isn't just saying that because Lyman owns them now.  Why? Because he gave me a bunch of other info about things he didn't need to which saved me money, such as:

- Mark 7 is currently working on a new trimmer to replace the Bosch trimmers they sell now. He said that it's "smaller and better" than the Bosch and is 2-3 months out.
- They expect the price of their sensors to drop soon.
- They are bringing the shell plate in house. I believe they used to use Hornady for this, but now will be making their own. So, the price of these will also go down.

My takeway? Other than the FW arms dies, I am going to wait 2-3 weeks (hopefully... we'll see what happens with COVID-19) and grab the new Lyman Pro Dies. Lyman's site has the set listed for $250. They seem like a great deal.

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On 3/17/2020 at 12:15 PM, avastcosmicarena said:

Spoke to Joe @ Mark 7, and he was really helpful. He was pretty open & honest about a bunch of things, and he thinks the new Lyman Pro dies are as good or better than the current dies they sell in the optimized pack, and I trust that he isn't just saying that because Lyman owns them now.  Why? Because he gave me a bunch of other info about things he didn't need to which saved me money, such as:

- Mark 7 is currently working on a new trimmer to replace the Bosch trimmers they sell now. He said that it's "smaller and better" than the Bosch and is 2-3 months out.
- They expect the price of their sensors to drop soon.
- They are bringing the shell plate in house. I believe they used to use Hornady for this, but now will be making their own. So, the price of these will also go down.

My takeway? Other than the FW arms dies, I am going to wait 2-3 weeks (hopefully... we'll see what happens with COVID-19) and grab the new Lyman Pro Dies. Lyman's site has the set listed for $250. They seem like a great deal.

 

 

Joe, is one hell of a guy~  He told me the exact same thing about the Lyman dies, once those dies come out they will replace for free the current die setup that I have presently.  Mark 7 is an excellent company!  I can't wait!  Currently, I have a mix set of dies, Lee, MA, Redding, DAA smh~  but it works~  But with that being said, I prefer to keep things in a uniform manner~  

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 3/8/2020 at 12:12 PM, WaynePatrick said:

You wont beat our dies.. We have taken Dies to another level.  The new TNT is outstanding and Super Duty Decapping die design is coming very soon, it's all steel with unique features, designed specifically for autos.  No question it's the best the industry has ever seen. Our Flare/Expander is glass.  Test flare dies have over 300,000 cycles along with our universal pistol seating die, no wear. Crimps will be available soon. 

 

Any one interested in testing and posting full reviews with pics and videos? 

 

I have a manual Mark 7 Evo on order. I'd be interested in posting a review on a full set of dies; shot you a PM.

Edited by kamber
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  • 4 weeks later...
On 3/8/2020 at 12:12 PM, WaynePatrick said:

You wont beat our dies.. We have taken Dies to another level.  The new TNT is outstanding and Super Duty Decapping die design is coming very soon, it's all steel with unique features, designed specifically for autos.  No question it's the best the industry has ever seen. Our Flare/Expander is glass.  Test flare dies have over 300,000 cycles along with our universal pistol seating die, no wear. Crimps will be available soon. 

 

Any one interested in testing and posting full reviews with pics and videos? 

my evo pro comes this week, ill test anything u got i ordered the lyman pro set so i would be down to do a compare

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11 hours ago, mikey_golds said:

sucks i just bought a bunch of sensors the other day


They seem to have a bunch of new product coming out soon.  Wish they would show some teaser or release info.  Looking to buy a evolution soon but don’t want to buy right before they release new products.

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On 3/16/2020 at 11:41 PM, DJRyan13 said:


 

what makes Redding Expander better than M die? Anything? 

It was mentioned as personal preference, but I have learned that one thing to check is the length of expander part. I don't have Lyman M die, but I have Redding and Mighty Armory ones. MA expanding part is longer, so it goes deeper and therefore it works better for longer/heavier bullets. For lighter bullets I would prefer Redding (I like that it is made of steel, outer part of MA is aluminium). 

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Lyman puts a flat spring to do like the competition, in the decapping die but says nothing about the solidity of the needles.
I have a decapping die MA already by screwing the cap above the needle is automatically centered on the tool and the needles are of a solidity to any test, for me in Europe it is expensive but it is a product quality I do not regret my purchase.
I had universal decapping die RCBS and Lyman a long time ago that they are in the trash.

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