Which Dies?

[steveyacht]

I am selling some of my shot shell reloading gear in order to use that money to purchase metallic cartridge reloading gear. Since I am a newbie at metallic reloading (have reloaded Thousands of shot shells) I would like to the proper gear. One of my questions is regarding dies. I have seen Hornady Titanium dies, RCBS Carbide dies, etc. Which in your opinions represent the best overall combination of value and quality? Keeping in mind that (initially) I will only be loading 9mm and 45 ACP. As far as press goes, I am leaning heavily, athough not beyond the point of no return, to the Hornady LnL.... No offense Blue lovers.

Steve

[Sarge]

My Dillon dies do everything I need in 9mm. But you will get a barrage of opinions on the matter. Good luck.

[G-ManBart]

I am selling some of my shot shell reloading gear in order to use that money to purchase metallic cartridge reloading gear. Since I am a newbie at metallic reloading (have reloaded Thousands of shot shells) I would like to the proper gear. One of my questions is regarding dies. I have seen Hornady Titanium dies, RCBS Carbide dies, etc. Which in your opinions represent the best overall combination of value and quality? Keeping in mind that (initially) I will only be loading 9mm and 45 ACP. As far as press goes, I am leaning heavily, athough not beyond the point of no return, to the Hornady LnL.... No offense Blue lovers.

Steve

Dollar for dollar Lee is probably the best value. I like the Hornady dies a little better and Redding best of all, but you pay more for them.

Actually, for a progressive press I'd run either a Lee carbide resizing die (or U-die for .40) first, whatever expanding/powder die works with the press, Redding competition seating die and then any decent taper crimp die. In a Dillon or other press where you have an extra station, I'd run a Dillon resize die in station one, a Lee carbide resize die in station two with the decapping pin removed, then bell/powder, then Redding CSD and then a taper crimp die. That combo will give you nicely resized cases, the press will work smoothly and you'll get almost no loaded rounds that fail the case gauge.

The reason for the two different resize dies is that the Dillon is flared a bit at the mouth so the fresh case will start easier. The Lee resize or U-die will get farther down the case...they're a bit tighter than other resizing dies, but because of that they can be a pain when used in the first station since cases don't always want to start in them easily.

I can't see the value of the LNL press over a Dillon, but they aren't a bad choice....just not the best IMO.

[SLM]

I have the Hornady L-N-L AP and love it. My setup for 9mm dies... I run a Redding titanium carbide sizer/deprime die in station 1, a Lee/EGW "U" die without the deprime pin in station 2, powder drop in station 3, Redding or Hornady competition seat die (prefer the Redding but the Hornady isn't bad) in station 4, and a Lee FCD (factory crimp die) in station 5.

Like G-ManBart said, I don't think you can buy better dies than Redding but "bang for the buck" would go to Lee. I haven't used RCBS dies at all so I can't comment on them.

As to the Red vs. Blue debate, you can go on and on with that one and neither side is gonna give an inch. The L-N-L AP and Dillon 650 are direct competitors. Both are 5 station, auto-indexing presses. If you have the opportunity to check them both out (and even better if you can try them) do it! That way you can make your own decision. That's what I did and I ordered what I felt was the better design of the two. After checking them both out you may feel differently.

Enjoy your metallic reloading endeavors. I know I do!!

[cdrissel]

I use Redding, Hornady and RCBS.

I prefer Redding Competition Dies for Rifle - but the price is higher the other two.

I do all my 9mm and 45 on an old Dillon SDB

All of the dies mentioned so far are good quality.

[David.Hylton]

I run straight Lee dies in my 550 for 9mm. They run great and I've never had an ammo problem that wasn't caused by operator head space and timing. you can by a 4-die set from Lee that includes the crimp die for a reasonable amount.

I recommend that you watch the classified pages here and buy what becomes available.

[steveyacht]

I have the Hornady L-N-L AP and love it. My setup for 9mm dies... I run a Redding titanium carbide sizer/deprime die in station 1, a Lee/EGW "U" die without the deprime pin in station 2, powder drop in station 3, Redding or Hornady competition seat die (prefer the Redding but the Hornady isn't bad) in station 4, and a Lee FCD (factory crimp die) in station 5.

Like G-ManBart said, I don't think you can buy better dies than Redding but "bang for the buck" would go to Lee. I haven't used RCBS dies at all so I can't comment on them.

As to the Red vs. Blue debate, you can go on and on with that one and neither side is gonna give an inch. The L-N-L AP and Dillon 650 are direct competitors. Both are 5 station, auto-indexing presses. If you have the opportunity to check them both out (and even better if you can try them) do it! That way you can make your own decision. That's what I did and I ordered what I felt was the better design of the two. After checking them both out you may feel differently.

Enjoy your metallic reloading endeavors. I know I do!!

Thank you for your advice and comment. I am currently waiting the sale of my MECs on E-Bay. I will also list them here. As far as my decision about the Horndy Loader, that came after I spent a good half day watching YouTube videos of both in action. And I am not comparing the Loc n Load to the SDB or 550 I am only looking at multi station progressive presses with auto indexing.

Thanks again

[bossharley]

+1 on checking out each in person, try to find a shooting buddy with each. Additionally, autoindexing is nice, but many find that the difference is not all that great. I have a Dillon 550 and 650 and find I load at about the same rate with each - taking my time to ensure I everything is as it should be. As for dies I love my Dillon dies, and I also have Horady, Redding and RCBS (and Lee in the past). As far as ranking them I would say Redding>Dillon&RCBS&Horady>Lee, but all are excellent products and there is nothing wrong with Lee. I really like the ability to clean the Dillon dies without having to re-install and adjust again (inserts that drop out).

I have the Hornady L-N-L AP and love it. My setup for 9mm dies... I run a Redding titanium carbide sizer/deprime die in station 1, a Lee/EGW "U" die without the deprime pin in station 2, powder drop in station 3, Redding or Hornady competition seat die (prefer the Redding but the Hornady isn't bad) in station 4, and a Lee FCD (factory crimp die) in station 5.

Like G-ManBart said, I don't think you can buy better dies than Redding but "bang for the buck" would go to Lee. I haven't used RCBS dies at all so I can't comment on them.

As to the Red vs. Blue debate, you can go on and on with that one and neither side is gonna give an inch. The L-N-L AP and Dillon 650 are direct competitors. Both are 5 station, auto-indexing presses. If you have the opportunity to check them both out (and even better if you can try them) do it! That way you can make your own decision. That's what I did and I ordered what I felt was the better design of the two. After checking them both out you may feel differently.

Enjoy your metallic reloading endeavors. I know I do!!

Thank you for your advice and comment. I am currently waiting the sale of my MECs on E-Bay. I will also list them here. As far as my decision about the Horndy Loader, that came after I spent a good half day watching YouTube videos of both in action. And I am not comparing the Loc n Load to the SDB or 550 I am only looking at multi station progressive presses with auto indexing.

Thanks again

[orangeman711]

I currently have a Dillon 450,that I use for decapping and trimming 223only. I also have a SDB, 550, and two

650's. All use Dillon dies. Between the customer service and the ease of use of the presses I can't complain

at all. Dillon Forever.

[mwc101]

I reload .380, 9 mm, .40, and .45 all on RCBS Rock Cruncher Supreme.

All of my dies are RCBS carbide. I have a friend that uses a Dillon progressive

and I kind of like his setup but it was way out of my price range.

I chose this particular RCBS because it can be expanded with the "piggy back"

to progressive. I am almost to the point of expanding. reloading a whole lot

more than I ever anticipated two years ago when I started. the Rock also has a wider

"jaws" for 30'06 shells and 7 mm mag, if I ever decide to relaod them in the future.

Everything I have is RCBS. I believe in their quality. I have not been disappointed

at all. Good luck with your search. Everyone has a favorite.

[M'Lady]

I think Lee dies are the best. They offer a quality product at a very reasonable price. I would only go to Redding for precision rifle applications, but definitely not for pistol. They also seem to be easier to adjust than Dillon dies.

You may want to consider undersize dies from EGW. I believe they are made by Lee.

[blaster113]

I think Lee dies are the best. They offer a quality product at a very reasonable price. I would only go to Redding for precision rifle applications, but definitely not for pistol. They also seem to be easier to adjust than Dillon dies.

You may want to consider undersize dies from EGW. I believe they are made by Lee.

The U die is a good thing to have if you load any brass that happens to have been fired in a Glock or other pistol with a loose chamber. I use a U die in my RL550 to resize once fired police range brass, some of which have the very noticeable "Glock" bulge from our issue .40 Glock pistols.

The U-die I just ordered from EGW was made by Lee; it came in a clear orange Lee box with Lee literature.

[boo radley]

Hmm...I load .45, 9mm and .40. I've experimented with a couple set-ups.

for .40, I run the straight Lee 4-die set. The sizing die works great on 'glocked' brass, and the dies are cheap. The negative, is I really, really hate the deprimer on Lee dies. They're not easy to clean, either.

for .45acp I like Dillon with a Lee FCD die in the last position. You can easily clean the lube out of the seating die w/out removing the die, and the new Dillon dies have replaceable tips for their depriming punch.

for 9mm I run straight Dillon.

I've toyed with the idea of a fancy seating die, like the Redding competition, but haven't had a problem turning out ammunition that's more accurate than I'm capable of shooting, in general, so I've not seen the point. They look cool, however.