Differences in Die Manufacturers?

[Pkspawn]

I was just wondering what the differences were between all the different reloading Die Manufacturers?

Right now, I have only purchased Pistol dies. I bought dillon (45acp) dies because I thought that was all I could use with the Dillon press I had purchased.

I've since purchased Hornady Dies (9luger & 40sw) And recently Lee (38special/357). I also have a Lee FCD for 45acp.

The Dillon seem to work fine. I later found out I wasn't crimping enough, instead of playing with the crimp die, I just went and got the Lee Factory Crimp die. It is very easy to setup and gives near perfect rounds every time.

I like the idea of the locking rings on the Hornady dies. The Lee has the O-ring which is nice. What I found very annoying on the LEE is the sizing/depriming die, if it takes too much pressure to pop the primer out, the pin will be pushed up. This is so you don't break the pin by forcing it. After this happening about a dozen times, I just removed the die and used a hornady die to deprime all the brass.

Seems each company has something nice about their dies and something bad/annoying.. Just wondering if there were any other opinions on them? I was almost to the point of why not just buy the lowest cost dies available. At the time of looking, that was Lee.. But after my experience with the LEE dies for 38special, I am glad I didn't do that.

[knight0334]

I've found little differences in the manufacturers. I use which ever I can get the cheapest. So far I have the following manufacturers: Lee, RCBS, and Lyman. They all have worked fine for me.

[knight0334]

I forgot to add - I do dislike the o-ring design for Lee's locking ring. It allows movement between the ring and die when interchanging dies, thus requiring you to recalibrate them. Once I get a die calibrated for a press I want that locking ring to stay put on the die.

[Guns N'at]

For pistol, I really like second generation Dillon carbide the best by far. The seating die takes seconds to disassemble w/o tools, seater plug changes take another couple seconds, and is a matter of removing a headed pin and flipping over the stem. Might not seems so great to non cast bullet shooters, but to us folks who shoot 99% cast lead like I do, it really, really is nice for lube cleanup, and without any loss of adjustment to boot. Also like that the TC die has a floating insert that also takes seconds to remove and clean w/o adjustment loss. The sizer die has a tapered insert, proper for tapered cartridges (ie 9mm), not straight like others. Lastly, the huge chamfer of the sizer insert makes case insertion so easy while used on a 550B, or other progressive, and is just icing on the cake of these great (but expensive) dies.

I use RCBS, Lee, and Pacific rifle dies, and like them all at least OK, with RCBS being my favorite. I personally do not like Lee factory crimp dies for pistol/revolver rounds, as I feel they are a solution for a non-existent problem. Also, since I shoot a lot of cast bullets a few thous over what many consider 'proper' nominal diameter for a given cartridge, and at times use pretty thick walled cases, I don't want to chance the post sizing operation screwing up the very sizing I work to keep where it is. Some say in their experience there is no post sizing, others on the castboolit forum say they do, and will even hack saw off the sizer portion of the die. One nice aspect of Lee is they will help you out with pistol sizer dies and crimp dies if you send one in for exchange; I had them do a "U" (undersize) .44 mag sizer, and received an "O" (oversize) FCD in the same caliber, but never have used it.

[762xIan]

What I found very annoying on the LEE is the sizing/depriming die, if it takes too much pressure to pop the primer out, the pin will be pushed up.

I think you need to tighten the nut a bit. It should not be being pushed up depriming pistol brass. The only time I have had the rod push up is depriming military rifle brass with crimped in primers.

On the plus side, with this feature I have never busted a pin on a Lee die either.

The only thing I have found with the Lee dies is that they are a little rough inside. They improve a lot with a polishing with Flitz metal polish.

[Pkspawn]

I thought I tightened the nut as much as it would go. felt like it bottomed out and wouldn't turn anymore.

I thought the LEE sizer was great on the first piece of brass I went to deprime and it popped up.. Looked inside and found the flash hole was off center.

I reset it and continued. All of the once shot brass that I purchased and shot myself, all worked fine. The stuff I picked up from the range is what I had issues with. I switched dies and they all worked fine and didn't break the pin.

I haven't tried RCBS yet..

[762xIan]

Looked inside and found the flash hole was off center.

Yep, that will do it.

I have come across off center holes more and more myself usually with the cheaper brass manufacturers.

[dk99358]

I have Lyman and RCBS dies for both rifle and handgun, have never had a problem with either brand.

I have a set of Lee for the 30-06. I hate the O ring 'lock ring' and promptly replaced it with some spare RCBS rings. I had some problems with the decapping stem pulling out as I was withdrawing the case, tightened the collet and cleaned the inside case necks and haven't had a problem since. But that is an extra step to clean necks and extra lock rings eliminate the price advantage of Lee.

I bought a set of Lee pistol dies a couple of weeks ago, I'll give them a whirl but they may very well be the last Lee dies I buy.

Dale

[Guns N'at]

For the Lee lock rings, I either remove the O-ring, or flip the ring over... Worst part about some older Lee dies is they are kinda 'short' for use on a Dillon 550, and I believe folks fix this by having the lock ring under the tool head. I have these dies in my 550, and just barely have enough space to lock them down. Newer Lee dies seem longer.

[Plain Old Bill]

For what it's worth- bust a Lyman reloading tool, they'll tell you it has a one-year warranty. Bust an RCBS or a Dillon, you're looking at a lifetime warranty.