Dies carbide or metal???

[augusto faria]

hey guys... it's me again, i was wanting to know what type of dies should i use regular metal or carbide... why either... and also i have a dillon 550b, which brand of dies can i use??? thanks...

[becxltoo984]

If you use carbide you wont have to mess with case lube . I like RCBS dies .

[rulas41]

please just dont drop the carbide ones they will break, some one once dropped a carbide die at work and we ended up with nothing but chunks and dust

[Timberland]

Hornady now offers "Titanium" dies they seem to avoide the breakage problem. But even if you break a die, most companys seem over eager to send out a replacement.

[What Just Happened?]

Carbide. I don't wanna mess with having to put on and take off case lube.

[Sunwolf]

Cases in rifle dies have to be lubed.

[paladin1015]

I like Redding titanium carbide dies for loading handgun ammo and use standard dies (Redding and Lee) when loading for my rifle. I load all my rifle ammo for my bolt action rifles on a single stage press.

[augusto faria]

are there better dies then others??? in respect to manufacturer???

[paladin1015]

My father and uncle used Redding dies so I use them. I have a few Lee dies and I like them especially their price. You will find that everyone has their favorite dies, presses, bullets, cases and so on.

If you are new to reloading, I strongly suggest you start off with a single stage press as you will get to know the details in reloading.

[Corbin Dallas]

If you are new to reloading, I strongly suggest you start off with a single stage press as you will get to know the details in reloading.

Wives tales....

I was new to reloading and I did my homework. Forget a single stage, you'll waste your money and time. Get a progressive and enjoy the fruits of your labor.

Anyone who started with a single stage and then went to a progressive press will tell you it was a complete waste of time and money. The learning curve is nothing on a progressive and all you need to do is take your time until you are completely comfortable.

Will you make mistakes? Yes you will.

Is anything 100 percent? Absolutely not.

If you can afford it, buy a Dillon 650XL and don't look back. Auto indexing, case feeder, powder check and much more makes this machine worth every penny. Upgrades can be found on ebay for good prices and when you get good, reloading 1000 rounds can be done in 2 hours including prep time. (case cleaning not included in time)

Rifle reloading is almost as easy as handgun with some exceptions. If you do a LOT of 223 reloading, get the 1050, you won't regret it.


Before purchasing anything, get with someone who has a progressive and someone who has a single stage. Load some rounds on each and then decide. I got 100-1 odds that you'll like the progressive better and not find it too difficult to learn.

GL and welcome to reloading heaven

[ocabj]

I still prefer a single stage. Progressives are fine for pistol, but I shoot mainly rifle.

My case prep for rifle doesn't allow for using a progressive since I deprime, clean, resize, clean, then trim prior to priming, powder charging, and seating.

As far as carbide or non-carbide, get carbide for pistol cartridges. Rifle cartridges, it won't matter since you need to lube for bottlenecked cases anyway.

[bohoki]

As far as carbide or non-carbide, get carbide for pistol cartridges. Rifle cartridges, it won't matter since you need to lube for bottlenecked cases anyway.

amen to that

you still need lube with rifle carbide dies
its just more forgiving if you forget to lube one
tapir locked cases are a real nightmare

ive heard of the titanium coated ones from hornady but they cost near as much as carbide

ps for those that do not know
the carbide is inside the steel die the whole die is not made of carbide and only the sizing die is carbide

so a set of "carbide dies" just means (carbide sizer)
(yea call me stupid but before i started reloading one of my questions was why do i need a carbide seater? a carbide crimp die may make sense then an experienced reloader filled me in)

ps i love the lee rgb dies they work so good and are so cheap and to add a crimp die is less than $10
i dont so much like the aluminum nut with rubber o ring though

[Chief-7700]

I happen to like and use the Dillon three die sent in carbide for straight wall pistol applications.
Chief-7700

[ocabj]

ive heard of the titanium coated ones from hornady but they cost near as much as carbide

I have a set of Hornady dies for .40S&W and the sizer is titanium nitride instead of carbide. Compared to my RCBS carbide pistol dies, I can't really tell the difference. Not sure if TiN is any better or worse than carbide for this application.

My Redding neck bushings for my S-Type dies are TiN. Perhaps it's just a marketing ploy to make the products look more advanced.

But they work, so that's all I really care about, I guess.