What dies to get?

[devildog999]

I've had good luck with Lee dies for straight-walled pitol calibers, but thats it. I wouldn't use them for rifle. RCBS makes decent dies for the money, but get some Redding dies for your 308. Most all dies will be available in sets. Get a RCBS full length die set for 223 and your choice for 45. If you're going to load for accuracy with the 700 in 308, get the Redding type S FL die competition die set. Its a little more expensive, but worth it.

With the 700 I will def be going for accuracy, so thanks much for the rec. I will def look heavily into these for .308

[devildog999]

You can't go wrong with RCBS, but Lee is just as good.

Are you planning to process once fired brass, then get either a FL or SB FL set of dies.

Also order case gages (so far any manu.) for each rifle caliber.

Yes I will be using fired brass, thanks for the tip, greatly appreciated

[bohoki]

the 223 i load with the lee rgb seems to work fine

and they run around $15

yes i hate hate hate the aluminum lock nuts on the dies and the seating adjustment dial i dont know of any other aluminum

[Rule .308]

While I have had no real issues with the Lee dies that I have I do not use them extensively. They tend to utilize much more aluminum in their construction and have an overall cheaper feel to them. That being said, the Lee collet dies work very well for neck sizing. While I have not tried the bushing style sizing dies it is because I used the collet dies first and they sized my brass so smooth and straight that it was pointless to try anything else. The brass that I neck size with the collet sizer dies have little to no runnout on the guage, in the area of .0005-.001 and sometimes less. As far as regular dies go I like the Hornady dies because I feel they have a better seating die than the others.
On the .223 for the AR you will want to get the SB die set that was mentioned above. It is a Small Base size die that is supposed to take the case size down just a bit further than your regular Full Length die. This is designed to facilitate loading in semi autos.
On your bolt gun you might at a point want to consider getting a Redding Competition seating die. They are on the spendy side but are very nice and they set the bullet in the case just about as square as you can get. I have them in .243 and .308 for my bolt guns. Redding also makes 3 piece deluxe rifle die sets that have an FL sizer, a neck or NK sizer, and a seater. They are nice sets but I still like the way the Lee collet sizer works for neck sizing.
All of these dies are 7/8 threads and will screw into pretty much any commonly available press.

[rayra]

Lee crams it's seating and crimping into one die, has a powder-thru expander die, and it's decapping / sizing die only has a small ring of carbide, but sizes smaller than standard.

Dillon has a separate crimp and seating die and no expander die.

Those are standard dies.

Combining seating and crimping is not an issue in handgun cartridges. And rifle 3-die kits come with a separate crimping die, so your remarks don't really apply.

/

I've used Lee Carbide pistol dies, Hornady Titanium Nitride pistol dies, Dillon and RCBS rifle dies. All work great.

And that saw about Lee dies being crap is a bigger steaming pile of it.

Best advice on rifle dies is make sure you get a set with a decapping pin that has replaceable tips. It will save you grief later.

[ar15barrels]

I'm still trying to find someone who has actually had issues with Lee dies. I keep hearing this, but my set seems to work fine, my neighbors works fine, in fact everyone I know that reloads and has used Lee stuff didn't have issues with the dies. Did you actually have a die that was out of spec, or did you know of a guy who knew a guy who knew a guy that had a bad set? The only thing I've seen online was a guy got a mis-marked package that had .45 dies or something when he ordered 9mm. I will admit the Dillon setup looks nice at twice the price, and I may go that way in the future.

I have had issues with several Lee dies that I purchased.
Factory crimp die has so many burrs from the cuts in the collet that it was ripping up case mouths.
A taper crimp die that would not crimp enough to actually remove the belling from the case neck.
A seater die that had to be polished so that bullets would not get stuck to the seating stem.

In general, the quality of the dies just suck.
Yes, they will make functional ammo, but when you compare them to the quality of every other manufacturer, it's easy to see why they are cheaper.

[What Just Happened?]

Combining seating and crimping is not an issue in handgun cartridges. And rifle 3-die kits come with a separate crimping die, so your remarks don't really apply.

/

I've used Lee Carbide pistol dies, Hornady Titanium Nitride pistol dies, Dillon and RCBS rifle dies. All work great.

And that saw about Lee dies being crap is a bigger steaming pile of it.

I was indicating that there are differences between manufacturer's dies. Not that Lee dies are inferior. Randall's making that point. They've worked for me, but they do feel of lesser quality than the Dillon set I have.

[Timberland]

My complaint with lee is the rings wont lock up, so its hard to adjust the die without is moving someware. I use their press, and their molds, so Im not anti LEE. They make some products that are great, like their trimming tools, and press, and casting equipment. But there dies do suck, and dies break. Regardless of manufacture, you will break die parts, even press parts. LEE has a very crappy warranty, everyone else seems to bend over backwards for you, lee not so much.

~On the comment about crimp and seating, most dies do that aside from dillon, although thay may be able to do that to. Some people like a seperate crimp die, others do it in the same step