Newbie question on Dies.

[Loui3]

Hello all,

Since I'm stuck at home now I have some time to get into the reloading now. This last Christmas my daughter bought me Lee breech lock challenger kit.

it's a nice kit but I know it's missing some parts and most likely upgrade some items. My question is where can I find some dies for the 223 / 308?

I notice online they are sold out for the Lee one. Can this press use different dies on it? I'm worried about buying the wrong ones since my wife gave me a budget.

Since I have the time I was thinking of going with the wet tumbler as well and have them air dry in the garage. doing it t his way until I guess I could find a cheap food air drier that most people are using.

Any kind of help would be awesome please. .

Thank you,

[the86d]

Carbide does and regular dies for .223/5.56, .308, and 9mm, the most common calibers these days might be a hard time, as even Dillon is backordered for MONTHS...

Might want to bite the bullet and pay scalper prices if you can't wait...

[Bastard]

dies are all a standard thread and thus interchangeable between brands though finding them at a decent price can be a bit challenging... especially when you are new and don't know what you want... would probably be best to just put a back-order in rather they pay inflated prices on the secondary market, besides your not going to be able to find components anyway

if you are on a budget dry tumbling is usually cheaper, though admittedly I haven't looked at the pricing on wet tumblers in years.

[Loui3]

I just checked out Carbide site... DAmmmmmmmmmm they are expensive thought they were about $50 or less like before.

I might have to look around or something... I knew I should have bought them last year when I was thinking of getting into reloading...


From what you're telling me I could buy any die and they should fit the press I currently have?

[baih777]

Setup an account on Midway USA.
Buy this now while it's in stock.

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1011183740?pid=136543

And a couple of extra decapping pins for it.

Look up the Lee and RCBS dies and click on the back in stock notification.


Start looking at tumblers.

[Sandspider500]

Check fleabay

[baih777]

just checked ebay.

WOW people are asking over $100 for a set of Lee 223 dies.

[tabascoz28]

Since you're starting at the worst time, some of us, being the misers and cheap skates that we are we'll need to know a few things:

What calibers will you be loading for:
How often do you shoot and plant to use up those rounds you reload:

Yes most modern dies will fit just fine. Lee dies lack a good locking nut so all my stuff has reference marks made by white paint or sharpies. If I had that set, it's basically a single stage press, in which case, I'd skip buying extra bushings. The locking nut basically is your reference point for each die.

For a beginner, you don't need too much. They've been pushing that mounting plate on all their newly designed pressed but I've always just bolted them down. I guess if I had limited space and needed to constantly switch out rigs. A good digital scale was a must for me, doesn't cost that much but speeds things up a little. I've always had a digital scale, moved up over the years, now I have an auto dispenser/measure made by Lyman that is accurate down to .1 grains. Good enough for mid level accuracy and definitely enough for bulk plinking loads. Most people get the Chargemaster.

I've had a media tumbler for 15+ years now, same motor and still running strong. It's not the shiniest brass but it doesn't cost me extra in cleaning solution or dry time. $5 of lizard bedding is the same as the 10-15 dollar walnut you get at the stores.

[tabascoz28]

Right? Aholes are trying to cash in now. A regular lee deluxe set, with 4 carbide dies were about 40 bucks a year ago. I don't know if carbide is necessary, just make sure it's lubed. You're currently on a single stage press so I know you're not going to wear it out.

[baih777]

since you want to load 223 and 308.
you will need a primer pocket swaging tool to remove the military crimp.

Franklin Arsenal wet tumbler is the only one i saw that came with the stainless steel pins. be careful when you see it somewhere else. moght not include the pins.

[someoneeasy]

Do you already have primers and powder? If not, just hold out for dies to come back in stock, midway shows 1/28/21 for them to get more back in stock.

In the meantime, mount the press and prep your brass.

[Loui3]

WOW thank you all for the advice...

Something interesting you said about shinny brass @tabascoz28. I think no one really cares if it's shiny or not... it's up to the shooter if he wants the brass shiny. For me, I'm just going to practice. I think going with the dry tumbler will be much easier since I'm starting. WHen I get into long-range shooting maybe I might want the brass to be nice and shiny.


I am starting with 223. and 308 for now. Maybe down the road 9mm or something else. I haven't bought powder or primers yet since I want to get all the hardware first. I have a tone of brass that I collected when I have gone shooting. You are right I should start cleaning it first. That should keep me busy for now plus building my table this weekend. Going to build a short one since I don't want to take too much space in my office. My wife will kill me if I do.

[RNE228]

I've seen decent deals on dies on Craigslist lately, at least in the Sacramento area.

[kcheung2]

Since you mentioned you're on a budget & short on space...

The Harbor Freight rock tumblers work fine. Slow, but no dust. Besides, you're not getting primers any time soon anyway. I use them for dry tumbling, but they can also be used for wet tumbling if you want to try that route.

Military 5.56 & 7.62 brass has a crimp on the primer pocket. Google image it to see what it looks like. Basically during the manufacturing process a tube was pressed against the cartridge base to slightly displace the metal and lock in the primer. You'll either need to ream or swage it. The ramen noodle budget option is a phillips head screwdriver bit on a power drill, half a second spin on that will cut the crimp out. The screwdriver bit only lasts about 500 cases, then you gotta spin it the other way. (using it as intended as a screwdriver though is unaffected) A countersink works better & lasts much longer. There are dedicated reloading reamers but I find them horribly slow since they're hand operated. Reloading swagers are pretty good but also more expensive & take up more space than a single countersink bit. Fortunately you only have to do this step once in the life of the case, and having crimped pockets is a good sign that your brass is once-fired.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001UTYZD8/?coliid=I2FE4OIDALIT4P&colid=3J5SSLZN4NRDF&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it

The separate decapper on post 5 is definitely nice but not needed. A die set will have the decapper/resizer as a single die, and thus a single step in your workflow. But of course that assumes you have a die set.

I think I have an unopened RCBS 223 die set somewhere, I'll check tonight.

[tabascoz28]

I was doing searches for OP too on dies, I can't believe that it's not available for a decent price.

223 primer pockets will definitely need to be swaged. Incidentally I have never needed to do it for 7.62 or 9mm nato. I have always primed on the press but I wonder if hand priming will be harder and scarier when or if it pops.

There's a million different things to learn but there's always a cheap alternative and a time saving expensive one. When you're ready, shoot those questions here and I'm sure they'll be plenty of people that will talk your ears off.