CARBIDE VS STEEL DIES

[heavyhaulin818]

So I trimmed some cases down to 500 special and .44 special lengths, now I am going to order dies. Anyone own both kinds of dies and have you noticed any differences in the quality or precision of your finished cases? Do the carbide dies have tighter tolerances which would work the brass ever so slightly more than steel? Do carbide dies size less due to the rounded/beveled opening vs the square end of the steel? Is brass brass (not whole cases) sticking to the inside of steel dies and scratching cases a concern? I already own lube for my other brass so lubing/not lubing is not a concern to me. I read someone saying steel wears out faster than the carbide ring. Anyone here ever wear out a steel die or even notice any size difference from when you first used it? The current difference between the two kinds is roughly $25.

[bruce381]

should have same dimensions to me the carbide is works smoother and polishes the brass some.

[eaglemike]

Carbide is far more abrasion resistant. Carbide dies for straight walled pistols cases can be used without lube, steel dies require lubrication. I usually tumble the pistol cases in corn cob or walnut media with a bit of old school liquid car wax in in the media, so they end up with a very small amount of the car wax as a lube with the carbide dies, makes sizing easier. The media needs to be run for a bit after I put the wax in to get it spread around. Lyman and other have other stuff to put in the media that works about the same. Cases with either die should have the mouth deburred after trimming.

[heavyhaulin818]

I own some HORNADY CUSTOM GRADE dies with the nitride coating and they do polish the case to a degree but are not as slick as one might imagine. Although not carbide, they are supposed to be able to size without lube. If it wasn’t for lubing a few cases with the HORNADY dies...I would have definitely stuck one or three. I wet tumble and have various lubes UNIQUE, DILLON CASE LUBE, ONE SHOT, PLEDGE, and IMPERIAL so in that respect the carbide is not as important to me. What I am more interested in is knowing if the carbide has tighter tolerances which to me means it is probably squeezing the case a little bit more than steel...more so than need be? Perhaps I am working this thought over way too much, but if steel has worked for so many for so long...why change... I guess the real benefits of carbide are the minutes of lubing I saving and the added cost of buying lube every so often. Other than the carbide insert in the sizing die, the other dies are the same?

[bohoki]

carbide dies work great they do work a bit different than steel dies they are for generally straight wall cases because they just have a carbide ring inside that shapes the walls to that size

every case has a bit of taper carbide takes the taper away so when you add the bullet sometimes the case looks a bit weird sometimes called mae westing where it appears a bit hourglass shaped

any additional wear fatigue is more than made up for the ease of use and lack of lube procedures

the only case that i prefer to use steel when carbide is available is 30 carbine as the loaded ammo looks more "factory" looking

[eaglemike]

Dimensionally carbide should be the same as steel - except the carbide sizing ring often has a larger bevel or radius at the bottom end. Carbide is more brittle than steel, and if the die is dropped on concrete there's a chance the sizing ring could chip or crack.
Biggest reason to use carbide is time savings, don't need to lube and remove lube after sizing.
Only the sizing die of the die set is carbide.
For straight wall pistol cases* I can't imagine anyone would want the case hardened steel version unless there was literally no way to afford a carbide sizing die.
There are some great coating out there that might work close to carbide, but I've never messed with them. They would be attractive to me for rifle stuff. Most rifle calibers don't have a carbide sizing die available, exceptions being Dillon in .223 and .308.
Good luck!

*eta: 9mm isn't a straight wall case, but pretty much everyone makes a 9mm carbide sizing die. The taper isn't much. It does take a little more effort to size due to the taper, since some (all?) of the carbide sizing rings have some taper built in..

[Divernhunter]

buy carbide dies--that is the best way to go

[Che762x39]

buy carbide dies--that is the best way to go

+1 great answer.

Carbide Dies will give you many years of great service.

[BrassCase]

Dimensionally carbide should be the same as steel - except the carbide sizing ring often has a larger bevel or radius at the bottom end. Carbide is more brittle than steel, and if the die is dropped on concrete there's a chance the sizing ring could chip or crack.
Biggest reason to use carbide is time savings, don't need to lube and remove lube after sizing.
Only the sizing die of the die set is carbide.
For straight wall pistol cases* I can't imagine anyone would want the case hardened steel version unless there was literally no way to afford a carbide sizing die.
There are some great coating out there that might work close to carbide, but I've never messed with them. They would be attractive to me for rifle stuff. Most rifle calibers don't have a carbide sizing die available, exceptions being Dillon in .223 and .308.
Good luck!

*eta: 9mm isn't a straight wall case, but pretty much everyone makes a 9mm carbide sizing die. The taper isn't much. It does take a little more effort to size due to the taper, since some (all?) of the carbide sizing rings have some taper built in..

Dillon does, as you mention, have carbide rifle dies but they are meant for high volume reloading as the carbide (being very hard) gives the die more service life. You still have to lube cases if they are not straight walled.

[eaglemike]

Dillon does, as you mention, have carbide rifle dies but they are meant for high volume reloading as the carbide (being very hard) gives the die more service life. You still have to lube cases if they are not straight walled.

Yes, I didn't go into more detail about the rifle stuff as OP was asking about pistol stuff.
I'm pretty familiar with carbide, using it in the shop for cutting tools every day.

[heavyhaulin818]

So, I decided to go backwards here and order the all steel dies. I called RCBS this morning and after talking to one of their techs, my suspicions about the carbide working the brass a bit more and potentially shortening it’s life were to my satisfaction...confirmed. Thanks to everyone who shared their experiences and opinions. Can’t wait to get my dies and work up some specials.