Noob question about Dies

[Skoonie]

I'm just getting into reloading and I want to buy a set of quality dies that will last, i was about to pull the trigger on an expensive set of Redding dies but thought I would ask around and make sure I'm not over buying. I don't mind paying for quality if there is a difference, but I don't want to buy $100 dies if a $40 set are just as good. I have heard reports that carbide are best because you don't need lube, then i heard you still need to lube carbide??? I also noticed there seems to be different die configurations depending on your press setup and im not 100% sure of the correct die setup I would want for a turret press.

Thanks in advance

[stilly]

I'm just getting into reloading and I want to buy a set of quality dies that will last, i was about to pull the trigger on an expensive set of Redding dies but thought I would ask around and make sure I'm not over buying. I don't mind paying for quality if there is a difference, but I don't want to buy $100 dies if a $40 set are just as good. I have heard reports that carbide are best because you don't need lube, then i heard you still need to lube carbide??? I also noticed there seems to be different die configurations depending on your press setup and im not 100% sure of the correct die setup I would want for a turret press.

Thanks in advance

For tapered and straight walled, CARBIDE dies will do the job without the NEED for case lube. You can still run it, but why? Some folks like some good case lube though.

For pistol cases, LEE (at around $30 or less usually) 3 die sets is all ANYONE ever needs. They are typically good/high quality and will last a long time. There are varying opinions, but the majority say Lee is good enough for them. I have about 5+ sets of Lee dies for .40/10mm, 9mm, .44 mag, 50 AE, .45, and soon .380...

For rifle dies then RCBS is a good starting point. I am not thrilled with Lee dies because Lee wants you to crimp and I prefer tighter neck tension instead of crimping. BUT this might soon be a ford/chevy debate (oh apparently it already is...)

Redding is nice, but only if you intend to do bench shooting and want dies and a press that will get a cloverleaf on a bad day at 1200 yards... (yes that is an exaggeration).

Dillon can be nice, but I think people only buy Dillon dies because they got suckered in to buying a press for a HUGE amount of money SO they gotta keep up that image and will buy Dillon dies for $100+ bucks a pop for pistol sets... Hey guess what, at 30' a bullet is a bullet and I doubt that a dillon die can make my rounds be any more accurate then my Lee or Lyman or RCBS... OR redding.... OR CH4D...

The COOL thing about the Dillon dies is if you pay enough money, you can set them, then take them apart with a pin to clean them and put them back together and they are already set up and good to go. Pretty cool huh? Do you know how I clean my Lee .45 acp dies? I get a cotton swap and rub it around the inside in circles like the way we used to clean our ears after a bath or shower. Takes all of 10 seconds and should work just as good. I can still hit the 1" sticker on the targets at 25' out freehand with MY ammo.

The COOL thing about Lee dies is that they ALL include a SHELLHOLDER free of charge PLUS a popular dipper for that caliber PLUS a small chart on various powders and loads using dippers (including that one). I think LEE is the only die manufacturer that includes a free shell holder and a dipper and load data for that caliber.

Lee is your best bang for your buck.

RCBS has a REALLY cool green case (so does redding too though) and their dies look NICE and lighter gray, but they are not Lees.

Redding can be expensive but I would not consider them until I got into long range rifle or hunting rifle reloading.

Then there is Lyman. Orange or gray case and they are cool, but they are average and cost around Lee/RCBS.

And finally there is Hornady... GARBAGE. They have this TiN coating that they push and say it is better than carbide, but CARBIDE is solid where the TiN is a coating apparently. PLEASE SOMEONE CORRECT ME IF I AM WRONG. I do not want to spread lies about Hornady in THIS thread. I have heard it kinda sucks and is just a sales gimmick though.

Me? I use Lee 3 die set (well, 2 die really) on my Classic Turret (the gooder one) with a Hornady QC powder die and case activated powder dropper. THAT is how I load just about everything.

So there ya have it.

[stand125]

I like the LEE dies and I do lube my pistol brass. Lube may not be required but it does make it go like butter. Get a manual and start reading

[Skoonie]

Awesome, thanks for the advice. I notice in some sets crimp dies seem to be sold separate? Does this mean a particular set does not have a crimp function built into the seating die?

[Kaisa]

Lee 4 (don't buy the 3 die sets) die sets have lasted me for years (and years), no complaints at all. I use Dillion and RCBS comp and regular dies too. The dillons I bought with a 550b and the RCBS ones I needed in a pinch - however their comp 223 dies are the best set of the dies I have. If you have any issues with lee dies (I haven't in any caliber) you can just buy new ones for $40.

[Germz]

any tool will last a long time assuming the owner maintains it. Lee dies will last just as long as Lyman, as RCBS, as Hornady, as Dillon, as Redding, as Forster, and so on.

[Divernhunter]

I am not a great fan of lee dies. The so-called locking ring is NOT a locking ring at all. If you buy lee the buy Hornady locking rings for them. When you do that you have the cost of RCBS/Hornady/Lyman dies but without the service(Read free replacement parts/dies) when you screw one up.
It is a give and take debate. Make your own choices.

Most die sets(not lee 4 die sets I think) have the crimper built into the seater die. For rifle ammo you do not need to crimp---Even semi-auto.
Yes all the companies except lee have nice and useful cases for their dies. Hard to stack many of the lee cases.
Dillon dies and presses are worth it but are costly--again great service---Pay now or pay later. I do prefer the Dillon dies for the Dillon 650 unit and feel they are worth the money. Most all that use them for long agree. Your choice.
Never used the dipper from lee dies and know of nobody personally who has. The $5 shellholder is nice. However many people buy one shellholder and use it for many different cartridges. Such as one for 308win/30-07/25-06/280rem/260rem/7mm-08/22BR/22-250/240Weatherby/243win/6mmRem/250Savage/257Roberts/270win/7mmMauser/284win/300Savage/7.7jap/8mm Mauser/35rem/35whelen/358win/45ACP to list some of them. All these for the same shellholder. $5 covers quite a bunch of sets of dies. The the extras you get from lee are not really needed.
Maybe that is one reason ALL the others do not include one.
So the lee powder dipper and shellholder is really mostly a marketing gimmick since neither are really needed.
AS far as the "all anyone ever needs" lee pistol dies. I would suggest this is one persons opinion and someone without many years experience if that matters. RCBS for one might differ in what they think due to their very high sales numbers. Same with some other brands. I will say on certain 454Casuall brass I do like the separate crimp die. So I bought one and backed off my seater die for those brass(starline) and it will do the 45colt also. My other pistol cartridges all use RCBS or Lyman dies I bought BEFORE lee even started making dies/presses. They still do a great job.---If it is not broke do not fix it.

So you now have a differing opinion. Just as some of the lee people say do not drink the blue koolade I also say be careful about the red lee koolade and those that push it. It is not as great as they try to say.

My 2 Cents from a very long time reloader. Pay your money and make your choices.

[Pauliedad]

Dang stilly,
You wrote all that in two minutes? Type fast I guess.

To the OP,
I started with Dillon dies and when their 9mm carbide set was back ordered for like three months I was able to pick up some lee ones at a show.
Do they get the job done? Yes.
Do they feel grindy and less baby bottom smooth when I'm resizing, Yup.
For anyone starting out and on a budget, go for it. That way you can do more with less. If you're getting into it and can afford it? Spend a little more and your resale will hold if you end up selling.
You can always upgrade later.

Now can't we all just get along?

[stand125]

Never used the dipper from lee dies and know of nobody personally who has. The $5 shellholder is nice.
So the lee powder dipper and shellholder is really mostly a marketing gimmick since neither are really needed..

I will say that I use the dipper for my 300 blk loads because I am temporarily in an apartment so I use my LEE Hand press and it is just easier to use the dipper that throws exactly what I need. I also use the dipper at the range when I load develop. I never used the dipper when I had my LEE Classic Turret press going and won't use it once I get back into a house and a Garage. The nice thing with Lee stuff is that you can get into the hobby for Really cheap and test the waters before you go big like we all pretty much eventually do.

Heck you can get the Hand Press kit, set of LEE dippers and as long as you follow the load chart you need nothing else besides dies and can load anywhere and fit it all in a shoe box. Will you load with that for ever, probably not but you will always have it as a back up like in my case and you won't break the bank to only find out that you never reload enough to recoup your cost.

[sl0re10]

And finally there is Hornady... GARBAGE. They have this TiN coating that they push and say it is better than carbide, but CARBIDE is solid where the TiN is a coating apparently. PLEASE SOMEONE CORRECT ME IF I AM WRONG. I do not want to spread lies about Hornady in THIS thread. I have heard it kinda sucks and is just a sales gimmick though.

not wrong... but their bullet seating dies have a sleeve that makes them my favorite. Plop the bullet on crooked and crank and it comes out straight...

resizers and the others are junk, yes.

I've bought two of their sets for the seating die and tossed the others...

[Kaisa]

I will say that I use the dipper for my 300 blk loads because I am temporarily in an apartment so I use my LEE Hand press and it is just easier to use the dipper that throws exactly what I need. I also use the dipper at the range when I load develop. I never used the dipper when I had my LEE Classic Turret press going and won't use it once I get back into a house and a Garage. The nice thing with Lee stuff is that you can get into the hobby for Really cheap and test the waters before you go big like we all pretty much eventually do.

Heck you can get the Hand Press kit, set of LEE dippers and as long as you follow the load chart you need nothing else besides dies and can load anywhere and fit it all in a shoe box. Will you load with that for ever, probably not but you will always have it as a back up like in my case and you won't break the bank to only find out that you never reload enough to recoup your cost.

Awesome.. someone actually uses that thing!

[sl0re10]

Awesome.. someone actually uses that thing!

I use one for shotshells.

[Skoonie]

Thanks for all the input folks, I was hoping for varied opinions. A question about the Hornady QC powder die and case activated powder dropper, will that accept any powder measure or just a Hornady?

[stilly]

I am not a great fan of lee dies. The so-called locking ring is NOT a locking ring at all. If you buy lee the buy Hornady locking rings for them. When you do that you have the cost of RCBS/Hornady/Lyman dies but without the service(Read free replacement parts/dies) when you screw one up.
It is a give and take debate. Make your own choices.

Most die sets(not lee 4 die sets I think) have the crimper built into the seater die. For rifle ammo you do not need to crimp---Even semi-auto.
Yes all the companies except lee have nice and useful cases for their dies. Hard to stack many of the lee cases.
Dillon dies and presses are worth it but are costly--again great service---Pay now or pay later. I do prefer the Dillon dies for the Dillon 650 unit and feel they are worth the money. Most all that use them for long agree. Your choice.
Never used the dipper from lee dies and know of nobody personally who has. The $5 shellholder is nice. However many people buy one shellholder and use it for many different cartridges. Such as one for 308win/30-07/25-06/280rem/260rem/7mm-08/22BR/22-250/240Weatherby/243win/6mmRem/250Savage/257Roberts/270win/7mmMauser/284win/300Savage/7.7jap/8mm Mauser/35rem/35whelen/358win/45ACP to list some of them. All these for the same shellholder. $5 covers quite a bunch of sets of dies. The the extras you get from lee are not really needed.
Maybe that is one reason ALL the others do not include one.
So the lee powder dipper and shellholder is really mostly a marketing gimmick since neither are really needed.
AS far as the "all anyone ever needs" lee pistol dies. I would suggest this is one persons opinion and someone without many years experience if that matters. RCBS for one might differ in what they think due to their very high sales numbers. Same with some other brands. I will say on certain 454Casuall brass I do like the separate crimp die. So I bought one and backed off my seater die for those brass(starline) and it will do the 45colt also. My other pistol cartridges all use RCBS or Lyman dies I bought BEFORE lee even started making dies/presses. They still do a great job.---If it is not broke do not fix it.

So you now have a differing opinion. Just as some of the lee people say do not drink the blue koolade I also say be careful about the red lee koolade and those that push it. It is not as great as they try to say.

My 2 Cents from a very long time reloader. Pay your money and make your choices.

You can name me. It is all good... There is no hate in this thread. But those of us with OCD LOVE those $10.00 Shell Holders. I have not seen them priced less than 8.99 lately. They DO add up. I will flip out if I can not have a shell holder with each die set because I store them on the turret in the Lee ROUND turret cases that hold the dies, dipper, shell holder and turret... And Dippers, although NOT my first choice, worked out good for my friend before he got a 5-0-5 scale. They gave him some great loads.

AND MAYBE in another 20 years I might need a new set of Lee .45 acp dies because mine just fail to do whatever properly. I can NOT see how that will happen, but sure, I will give you that.

Thanks for all the input folks, I was hoping for varied opinions. A question about the Hornady QC powder die and case activated powder dropper, will that accept any powder measure or just a Hornady?

The QC powder die will accept an RCBS uniflow or QC type of DRUM and the Hornady LNL dropper. IT is in THEORY able to accept others as long as they are built similar to the two I just mentioned. They are also not really DIES like the other dies we are talking about, but that IS their name...

On crimp dies, Lee has the crimper built in to the bullet seater die. So it seats and then crimps on the same pull. The problem is that it does not support the shell, not a problem really, but more of a feature it lacks.

On the flip side, Lee ALSO has the Factory Crimp Die which you can get in the 4 die sets OR as a seperate die and it ONLY crimps, the BAD thing about that is if you are shooting lead and you want your lead to be oversized to fit the barrel properly; the FCD will resize that lead to be smaller than what it was, thus defeating the idea of having oversized lead and causing leading. That can now be fixed by having PC bullets if you cast them. OH< but the FCD supports the shell case so no matter HOW hard you crimp it, it will not ripple your case IIRC.

And I have been reloading since December of 2010 and I only have about 6k-8k rounds or so on my Lee Classic Turret...

[Enfield47]

I use a mix of Lee and RCBS die sets for my pistol and rifle reloads. Both continue to perform well and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend either brand. The biggest weakness of the Lee die sets are the lock rings. I replaced most of mine with the Hornady locking rings and they don't work loose anymore. The reason I didn't replace them all is because on the turret head there isn't always enough space to allow the Hornady rings to rotate and lock down so I had to stick with the Lee rings in those cases.