Reloading Die Brand?

[Trickymissfit]

yeah, i have several dillon also. good dies. rcbs is the only one for the 44, 45 crimp tho, for heavy bullets in the 330-360 range. i use these for bear and 400 yard pistol shots (revolvers, 5 in barrel for 300-400 yard shots and 9 1/2 in barrel and burris 1-4 for 600 yard shots). the rcbs is the only die that will roll crimp a 44 mag or 45 colt hard enough to hold the bullets against recoil as i tried nearly every die out there for this purpose, until dillon told me to get a rcbs die for that purpose.

your shooting a 44 or a 45 hand gun out to 300+ yards? I quit using an RCBS crimp die because it wouldn't hold a 44 mag at 1750fps with 250 grain bullets.
Now a 45 caliber bullet in the 350 grain weight range will have a BC of less that .2. That's roughly 240" of drop with a 200 yard zero at 1600 fps and at 500 yards
gary

 

[Pistol packer]

gary,
yup, absolutely right on all accounts, except the crimp die. you have to keep crimping with the roll crimp die till the die flattens out about 16th of the top of the case. it first roll crimps then it flattens out the top of the crimp if you keep going. so basicly the rcbs die rolls the top into the bullet, then it forces the rolled edge into the bullet. i have shot 180 grainers past 2000 fps and 240 grainers past 1800 ( dont recommend this to anyone) with this crimp out of a 8 in barrel in a S&W revolver. i mark one cartridge and dont fire it and rotate the other five. i have fired over 100 rounds with the one still in the same chamber and not had ANY bullets of any weight back out due to recoil. it takes some time to learn how to do this as you cannot just slam a crimp onto the case this heavy, but it must be done with feel and the last bit of ram can require considerable pressure. any faster and the case buckles and wrinkles.
read fast and fancy revolver shooting by ed mcgivern. he shot targets out to 400 yards with a 38 sp. and to 600 yard with a 357. you just adjust the rear sight to where it is held somewhere down the barrel itself and the front blade is held to the center. it is suprising how the eyes will align this up to the center of the rear notch. i mark the barrel with a marker at the different ranges that i hold the top of the rear sight to. the big slugs over 300 grains seem to hold the best and drop the least. as ross sigfried said "pistol bullet dont have a BC" as they seem to shoot so much further than the papers say. if you havent shot a 335 grainer (44) or 360-400 grainer (45 colt)( Long Flat Nose- cast my own with LBT molds- almost a full wad cutter-the wide flat nose- works really well too) at 1400 FPS, then you have a really wonderful experience ahead of you, if you can tame the recoil which in a ruger vaquero (old model ONLY) or 4 1/2 SBH is substantial. i've never lost a bet against hitting a target past 400 yards with either one. you will be amazed at the attention you get at the range when you start popping 8 in rocks at 3-400 yards with such a little gun. a good rest and absolute trigger control is the key. all of my triggers break about 1/2 pound.
good luck and flow with the recoil.
jim

 

[Pistol packer]

oh, by the way gary,
i cast a 210-220 grain 357 SWC keith design that keith and mcgivern would have drooled over. it goes thru 18 in of pine and you can shell it out and reshoot it if you want as there are no deformation except for the rifling. it is the minimum i use for bear, at 1450 FPS from a 4 in ruger. wife loves this load too. 600 yard shots are pretty easy too. i've been able to teach just about anyone how to do it in about 1 hour, but the snipers and long range rifle shooters learn the fastest, as they have better trigger and site control ingrained in them.
i used to think that this long range stuff was just for specialty pistols like the xp100 in spire points and high BC, but not anymore. seeing is believing even for old die hards like me.

 

[sniper1958]

I use RCBS for my rifle (single stage) and a Lee 4-stage turret press (w/ Lee dies) for my pistols. No failures, no flaws - they both just work.

 

[Trickymissfit]

gary,
yup, absolutely right on all accounts, except the crimp die. you have to keep crimping with the roll crimp die till the die flattens out about 16th of the top of the case. it first roll crimps then it flattens out the top of the crimp if you keep going. so basicly the rcbs die rolls the top into the bullet, then it forces the rolled edge into the bullet. i have shot 180 grainers past 2000 fps and 240 grainers past 1800 ( dont recommend this to anyone) with this crimp out of a 8 in barrel in a S&W revolver. i mark one cartridge and dont fire it and rotate the other five. i have fired over 100 rounds with the one still in the same chamber and not had ANY bullets of any weight back out due to recoil. it takes some time to learn how to do this as you cannot just slam a crimp onto the case this heavy, but it must be done with feel and the last bit of ram can require considerable pressure. any faster and the case buckles and wrinkles.
read fast and fancy revolver shooting by ed mcgivern. he shot targets out to 400 yards with a 38 sp. and to 600 yard with a 357. you just adjust the rear sight to where it is held somewhere down the barrel itself and the front blade is held to the center. it is suprising how the eyes will align this up to the center of the rear notch. i mark the barrel with a marker at the different ranges that i hold the top of the rear sight to. the big slugs over 300 grains seem to hold the best and drop the least. as ross sigfried said "pistol bullet dont have a BC" as they seem to shoot so much further than the papers say. if you havent shot a 335 grainer (44) or 360-400 grainer (45 colt)( Long Flat Nose- cast my own with LBT molds- almost a full wad cutter-the wide flat nose- works really well too) at 1400 FPS, then you have a really wonderful experience ahead of you, if you can tame the recoil which in a ruger vaquero (old model ONLY) or 4 1/2 SBH is substantial. i've never lost a bet against hitting a target past 400 yards with either one. you will be amazed at the attention you get at the range when you start popping 8 in rocks at 3-400 yards with such a little gun. a good rest and absolute trigger control is the key. all of my triggers break about 1/2 pound.
good luck and flow with the recoil.
jim

first of all I'd never attempt to shoot bullets that hot in my 629 because I like the gun that much. To be exact I don't shoot H110 and 296? in it either. I've kinda settled in on AA#9 at 1350fps using a 250 grain cast bullet. But in my TC's and a couple others I'll use H110. The only place I've noticed the bullets moving in is with a lever gun. Yet I load my .444 with three different die sets, and one of them is an RCBS. Nothing moves! The bullets will move in my .450 is they are not heavilly crimped. I also work off the cannelure on all those big bore bullets. (one of these days I going to buy a C&H cannelure tool). But thru the years of trying this and that die, I have found that I have better luck with the crimp using the old Lyman dies (tobe be exact the old steel ones that I rework). Now I've also found that the factory location of the cannelure to be wrong on some bullets (the Sierra 300 grain bullet comes to light) when working with the .444 and some others. Bullets in lever guns get hammered a lot, and you gotta watch the overall length in them. Same can be said with big bore magazine rifles like a .458 mag in a mod. 70.
be carefull
gary

 

[Trickymissfit]

oh, by the way gary,
i cast a 210-220 grain 357 SWC keith design that keith and mcgivern would have drooled over. it goes thru 18 in of pine and you can shell it out and reshoot it if you want as there are no deformation except for the rifling. it is the minimum i use for bear, at 1450 FPS from a 4 in ruger. wife loves this load too. 600 yard shots are pretty easy too. i've been able to teach just about anyone how to do it in about 1 hour, but the snipers and long range rifle shooters learn the fastest, as they have better trigger and site control ingrained in them.
i used to think that this long range stuff was just for specialty pistols like the xp100 in spire points and high BC, but not anymore. seeing is believing even for old die hards like me.

I think I'd be on the hunt for a Dan Wesson .357 or .375 Supermag with thos very heavy bullets. A .416 might be even better, but they also are kinda rare.
I have one TC barrel chambered in .445 Supermag, and loaded with 330 grain bullets; it's a handfull. It'll push a 300 grain bullet to 1750fps in a 14" barrel. I'm going to try some of the leverrultion bullets from Hornaday this summer to see if I can gain another 100 yards of usuable range. Right now the groups are starting to seriously open up in my hand guns, but still OK in my lever guns. I have heard that the pointed bullets are good for 300 yards in the .450, and maybe able to use them all the way out to 400 yards.
gary

 

[SteveAreno]

I use rcbs and hornady but betwean the two prefer the rcbs.

 

[irishguy]

i have a lot of redding and rcbs. I bought a set of hornady for my 204 and they are sweet. I just bought a set of221 fireball and 260 rem redding and I am not to happy with either set. The 260 sizer has more chatter marks in the body and shoulder area than a file. The theads are very rough on all of them. They just went way downhill. I think I will buy hornady from now on.

 

[gamehawker]

I have RCBS (257 WBY & 300 WBY), Redding (7mm STW) and going to get with the Remington 700 Sendero 7mm STW I just bought a Forster Bench Rest 2-Die Set (7mm STW).

I have been happy with the RCBS dies and the Redding dies but I am really looking forward to trying the Forster Bench Rest 2-Die Set.

 

[johnler]

RCBS and Lee cover most calibers and I can't tell the difference or have a desire for anything more. Maybe I am just in the wrong forum. Right now I have changed my focus to .22LR long range as a concession to advancing age and associated disabilities.

 

[marinetowgunner]

Redding sizer and Forrester micrometer seater.

 

[Lefty7mmstw]

Rcbs, redding, and Hornady here.

They all produce great ammo if you treat 'em well. I personally waven't gotten any crappy dies form any of them, but I had a remmy in 7rum with a loose enough chamber that it zipped open a set of redding and a set of rcbs dies; thought I had a bum set until it killed the next die, then a mic of the brass showed .555 at the heal, when max should have been .550 or less. lightbulb

 

[Daveinjax]

I have all but the Redding dies and in my opinion the Forster dies are the best, but dang! are they high. The Lee dies are really good too and the least expensive. I buy Lee dies for all the hunting loads I make for my friends. The Hornady equipment is terrible! Not just the dies , the trimmer and the scale I have are junk! The trimmer will not stay adjusted and the scale will not measure 46.0 gr. it will show 45.9 or 46.1 no matter how may times I try ( I'm using a trickler not a powder measure ). The Hornady die steel rusts as soon as you clean them up , Poor polishing = rough sizing and easy rusting. Hornady just sucks!

 

[LamoLam]

surprized thanks

I think that's right!