Arbor press nessecery for Wilson dies?

[Beowolf]

I'm looking to step up to Wilson type seater dies for my 308. I only go out shooting about 1x per week and I only shoot about 30 rounds per outing so I'm willing to sacrifice speed for quality. My question is do I need an arbor press or can I get away with a rubber mallet?

Intuition says that wacking a die with a rubber mallet is not a good way to achieve a precise seating, but it is listed by many people as a way to use these dies. Would this still be a step up over Forster seaters with a Co-Ax press or do I need to upgrade to an arbor?

 

[goodgrouper]

Depending on how much bullet grip you have, sometimes you can flip the die over and lean on it and it will seat a bullet. Other times, a gently whack with a rubber mallet will work but it will loosen things on the die over time and isn't very nice to them. Just get an arbor press. Try Brunos for a Sincliar. Should be around $90 and that green will be soon forgotten.

 

[EddieHarren]

I have used a mallet on neck sizing dies but never on the seating die. I have seated bullets by hand but it gets old pretty quick. I kmow an old BR shooter who uses an old bottle capper to seat bullets in a Wilson type die.

 

[Dan B]

Check around the web for a used arbor press. Got mine for $65 shipped.