I need help with reloading die selection

[Lonestar]

I'm new to reloading and I'm wanting to buy some dies I've been looking at the wilson dies I have a arbor press already so these would be ideal in the fact that I can save some money buy not buying a foster , rcbs ect presses and the portability of the wilson die set up is awesome in my opinion . I will be loading the 7mm mag ill be reloading for hunting and target Shoting I guess my question is how good are the wilson died vs redding comp or dies should I save the money or spend the extra and get redding dies
Also what would be the pros and cons of the wilson dies and the other conventional dies

 

[trebark]

Can't say I have any experience with Wilson dies. I do however have lots of experience with Redding Competition dies. I reload for 260rem, 280rem and 300RUM. I use Redding neck and full-length sizing dies and competition seating dies (the ones with the micrometer on top). They are great. It's the micrometer on the top that makes the seating die so great.

 

[boomtube]

Wilson dies are neck sizers and using them will still require you that you Full Lenght size from time to time. Any potential accuracy advantage over conventional (threaded) dies and common press is quite small and no new guy using a factory rifle is ever going to see any benefit from anything else. Nor will he see any meaning full difference with costly dies from Redding or Forster. Your 7 mag is not a target cartridge and you won't be shooting BR grade bullets so any difference you might get with the costly dies - or press - would likely be invisible.

Buy a good single stage press and a die set from Lee, RCBS, Lyman or Hornady - they are all quite capabile of producing better ammo than many reloaders can produce or their rifles benefit from, certainly not for a very long time. If you ever exceed the potential of your first press and dies you will have the experience to judge for yourself what you might wish to try.

You can spend more money on a press but you won't find a better single stage than Lee's Classic Cast; it's big and strong enough to load .50 BMG for a lifetime, it's precisely machined and it has the best user features of any press of it's type.

 

[Bullet bumper]

+1
Wilson don't make a Body or Full length die for an Arbour press in 7mm Rem Mag .
You would eventually end up bending or breaking something on the light press if you tried .
If you want more portability than you could go with a Harrels Compact press magnum model. Compact Reloading Press
Buy a Redding body die 75136 to use in the press as it will take far less leverage.
Neck size with what ever you want .
If expansion above the belt gives you chambering trouble then buy the belted magnum collet die from this site Innovative Technologies - Reloading Equipment

 

[FUBAR]

Wilson? About the best you can buy, unless your using fired brass from another rifle or shooting the same brass in another rifle you may never need to full length resize...

I have several rifles that I only use Wilson dies, including my bench and F class rifles, and that brass gets loaded over and over....

The Wilson seating die is just F'ing Outstanding! I do have some rifles that there are no Wilson dies for, and a couple of ARs that I just load to many rounds for... I do use Redding comp dies for those I can.

I would advise an annealing device over a full length sizer.....

 

[Lonestar]

How often should I f/l size my cases I'm not going to shoot this brass in any rifle but my Sendaro

 

[trebark]

How often should I f/l size my cases I'm not going to shoot this brass in any rifle but my Sendaro

It depends.

For some rifles you can neck size only and it will load just fine reload after reload. For other rifles you need to full-length size sometimes or all the time. My 260 I can neck size twice, then on the third reload, they have to be full-length resized. For my 300RUM, they have to be full-length resized every time. You won't know for sure until you get a couple reloads done for your rifle.

 

[Bullet bumper]

How often should I f/l size my cases I'm not going to shoot this brass in any rifle but my Sendaro

You will notice a few cases getting hard to chamber so then you resize the whole batch . I don't full length resize for any bolt action . I body size .
You are using a belted Magnum , that is different to using a low pressure beltless case . How quickly it will need resizing is hard to say but some magnums loaded to full ballistics can require resizing after a few shots or even after every shot . You will only know for sure after you run the gun with your loads .

 

[Gene]

I have an arbor press and several sets of Wilson dies; they are very good. But I most often use the Redding Competition seater and Harrel F/L bushing die. The comp seater is IMO better than the Wilson, because the mic top can be adjusted by thousandths.


As pointed out the Wilson sizer is neck only and you will eventually need to F/L size .

 

[FUBAR]

If you need a micrometer adj, Sinclair sells them for Wilson...

I would avoid full length resizing until it was required, but even in cases where one has to, I would then use my Wilson Full Length Seater

The Full Length Seater supports the whole assembly, bullet & case, and never introduces any run out!

In fact if I full length resize, and I have an inline seater, I will switch over to my arbor...

I'm not saying don't use full length resizing dies or "screw in" dies, I have sets from most mfg today and many historical ones...

Inline dies are used by more precision shooters than any other.

One more thought--if your fired cases are expanding more than about .001 just above the web, known as the pressure ring, then you most likely need to reduce the load for that rifle...

 

[Lonestar]

I will definatly be getting the micro top along with the seating and the neck die from wilson I'm for shure going with the wilson they seem to be just as if not more accurate as any other they very portable and the cost less than the good comp redding dies if I have to get a screw type f/l die than I will but until then I'm in love with the Wilson's for the portability I can work up som loads at the range precharged of course seat them long and make adj's as I go and like u said a lot of precise shooters are using them I hope that ill be more than happy with them

 

[Trickymissfit]

I'm new to reloading and I'm wanting to buy some dies I've been looking at the wilson dies I have a arbor press already so these would be ideal in the fact that I can save some money buy not buying a foster , rcbs ect presses and the portability of the wilson die set up is awesome in my opinion . I will be loading the 7mm mag ill be reloading for hunting and target Shoting I guess my question is how good are the wilson died vs redding comp or dies should I save the money or spend the extra and get redding dies
Also what would be the pros and cons of the wilson dies and the other conventional dies

I use Wilson dies a lot, but there are a few things you need to remember about them.

* they don't full length size all that well (I don't even know if they still make a full length die anymore). But are at their best in neck sizing and bullet seating.

* You still have a generic sized die even if they do still make a full length die. So nothing gained here.

* If they don't do a full length die, thn you'll still need a regular press of somekind or another. Say a Lee cast iron press.

* accuracey wise, I find that the Wilson setup is about .0005" is better than the Forster dies (or Redding). To take this further, I find almost zero difference when I neck size and seat with a Forster seater in several different cartridges.

* I still find that a regular press and die does revolver rounds (44mag and 45 LC mostly) better.

* the Wilson seater works best with a small dedicated arbor press that will give you a certain feel as the bullet is seated. I use a K&M linked arbor press, and it's too light to even consider doing a full length resize operation

* the one really serious advantage the Wilson has over the others is when I reload at the range! Everything is small and compact.
gary

 

[Trickymissfit]

How often should I f/l size my cases I'm not going to shoot this brass in any rifle but my Sendaro

Now I use my Wilson dies for much smaller cases than you will (mostly 222 and 250 case family). But I still like to run a body die over the case every four or five loadings.
gary

 

[Trickymissfit]

I have an arbor press and several sets of Wilson dies; they are very good. But I most often use the Redding Competition seater and Harrel F/L bushing die. The comp seater is IMO better than the Wilson, because the mic top can be adjusted by thousandths.


As pointed out the Wilson sizer is neck only and you will eventually need to F/L size .

Actually Gene there is a micrometer heat for the Wilsons, but I see little advantage with it. I simply use the shim pack kit to alter my seating depths. Some think the shims are better; I won't go there.

I use mostly Forster seaters, and my Forster press I can see about .0005" max difference using a Forster full length die. If I simply neck size off the Wilson/K&M I see little if any difference in calibers that range from .222 Remington to 6mm Remington.
gary