The Basics of Reloading Dies -- PART 1

This is a part of a multi part series on the very basics of hand loading dies and miscellaneous other simple tools. It discusses some personal experience with various brands and calibers. Your experience and opinions may differ.

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• RCBS
• Hornady
• Carbide
• Expander
• Custom-Grade
• Redding
• Lee
• Precision
• Pacesetter
• RGB
• Forster
• collet
• neck-sizer

[wp4866]

my rcbs carbide sizer for ruger .45 single six is not letting all my reloads enter the cylinder. the last 1/4 inch or so must be tapped in with a plastic hammer. rcbs says to not take the shell holder within a nickel's depth of the rim which leaves quite a bit of the case unsized. ever had this problem?

[rldel149]

@wp4866 Me personally, no, but I have mainly used LEE and Hornady dies. I couldn't recommend second guessing why RCBS has that particular instruction. It is curious.

[SPCkeith]

Im trying to decide if i want to get RCBS or redding for 30-06, 223, and 300 win mag. any advice/ guidance? thanks.

[rldel149]

@SPCkeith "... RCBS or redding ... thanks." - Both make good products but I have grown to prefer Hornady dies. I think I still have 1 set of RCBS dies in something I don't use, Redding in .270 (good dies but had a bad experience w/the company). I ended up sticking a die, they said if I mailed it in they'd fix it, I did, they did, and billed me. Never said anything about that ahead of time. I've had both RCBS and Hornady drop in the mail for me for free - needed very rarely w/either. - jmo.

[coolgun789]

Haha, thank you for explaining the dies. i'm new to reloading and i was using the decapper to seat the bullet :p 

[fusionstar916]

My lee dies have steel nuts.

[rage801]

nice vid! THANKS!

[importsstillsuck]

damn i have a lot to learn...

[swdw973]

Get a plastic box of the correct size, just like you have for some of your other equipment.

3 hole turrets ar about $10 and 4 hole about $12

Also, I forgot to mention, you have some really great videos here.

Very informative and well done for home filming. keep up the good work!

Apologize for not saying that earlier.

[rldel149]

swdw973

Also the Breech lock challenger uses quick disconnects you can put on each die set. again this is a set once and forget it method [end quote]

The Hornady Lock-N-Load single stage has a bushing system that allows a die to be set and quickly mounted/demounted in the press as well.

There are many ways to get the job done, a great deal is personal preference. I do use some LEE dies but have eBayed off most calibers, still have, I don't know 3 or 4 maybe.

Best of luck this season