I am ordering brass, bullets and dies tomorrow for my newly acquired M70, 300 H&H. Would you go with Lee collet dies or Redding full length dies? I have used the collet dies with my 6mmPPC and have a bench full of Redding dies, but no experience loading 300 H&H. Thanks, Bob

The 300 H&H requires FL sizing with full power loads.

belaw, a Redding "Body Die" is one of these:



Body Dies - from LS&B



In contrast to a FL die, the Body die does not size the neck at all, so you need to size the neck in a separate step - e.g. using the Collet die. What I like about the combination Collet/Body die is that you can FL size, without resorting to the use of an expander ball. Usually, the Collet dies size with very little runout. They also tend to work the brass less than a regular (FL or NS) die. However, if you want to (or need to) FL size, you can then apply the Body die - albeit in a separate step.



You don't have to lube the cases when you use the Collet die. You will have to lube when you use the Body die.



Simply pitching the expander ball may or may not work. To a large degree it will depend on how much the FL die sizes the neck down. Can you sensibly seat bullets in this (constricted) neck, without "disturbing" the bullets?? A lot of dies tend to work the brass quite a bit, first sizing down a bunch, and then relying on the expander to achieve a neck dimension that will sensibly allow a bullet to be seated. The use of the Collet die, ensures that you can seat your bullet, without having worked your brass too much. That is one of the advantages of the Collet die - and also one of the disadvantages. Because they tend to work the brass less "drastically" than regular dies, the Collet dies don't work that well with work-hardened brass. One tries to get round this by using an undersize mandrel, accepting that the brass is worked somewhat more, or by annealing the brass.



The combination Collet die/FL die with expander removed would not be my first choice. Why? Because both the FL and the Collet die would work the neck. No need for that, in particular since the FL dies normally work the neck a bunch more than the Collet die does. Better to get the Body die - only about $25 - or have you regular FL die modified not to touch the neck at all - in effect converting it to a body die.



Hope this helps, the above die setup really is not bad.

- mike

I use the collet dies, they work very well especially in 300H&H. However, the neck tension is a little light coming out the die so I use a Redding S-Type neck bushing die in 300 Weatherby mag to tight things up a bit. If I need to FL size I use the RCBS FL die with the expander ball drawn high up in the neck to eliminate/minimise run-out.



BTW if you want Redding competition dies for the 300H&H you will have to go the custom route (Pricey). They are not available as an OTS item. That's why I use the 300 Weatherby dies - they do the neck just right.



Seat things with a Benchrest Forster 300 Weatherby Mag seater and I'm good to go.

FWIW, you can order custom size neck mandrels for a relatively small amount from Lee to increase the neck tension if you need.

Monte

You got it, ream the neck portion to be somewhere between +.015/-.001 of your fired case neck OD. That's enough range that your local machines should have a reamer that will work.