I see that many people realy like RCBS reloading equipment. I have no experience with it myself, I use a Lee press and Lee or Hornady dies, mostly they're a bit cheaper than the RCBS stuff. I now need to buy dies for a few more rifles. For hunting ammo, not benchrest accuracy, is there any big difference between any of the major die manufactures? Should I be thinking RCBS, Redding etc, or will Hornady do just as well? All opinions & comments appreciated. Thanks.

[ 02-16-2003, 23:05: Message edited by: Stu C ]

Here we go on opinions. Probably Redding and Forster are the most accurately made dies, with RCBS, Lyman and Hornady a very close second. Lee is the low end of the bunch. I like them in the order listed.

I used to buy Lee because they were cheapest by a large margin.

Now that I use a concentricity gauge regularly I buy Redding -- they are well made and much easier to take apart, a useful trait if you expand case necks as a separate step. Redding does have good customer service.

However, every set is a little different and worth checking out. My first set of Redding .375 H&H dies produced absolutely perfect, zero-runout cases. I busted the decapping stem trying to unstick a case and the replacement was not nearly so perfect.

I've also had perfect performance from a set of Lee .223 Rem. dies and a Lyman .30-06 set.

John

I'm a Redding Slut..........

In Midway's catalog the difference between Redding and RCBS 30-06 two die set is $3.38. If it was me, I'd spend the extra cash for Redding quality. Amortized over the next 4 decades, that comes out to about 8.5 cents a year.

I have RCBS for regular old calibers i.e. 30-30 and 32win special. Redding for extra accuracy in 243 and 338.
Very satisfied with all. Recently however I was very impressed with RCBS service. I purchased a used set of 30-06 dies and noticed visable scratches on the cases when FL resizing. Emailed RCBS and asked if they could be fixed - I explaned they were USED dies and asked about cost for repairs etc. They advised me to send them in and they would repair - NO CHARGE
That says alot to me about that company!!

Ive used RCBS a lot and they are good dies but I tend to agree with Dave, Ill buy Redding before I get another set of RCBS just because the price is nearly the same but you get more with a Redding. That said, I also have Lee RGB and Pacesetter dies and they are a great bargain. Their collet dies are excellent.

I'm a big fan of the Redding carbide expander buttons. They work best with Redding dies of course although I have one on a Lyman die right now too.

I've always been a big fan of neck sizing only thus requiring NO lubrication and even if I were FL sizing I find the carbide expander to be very nice to use.

Not that there's anything wrong with RCBS, it's just that nobody else offers this option.

Good luck,

Reed

I'm also a fan of lee equipment. I think RCBS is over rated, especially their dies.

If I'm not using the low coin Lee dies, then the choice is Redding, or Forester.

Service after the sale... (RCBS) nuff said!

I've just started into reloading and bought Lee dies. I'm getting 0.5 to 0.57 MOA from the reloads in my 300 Win Mag. I'm very happy. The 30-06 is around 1.5 MOA which is alright for it.

I'm going to buy some Lee dies for my 30-30 and RCBS for the 303. I'll try the RCBS just to try something different.