I have a bunch of new Winchester 7mm Remington Magnum brass I need to get ready to load. This brass will be used in a custom Remington 700 for long range hunting. Which dies would you recommend I use for a 7 Remington Magnum? I am not new to reloading and I do use Redding Competition dies for several smaller calibers that I use for paper punching, but the belted mag is a different situation and I would appreciate some opinions about dies.

If you have the extra nickels, when you get the rifle, fire three to five factory rounds out of it, and send the fired cases to RCBS. Ask them to cut you a set of dies. It will not be inexpensive, but the dies will fit the chamber much closer than any set "off the shelf".

The other option is to order a set of die blanks, and have the gunsmith that chambered the barrel use the same reamers to cut the dies... (That is what I would do...) Matter of fact, he might be able to make you a set of dies from tool stock, and then "chamber" them with the reamers...

Magnums are not picky on what they will feed.

Any off the shelf set will work.

No need to spend extra IMO.

-Spencer

Forster Competition. Great bang for the buck.
I also have a set of Redding standard dies for 7mm Rem Mag. Those work fine also.

I had some RCBS, but gave them away. I wasn't too happy with those. YMMV.

quote:

Originally posted by Erik:
... Which dies would you recommend I use for a 7 Remington Magnum? I am not new to reloading and I do use Redding Competition dies ...

Hey Erik, If you are happy with the Redding Competition Dies, you can go with them for the 7mmRemMag as well. That way you know exactly what you are getting.

Nothing at all wrong with the standard Redding Dies either, but they don't have all the extra micrometers and such.

I use regular old RCBS with mine and they do fine too.

I'm using the Redding dies and a bushing style neck sizing die. I like them just fine and have had no problems. Nate

Although the Redding comp.dies worked great for my 308,I had a lot of trouble getting the neck to hold the bullet tight for my 7mmmag.There were many times when the bullet would fall off the loaded round.I tried smaller and larger bushings but there was never a tight hold.Don't know what the problem was.

ERIK
I still use the same set of standard RCBS dies that I bought in 1974!

They work fine and I have never had any trouble with them!

quote:

Originally posted by shootaway:
Although the Redding comp.dies worked great for my 308,I had a lot of trouble getting the neck to hold the bullet tight for my 7mmmag.There were many times when the bullet would fall off the loaded round.I tried smaller and larger bushings but there was never a tight hold.Don't know what the problem was.

Hey Shootaway, Did you have an "Expander" in that Resizing Die?

I think I was using the redding body die when I resisized.I don't recall resizing that much,mostly nesk sizing my fireformed cases.No expander body.

quote:

Originally posted by shootaway:
...No expander body.

Hey Shootaway, No, I don't mean an "Expander Die" like is found in Revolver/Pistol Die Sets.

I mean the "Expander Ball" on the Decapping Stem in the Resizing Die. If your Redding Body Die came with an Expander ball on the Decapping Stem, it could have been opening the Case necks just a bit too much as it was withdrawn from the Case.

But, it might have been Thin Casenecks on those Cases as well. I've seen that mentioned a few times by folks who use the Bushing Style Die Sets. A slightly tighter Bushing might fix it for you.

Hot Core,there was no decapping stem or expander ball on this die.It's suppose to just "bump the shoulder back " a bit. I tried bushings small enough that made the cases look as if they were snakes that swallowed an entire egg.It seems to me that there is not that much surface on the necks of this particular calibre to get a good grip on the bullet.