I know I asked this when I first came on board a couple of months ago, but I can't find the thread. I just had a severe case of sticker shock when I started looking to buy a set of 500 Jeffery dies. The RCBS dies at midway are listed at $375. I'm assuming that's US and not Rand. Is there a good set of dies for less money? Would I be better off having a custom die set made from once fired brass? Also, I'm not extremely knowledgeable about reloading, do I need a three die set for this cartridge? I think almost all my other die sets only have two dies. If so, which two dies do I need? Anyway, thanks for the help.

CH4D dies were $150 when I ordered mine, but I wouldn't rate them as good dies. The sizer seems to work fine, but the seater die was set up for .505", not .512" bullets, so no matter where I adjusted the stem, it seated them all the way into the case.

I elected to lap out the die myself, as I figured if they couldn't do it right the first time, I was afraid to see what they'd do to "fix er up". I've heard other negative comments about CH4D.

The 500 J is definately not an economy big bore.

You may want to contact Midsouth Shooters Supply.

They were considerably less than anyone else for my 404 Jeffery dies.

Their website doesn't list them so I would contact them directly. Should be able to get their phone number from their website www.midsouthshooterssupply.com

i bought ch dies for mine abt 3 months ago and they're fine. i found out later that people have had either/or experiences with them, being either entirely satisifed or fit to kill. so far i've only loaded a few dozen rounds but they work fine. i just couldn't stand the hit from a set of rcbs. and they were sitting on the shelf. from phone call to sitting on my door was 3 days tops.

Is the CH4D a 2 or 3 die set?

Paul, I knew before I ordered the gun that the ammo went for about $10 a pop, so I planned on handloading almost excusively. I had no clue that you could pay that much for a set of dies though! 50BMG dies are cheaper. I guess we just need to get more people to buy 500 Jeffery's. If only we could get Remington to chamber it in their 700...

BTW, who has the best prices on brass? I remember from a couple of discussion boards that the Bertram is not recommended.

quote:

---

Originally posted by gringo_pistolero:
I know I asked this when I first came on board a couple of months ago, but I can't find the thread. I just had a severe case of sticker shock when I started looking to buy a set of 500 Jeffery dies. The RCBS dies at midway are listed at $375. I'm assuming that's US and not Rand. Is there a good set of dies for less money? Would I be better off having a custom die set made from once fired brass? Also, I'm not extremely knowledgeable about reloading, do I need a three die set for this cartridge? I think almost all my other die sets only have two dies. If so, which two dies do I need? Anyway, thanks for the help.

---

I use Hollywood Engineering. 2 die set, 1.5 diameter. If I recall the last set from them it was $208.00 with postage

I've got CH4d 500 jeffe dies.. like em just fine.

call dave, talk to him about it, tell him you heard and you don't want bad dies.

Hes easy to work with, to me, just be ready to swap hunting and shooting stories awhile

jeffe

quote:

---

Originally posted by gringo_pistolero:
Is the CH4D a 2 or 3 die set?

Paul, I knew before I ordered the gun that the ammo went for about $10 a pop, so I planned on handloading almost excusively. I had no clue that you could pay that much for a set of dies though! 50BMG dies are cheaper. I guess we just need to get more people to buy 500 Jeffery's. If only we could get Remington to chamber it in their 700...

BTW, who has the best prices on brass? I remember from a couple of discussion boards that the Bertram is not recommended.

---

You'll probably be fine with the CH4D, I was not happy after seeing the dies advertised on their website for $135, then be charged $150 (new prices, even though the dies had been made years ago and were laying on the shelf), and then seater didn't work. They are a 2 die set.

You should do a search on 500 Jeffrey on this forum, combined with the poster ALF, as you'll learn alot about the differences in 500 J chambers.

There is not enough metal in a Rem 700 to make it into a 500 J, unless you want a single shot.

The best brass is Hornbear, if you can find it. Jeff put together a group buy and got the prices down to about $2.50 a case, though it took nearly a year before Dieter made the cases, and it was a fairly big order.

the CH is a 2-die set. one problem i have is haven't been able to crimp the bullets enough to hold in position under recoil. need some means of stab crimping behind the bullet i suppose. i can't blame the dies for this tho; just a fact of life i guess. the only brass i have is bertram and a few once fired boxes of kynammco. but i have 160 pcs of the stuff so i'm hoping no adverse issues develop.

Paul, who sells Hornbear brass? I have a box of shells I bought from Safari Arms in 500 J. with a "H HDS H" headstamp. Is this Hornbear brass or something else?

Jeff, any chance of doing another group buy anytime soon? If someone has a couple score extra cases lying around I'd be interested.

In any case, where is the best place to get brass now?

Horneber brass is sold by www.huntingtons.com

I have a die set from German Triebel it is well made. Triebel offer superb service when you have a problem.
My seating die was not applying enough crimp so I contacted Triebelt and they made a new seating die for me after specifications from a cartridge that I crimped with a 375 H&H mag die.
This new seater die was free of charge and works very well. I now get the crimp that I want and do not have to worry about the bullet being pushed into the case under heavy recoil.

I do not remember what Triebel charged for the set but I do know that you need a good seating die that gives you that death crimp.

Cheers,

André

quote:

---

Originally posted by gringo_pistolero:
Paul, who sells Hornbear brass? I have a box of shells I bought from Safari Arms in 500 J. with a "H HDS H" headstamp. Is this Hornbear brass or something else?

Jeff, any chance of doing another group buy anytime soon? If someone has a couple score extra cases lying around I'd be interested.

In any case, where is the best place to get brass now?

---

Mine is a 3 die set... sizer, expander, and seater/crimper. (it's early, so I might be wrong) i had the expander TiN coated, which might be why i liked mine...

I've had, let's see, 470 mbogo, 500 jeffe, 550 express, and 585 nyati dies from them, (the 470 is mike's)...

My 500 dies I didn't like/understand WERE it crimped.. sent 4 cases and the daies to dave... they came back with good crimps, and dave called me.. I was doing it wrong (sounds like I am a dummy, which might be normally true, but not in this case).. it was that , imho,, the curve for the crimp was too fast...

but,other than that beingtoo fast, Iam happy with their dies.

As for another brass order? Hey, I've always been nice to you... why would you sign me up for another beating? I did my public service requirement on that one, and Rusty, jeff, Mike and I didd it as well on the doubl erifle raffle.

It took over a year from first offer of brass (early last january) payment sent (first week of march, as we closed it the end of feb) and then I got the brass is JANUARY.. if i had only known....

Great great great brass....

Get 20 pieces to start, and run with that... that's more than a range session in a box!!

get some 600gr postelpoint gas checked bullets from wayne D (email me for his number) and some surplus wc852 (if you canfind it) and have a ball

jeffe

Jeff,

I was nominating you for the suffering of another group order, rather praising you for having pulled it off.

After I did the fundraising for the gift for Saeed, I swore off trying to gather funds and put together something, too much work.

I bet you found the group order the most time consuming way possible to save a couple bucks on brass

Paul,
man... and I thought you liked me...

i'll give whoever wants to run this deiter's email addy

jeffe

quote:

---

Originally posted by jeffeosso:
Paul,
man... and I thought you liked me...

i'll give whoever wants to run this deiter's email addy

jeffe

---

Oops, I typed before the caffeine hit I'm still getting used to getting up at 5 am, and was trying to bang out the reply before our 6:30 am morning meeting.

Anyhoo, I missed the all important word not, as in I'm NOT nominating you for another group order.

Paul


Thanks for the praise.. and man it took forever

jeffe