I am about to go and buy my first dies for 416 Rigby.
Which are the best?

Hornady makes a seater called "Custom grade New dimension". Is it any good? looking at pics., It looks like it has a sleeve, like the RCBS comp. seater, does it?

Also... Is it necessary to crimp hunting ammo for 416Rigby?

Thanks in advance

Hey...! You all look at the post, but don't reply... How's that..?

HI,

NIELS, I just ask the same question on the reloading forum, it will be a few pages back. I think if you look there it will answer alot of your questions. I am going to buy a single stage press just for my rifles and keep my dillon 550 for handguns.Forsters,redding,are some of the best around. Kev

I went with the Redding. No complaints. They work fine and my 416 likes the ammo. I have not used any other for comparison, But it works fine for me. Good hunting, D

I use the Redding 416 FL Die set. After you trim all cases to length, I recommend that you only neck size and not full length size. I neck size to the top of the shoulder. If you push the shoulder too far back, you will run into headspace problems galore. This opens a can of worms you will want to avoid.



Also, you do need to crimp. I shoot Woodleigh 410gr Weldcores in my Rigby and Dakota. If you trim properly and crimp on the cannular, you are a few thousands off the lands. I suggest that you seat the bullets first and then remove the seater and then crimp. Yes it is a two stage process, however, you obtain the most uniform crimp this way.



Also, if you are intending to hunt dangerous game with a non-belted case, make sure you have reloaded all your ammo at least once in order to fire form the cases. The last thing you want to encounter is a followup shot with a improper headspaced case.

Neils,

I use RCBS .416 Rigby dies with no drama's at all.

RCBS seem OK. Maybe others (Redding) are better, but how?

You should certainly crimp, heavily, either two-stage as above, or, possibly better, with a custom-made Lee "Factory Crimp" die. I use the Lee and it works fine.

Does Lee make a factory crimp in 416 Rigby, or is case to fat? Also wondering about the Lee collet die.

Also, I just ordered some Lyman 416 Rigby dies from Midway for $20.

The best way to check a die for accuracy is to use a concentricity guage like the Sinclair version. Assuming that you have already determined that your press is straight, some aren�t, you can measure concentricity of partial and full length resized cases. If you are a few thousandths off, check your shell holder and re-seat the die. If you find the same run-out, you have a bad die.



RCBS and Redding will exchange the die for free if you will send them the die along with two cases. In umpteen years of reloading, I have found three FL dies with runout. All three were RCBS.



Another way to control runnot is to use an O-Ring gasket between the die and the press. This allows the die to float a few thousandths.

I am very happy with RCBS dies, I use them for 2 Rigby's.
No fuss no muss. Easily available.

Hansel