sniper2
Well-Known Member
Forster or Bonanza hard to beat...
replacing bullet seating dies
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sniper2
Well-Known Member
I use Forester dies on .22br and have shot .899@300yds. theywill not be the weak link in your loading equation...
Mikecr
Well-Known Member
I use various sizing dies/brands. But seat everything with Wilson.
Before you write hand dies off as weird, you should take pause for an objective consideration.
The are high quality
They are way cheaper
They are fast, easy to use, and provide excellent seating accuracy
No hammering, just pick up a cheap Sinclair Arbor to set nearby on a shelf(they're small). Or get a K&M with dial indication of seating force(sweet deal there)
You can put micrometer adjustments on them, or wilson shims, or just stick with the stem setscrew(if rarely changing depth)
You can get blanks and have your gunsmith chamber along with your barrel
Just throwin it out there.. Wilson's are not so 'weird' that you should ignore them.
Before you write hand dies off as weird, you should take pause for an objective consideration.
The are high quality
They are way cheaper
They are fast, easy to use, and provide excellent seating accuracy
No hammering, just pick up a cheap Sinclair Arbor to set nearby on a shelf(they're small). Or get a K&M with dial indication of seating force(sweet deal there)
You can put micrometer adjustments on them, or wilson shims, or just stick with the stem setscrew(if rarely changing depth)
You can get blanks and have your gunsmith chamber along with your barrel
Just throwin it out there.. Wilson's are not so 'weird' that you should ignore them.
I need educated on alot of this stuff so what makes the arbor press better than say an rcbs press ? And can you use redding dies and or forster dies with the arbor press . Just trying to learn a little. thanks
BigBuck
Mikecr
Well-Known Member
A hand die is fully free-floated because it's not screwed into and restrained(at whatever alignment) by a press. Nor is there any linkage causing travel tolerances. You press the cartridge FULLY into a chambered hand die a number of ways. Most commonly, with an arbor type press, which is just a piston on a rack & pinnion. Alternately, you could use your hand or a soft hammer(at the range). So hand dies along with a hand de-capper, hand primer, and Harrel's powder thrower, are easy to use at the range.
The main advantage(as far as seating), is the free-floating.
A Redding(or anything else) might seat as well as a Wilson, but not better.
Afterall, how will you seat 'better'?
The main advantage(as far as seating), is the free-floating.
A Redding(or anything else) might seat as well as a Wilson, but not better.
Afterall, how will you seat 'better'?
boomtube
Well-Known Member
"I need educated on alot of this stuff so what makes the arbor press better than say an rcbs press ? And can you use redding dies and or forster dies with the arbor press."
Two excellant questions and it brings up the issue of how much accuracy value there can be in a massive and/or "tight" press.
First, no, we can't use threaded dies in an arbor press, the dies aren't made for that.
There is no magic in any press (including the highly touted RC, Coax, etc). Reloading skill counts for more than tool brand or color and skill can't be bought.
All we can ask of a press is that it push a round, tapered object - a case - into a round tapered hole - a die - and pull it back out. Tightness of fit matters only if a ram is very tight and out of line, that can really screw things up but that's rare. An imperfect die or slightly misaligned press with a (moderately) loose ram will allow things to float/lean/drift into alignment and the cases will go straight in; it can't be otherwise, so a little bit of ram slack can be a very good thing!!
To avoid any possible effect of press misalignment, precision reloaders use hand dies and arbor presses to eliminate alignment from the equation; their cases, dies and presses are totally 'floated'. They can do that because hand dies (usually) only neck size and the small arbor presses sit loose on the bench top.
Some - most/all? - precision loading guys use sturdy threaded dies/presses only to reform cases for wildcats. Then, for setting shoulders back, a LOT of them use small, inexpensive alum alloy threaded presses and custom made dies. Those who use commercial FL/body dies seem to favor Forster or Redding.
We who use common presses agonise far too much on which brand does "best" work; dies do the work! Given that all die brands work to the same range of SAAMI die tolerances, there is as much average difference between dies/presses/shell holders of the same brand as there is between brands. That means they're all very good, on average. But each brand sometimes lets a clunker get out. That's okay, the makers will replace it if we let them know about it. Sure, tool DESIGNS vary and there are some significant user differences, but those are matters of personal taste, not quality of the potential results. Given good dies, I can load high quality ammo on any single stage press I've ever tried and that's been quite a few!
IMHO, the only threaded dies worthy of being labeled "BR" or "Competition" are Forster and Redding because of their designs, not tolerances.
If we buy anything with two or more parts and get a really good/precise fit from a single brand we are really lucky, not really smart! All of my really good threaded die "sets" are mixed, each die has been selected from several sets and I couldn't care less what brand they are. And any die I own will be replaced the moment I find a better one, I drink no one's Kool-Aid!
Two excellant questions and it brings up the issue of how much accuracy value there can be in a massive and/or "tight" press.
First, no, we can't use threaded dies in an arbor press, the dies aren't made for that.
There is no magic in any press (including the highly touted RC, Coax, etc). Reloading skill counts for more than tool brand or color and skill can't be bought.
All we can ask of a press is that it push a round, tapered object - a case - into a round tapered hole - a die - and pull it back out. Tightness of fit matters only if a ram is very tight and out of line, that can really screw things up but that's rare. An imperfect die or slightly misaligned press with a (moderately) loose ram will allow things to float/lean/drift into alignment and the cases will go straight in; it can't be otherwise, so a little bit of ram slack can be a very good thing!!
To avoid any possible effect of press misalignment, precision reloaders use hand dies and arbor presses to eliminate alignment from the equation; their cases, dies and presses are totally 'floated'. They can do that because hand dies (usually) only neck size and the small arbor presses sit loose on the bench top.
Some - most/all? - precision loading guys use sturdy threaded dies/presses only to reform cases for wildcats. Then, for setting shoulders back, a LOT of them use small, inexpensive alum alloy threaded presses and custom made dies. Those who use commercial FL/body dies seem to favor Forster or Redding.
We who use common presses agonise far too much on which brand does "best" work; dies do the work! Given that all die brands work to the same range of SAAMI die tolerances, there is as much average difference between dies/presses/shell holders of the same brand as there is between brands. That means they're all very good, on average. But each brand sometimes lets a clunker get out. That's okay, the makers will replace it if we let them know about it. Sure, tool DESIGNS vary and there are some significant user differences, but those are matters of personal taste, not quality of the potential results. Given good dies, I can load high quality ammo on any single stage press I've ever tried and that's been quite a few!
IMHO, the only threaded dies worthy of being labeled "BR" or "Competition" are Forster and Redding because of their designs, not tolerances.
If we buy anything with two or more parts and get a really good/precise fit from a single brand we are really lucky, not really smart! All of my really good threaded die "sets" are mixed, each die has been selected from several sets and I couldn't care less what brand they are. And any die I own will be replaced the moment I find a better one, I drink no one's Kool-Aid!
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