The right dies…

[TennJed]

Great read, and explains why the SAC neck/shoulder bushings work so well.

Thank you! Great info

 

[robert rex]

If you're going to touch each piece of brass anyway, you might as well seat bullets with 21 Century Hydro Press and LE Wilson in line seating die. It will effortlessly seat each bullet to .0005 every time. You'll also find by using it who makes uniform bullets and who doesn't. The 21 Century press will let you know how much neck tension your bushings and mandrels are providing, and make tuning neck tension way easier.

 

[Deputy819]

Your best approach to making selections on dies is to understand exactly how a particular die sizes and what it's control points are that it sizes to. Do not make the mistake of assuming that spending more money is going to produce better results.....as that is not universally true.

^^^^This^^^^….VERY MUCH!!!

What say you, wise ones? Just how OCD/aka "detailed" should I get?

Brother, you can get as "hairy" as you want and spend as much money as you want on dies/components THAT'S for sure! If you're just wanting to try something different then I say Go For It!!! However, don't get discouraged if you can't quantify the differences in equipment on paper. As @Bang4theBuck alluded to you'd need a bunch of specialized equipment to test the differences/results. For example, setting "NECK TENSION"…..there's no way to know what your actual "neck tension" is without knowing the state of hardness of your case mouth. Dies (bushing & non-bushing) are merely setting a "mechanical interference fit" between the bullet and the case mouth. Bushing dies/mandrels simply allow you to have more "control" over that particular variable. So, just keep that in mind when looking at all the "razzle-dazzle" reloading stuff available to you and most of all Have Fun!

 

[mtbullet1]

LEE collet dies

 

[std7mag]

Depends on how far down the rabbit hole you want to go.

Some call it OCD, some call it an**.

Starts with fixing things that were not broken to begin with.
Next thing you know, you're sitting there weight sorting primers.

 

[VO2MaxFF]

Are you a hunter or longrange/benchrest precision shooter? Stay out of the Rabbit Hole. No need for anything more than the Redding FL sizer with a carbide sizer button and a Redding or any mid priced benchrest seater. All the others are just wasted money. Also stay away from the bushing dies. They are a pain in the *** adding more expense.
Now days, reloading doesn't really help anything but the very long-range precision shooters who are shooting at 300 yards+. The modern PREMIUM factory loads are plenty accurate for <300 yard shooting.

I've been reloading for 55 years give or take. Been up and down this hole many times

Much has to do with the rifle you're shooting. Is it even capable of this type of accuracy?

Save your money for a .25 moa Custom Rifle, then check back.

I'm primarily a hunter and starting to tinker more with a few rifle projects for the winter. I have several very nice custom rifles and while I am certainly no PRS champion, I can shoot well. I have had some success at handloading as well, thus far, finding low ES and SD values with sub 1/2 MOA loads but not for every rifle and certainly not for every load. I primarily hunt with Hammer Hunter projectiles and they've proven incredibly effective. Just wondering what others have found to be THEIR best and learning… as usual

 

[VO2MaxFF]

Depends on how far down the rabbit hole you want to go.

Some call it OCD, some call it an**.

Starts with fixing things that were not broken to begin with.
Next thing you know, you're sitting there weight sorting primers.

I don't think I'll take it that far but I guess never say never! I have sorted every component for sure but I definitely don't feel the juice was worth the squeeze for ME.

 

[Alex Wheeler]

A die needs to squeeze the shoulder and base of the case the correct amount. It also needs to push the shoulder back the correct amount. Thats it. If the cheapest die on earth does that you wont beat it.

 

[cajun]

Really depends on what your goals are. You can make really accurate ammo with regular rcbs dies. If your hunting and plinking steel at moderate ranges going down the rabbit hole is not really necessary. A good option is a forster full length die honed to minimally work brass and their benchrest seater. They will hone the die pretty cheap. I will say using quality brass does help. Now if you plan on shooting long range and you are struggling with high es going the bushing route will help.