Die recommendation

A

alanwk

New member
I have 2 lee presses and have been using Lee dies (set of 4). I am thinking of trying another brand of dies. Any recommendations are appreciated. Do any othe brands have the equivalent of Lee's Factory Crimp die? Thanks
 
You must be loading for pistols, having a 4 die set. I have one rule on loading for pistols; always use 4 dies. I some older RCBS 4 die sets, but recently can only find them in Lee, and they are fine.
 
alanwk,

If you have a particular objective in mind, mention the chamberings and some may then comment on equivalent dies with different features you may want.
 
To my knowledge only lee has the factory crimp type dies. I personally prefer Hornady dies, and I usually buy the lee factory crimp to add to my set. Many good die options out there though depending on your particular need.
 
alanwk said:
I have 2 lee presses and have been using Lee dies (set of 4). I am thinking of trying another brand of dies. Any recommendations are appreciated. Do any othe brands have the equivalent of Lee's Factory Crimp die? Thanks
Click to expand...

Others have crimping dies, but I don't think anyone has anything like Lee's FCD.

If you're using Lee turret or progressive presses, and Lee's powder measure, you're kind of tied into their powder through case belling die. Either that, or you loose a station, with a separate belling die and powder measure die, and the lee presses don't have that many positions to spare.

I've used RCBS sizing/decapping and bullet seater dies, mixed in with the Lee stuff. They work fine.
 
If Lee would plate their dies to prevent rust, theirs would be just as good as anything else on the market.

I have started saving silica gel packs from my meds to put in with my dies. Lee dies don't need much humidity to start turning brown...

Tony
 
Almost all of my pistol cartridge dies are the Lee 4 die sets. I think I have a dozen handgun sets in turrets above my bench.
I have never had any issues with any of them, they are dependable, and a good value.
The FCD is nice if you load the same cartridge for multiple handguns- it helps prevent an odd out of spec case from hanging up in a chamber.
 
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I'm like Mike!
I have about 20 turrets above my bench loaded with dies of different cartridges.

But i use a mix of dies, not just Lee.
All my pistol & my M1 Carbine and 223 Rem are Lee 4 die sets.

Some of my rifle sets are a mix of dies. RCBS full length with Lee seating for example.
I have Lee, RCBS, Hornady, Lyman, Pacific.

All but one of my crimp dies are Lee.

Depends upon what your goals and budget are.

I will say, i hate the RCBS, and some other dies that have the 2" long screws sticking out of the top! They will cut your arm if you have to reach over them!
 
While I have no problems with Lee dies, nobody beats RCBS's customer service. Over the years I've bought a few Lee dies sets mostly because money was tight at the time. They have served me well but if something breaks, it'll take a lot longer and more money to get it fixed when RCBS will fix or replace it for free and quickly.

The 2 most notable times I bought Lee dies to save money was for the 7.5x55 Swiss and .300 Blackout. RCBS at the time wanted a small fortune for dies sets in those calibers but they were regular price from Lee.

One of these days I might set up to do copper plating. It's not that hard, we used to do it when I was in Jr High back in the late 1960's. My universal decapping die developed rust spots on the outside this year and I swear my gun room is dry... A little plating might do the trick...

Tony
 
mikejonestkd said:
Almost all of my pistol cartridge dies are the Lee 4 die sets. I think I have a dozen handgun sets in turrets above my bench.
I have never had any issues with any of them, they are dependable, and a good value.
The FCD is nice if you load the same cartridge for multiple handguns- it helps prevent an odd out of spec case from hanging up in a chamber.
Click to expand...
I like my Lee dies for pistols rounds. Never had an issue once adjusted in the turret.
 
Geezerbiker said:
Lee dies don't need much humidity to start turning brown...
Click to expand...

Rustable steel is all about the same in that regard. Get below 60% RH and rusting slows way down. Below 30% not even a trace happens, and below 40% is generally close enough.

IMHO, the issue with Lee dies and rust has to do with surface finish. The main reason traditional Japanese swords were polished was to discourage corrosion and to get blood to bead on them so it could be flung off with a sharp snap of the sword. But even then, they used a traditional oil that smells like cloves to further protect the steel.

Anyway, get yourself a buffing wheel and polish the Lee dies up and see if that doesn't eliminate a lot of the rusting you see. After that, consider nickel plating. You could use Brownells Electroless Nickel plating as a starting point. Electro-plating nickel is also possible and not that hard to do. But you might get equal protection from bluing the die bodies in Brownells Oxpho Blue or Van's blue (both phosphoric acid-based cold blues that leave a thin phosphate coating sort of like thin Parkerizeing to discourage rust). Then soak them in thinned Lee Liquid Alox, which is the same stuff Ziebart used as an auto rust preventer. Get a thin coat in the pores of the coating that way and wipe the outside down. I think you will be in good shape with that.
 
I'm in the process of setting up a buffer for polishing gun parts anyway so polishing up the couple dies that are turning brown shouldn't be a problem. I like the idea of bluing them. I'll look more into that later on...

Tony
 
I’ve got RCBs, Hornady, Lee, Pacific, and Redding on my bench.

They all work well enough for me. I’m not really brand loyal, except in trying to avoid Lee dies. I usually buy whatever is available for the cartridge I’m after.
 
My favorite dies are Lee and Hornady. Don't like the Lee FCD--have had lead bullets swaged down. Great for bulge busting. Has no benefits for taper crimping. For roll crimping, you can't beat a Redding Profile Crimp die.
If you have enough out of spec rounds to "need" a FCD, try a plunk test with a blackened round and find the cause or bulge bust to solve the issue without risking deforming the bullet. Most people using an FCD to solve their problems are seating the bullet crooked. Get a seating stem that fits the bullet or a Hornady seating die to help alignment of the bullet.
More expensive does not mean better.
 
If seating crooked, get a Lyman M-die or their Multi-expander die (for the common handgun calibers). The little step it puts just under the flare sets the bullets in straight up and starting the bullets straight into the die can even make up for a bit of seating stem mismatch.
 
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