Match grade die set..

Full length sizing dies whose necks are honed out to .002 inch smaller than loaded round neck diameter have produced best accuracy since the 1960's. Case necks are centered on shoulder and are straighter than neck only or bushing sizing dies produce.

Forster hones their full length sizing dies to customers specs, Their match grade seating die is good. Any seating die works well if case necks are straight on the case and the correct size.

If you want to use bushing dies for different neck wall thickness, Redding's are excellent.
 
How are the RCBS Match Master die sets? The seater die it comes with looks a lot like their Gold Medal Match seater die. Which I have heard is an excellent die.

I was looking for the Forster set, but I can not seem to find them in stock anywhere at the moment for the 6.5 Creedmoor.
 
I read one test by John Feamster in the 90s that didn't find the RCBS Gold Medal Seater did better than their standard seating die. The Redding Competition and Forster Benchrest type with full-length sliding sleeves to pre-align the case with the seating ram tunnel do best. You can also make the RCBS and Hornady and Lee and other seating die makes keep up pretty closely if you use a Lyman M-die to put a short step in the case mouth that keeps the bullet straight as it enters the seater.

This article compares five seaters. Unfortunately, the Forster is missing and so is the RCBS Gold Medal, but the Vickerman is much like the RCBS and, as with Feamster's test, it didn't do as well as the RCBS standard seater (which is included).

Note that if you load compressed loads, the Forster Benchrest is a better choice than the Redding Competition Seater. The latter's floating seating stem may well be the cat's meow for runout reduction (as demonstrated in the article) but the stem is depressed by a hemispherical bump that cannot handle a high seating force on its small contact area, so Redding doesn't recommend it for compressed loads. The Forster doesn't have that limitation.
 
What did he measure that by? If everything is determined by impact to group size only, there are too many variables. You have to look at those date points that impact group size too like run out. I’ll bet runout is different between those dies.
 
I have read that the RCBS Competition Dies are not great. The Forster dies are used by some Sniper Schools. I've recently bought a Forster die set to compare it's reloads to my RCBS dies but haven't compared pet loads made by each. I like the RCBS Competition dies because you drop your bullet in a sliding tube that lines up the bullet. Redding and Forster has a sliding tube that lines up the bullet just before it is seated I think. For a more concentric seat, I spin my bullets 60 degrees of a turn a few times as I'm seating it. I read somewhere that this helps but never compared two cartridges seating with and without the spin using my concentricity gauge. I just do it.
 
I'm having good results using the standard FL RCBS sizing die, Redding Competition Shellholders and the Redding Competition Seating Die . Measuring with the RCBS Precision Mic . Works for me .

Chris
 
Redding Competition or Forster (Bench rest FL and Micrometer Seating) are the ones I have defaulted to. I don't have them in all of my rifle calibers, but I wish I did.
 
Nathan,

Apologies. I put up my post and got distracted before retrieving the link to the article to put in. You can go back and read it now.
 
Unclenick said:
This article compares five seaters.
Click to expand...
I wonder how much the cartridge case body's runout at its touch points in the V block its spun in effect the case neck axis angle/runout numbers relative to the case axis?

I believe the above link's gauge maker thinks rimless bottleneck cartridge cases rest on the chamber bottom when fired. They don't. No commercial cartridge runout measuring device references cartridges to the dial indicator like they are in the chamber to measure bullet/neck axis to bore axis when fired.

You'll get different runout numbers for a given cartridge across all gauge's setups. There's no industry standard.
 
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has anyone used the following die set? Whidden Gunworks Click Adjustable Sizer 2-Die Set

I have been trying to get my hands on a Forster Ultra micrometer seater die as well as their full length sizer die, but I have yet to find both in 6.5 creedmoor.
 
BartB said:
You'll get different runout numbers for a given cartridge across all gauge's setups.
Click to expand...

I put this together to help decode that:

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When fired, a rimless bottleneck cartridge case touches the chamber somewhere around its shoulder. Its pressed there with 20 to 30 pounds of force from the firing pin spring. The case body may be off center against the chamber at its pressure ring depending on the bolt head mechanics. Sometimes, the case body doesn't touch the chamber at all when the primer fires.

Therefore, I believe commercial bullet runout gauges don't position cartridges relative to the dial indicator the same as they are relative to the bore center when fired.

A perfectly straight 3 inch long cartridge with its shoulder 2 inches from its head will have its bullet tip .001" off center in the bore if its head is .002" off center from the chamber axis. If all such cartridges are positioned that way, they're the same for all shots fired.
 
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