Dies

[plain ol Bill]

OK the old goat is back bugging you folks again. Was looking around on Midway at things this morning and ran across the Lyman Brass Smith All-American 8-Station Turret Press on sale and bought one. Seemed to be a great price so they roped me in. You folks have all told me to get quality dies when I buy - so I'm looking for 6.5 - which ones are recommended?

[Sinclair]

Normally I like Lee; however some forum members have had neck splitting problems with the Lee Grendel dies. Hornady will work, I started with Hornady and only resized 100 pieces of new brass when I too succumbed to public opinion and bought Forster. Had to buy the sizer and seating dies separate because everyone was out of the sets. They shout quality when you open the boxes, very unnerving. Redding is the other brand that is recommend by many here and are supposed to be best of the lot. Each of the brands will at least double or triple the price of the next lower ones starting with the Hornady dies moving up to the Forster, and beyond. For their bolt guns, some of the fellows use Neck sizing dies of a cheaper brand and Seating die of a more expensive one as a means to get the needed quality at a lower investment.

Whatever you do, think it over, Hornady dies for the Grendel are about $40.00 and the best Redding die sets are around $400! My Grandfather used to say that, "cheaper is seldom just as good, but more expensive isn't always better." What are your priorities? What are your needs? Only you can decide what will work for you and how much you are willing to pay to get it, just one old goat to another.

[kmon]

I have lots of dies but just the Hornady die set for the Grendel and with them have had no issues loading sub half MOA ammo. Good enough for me. I have some Forester and redding dies also but when the lesser expensive dies do that well i am happy to save some $ to use on more bullets, brass, primers and powder to shoot more.

[BobinNC]

I have the Hornady 6.5 Grendel Dies, but I have added a Hornady Microjust seating.

[JCSC]

RCBS has the Grendel does now, but you would need to call them.

[A5BLASTER]

Midway usa has the hornady and rcbs grendel dies.

Both are close in price and will do the job of full length resizing for your ar grendel brass.

[FLshooter]

I started w/Hornady set.Now I have a Redding NM set.Both work well.

[CJW]

Hornady FL die to resize. Wilson hand die to seat bullet.

[lazyengineer]

IMHO, the Hornady die set is tough to beat.

I remove the expander ball completely. Instead, I run Lyman M-die with a 6.5 mm (.264) Mandrel, right right before reloading, so as to assure a uniform inside neck dimension. It makes running brass a lot easier (expander ball drag is a ... drag); and that eliminates the need for lubing the inside of the necks.

So:
-decap
-Wet tumble with pins (primer cavity oh-so-shiney)
-wet-lub and Resize with/out expander stem in the die at all - using Hornady Grendel die
-Wet tumble without pins (to wash off the lube))
-Trim (Doug Giraud is a very cool guy)
-Progressive: Mandrel, Prime, Powder, Seat.

I think the Hornady seating die, with the floating stem, is a pretty great seating die.

And then smile when the first shot out of a 20" BBL at a 1000 yard gong goes: "DING!"

[Popeye212]

Forster sizing die and Forster Ultra Micrometer Seating die. Is what I have although they have come out with a full length bump neck sizing I may get later.

[centerfire]

IMHO, the Hornady die set is tough to beat.

Compared to Lee, sure.

[lazyengineer]

Compared to Lee, sure.

Eh, for the dollar at least. I picked up some 3-figure dies for my creedmoor. They're spiffy, but in the end, Hornady dies for $30 would make about the same quality ammo.

[centerfire]

Eh, for the dollar at least. I picked up some 3-figure dies for my creedmoor. They're spiffy, but in the end, Hornady dies for $30 would make about the same quality ammo.

And Skoda makes cars that go 65mph.

[lazyengineer]

And Skoda makes cars that go 65mph.

Nobody makes Presidents 100, NRA High Master, Distinguished Rifleman, or has national championship trophies on a Skoda. But you sure can with basic Horandy dies.

[centerfire]

Nobody makes Presidents 100, NRA High Master, Distinguished Rifleman, or has national championship trophies on a Skoda. But you sure can with basic Horandy dies.

You could have done it with Lee dies too.