whatnickname
Member
I’ve been reloading for better than 50 years now. I guess I’ve used Most of the dies on the market at one time or another...CH, Texan, Lyman, RCBS, Hornady, Redding, Forester, Dillon and Lee. It would probably be easier to tell you the calibers I don’t reload than to list all the calibers I do reload. I have a few sets of each brand. Haven’t had much success with much of anything that had Lyman’s name on it. That said I have a set of Lyman All American dies in 30-30 Winchester that are better than 40 years old that are still as good as the day I ordered them from Gander Mountain. The Hornady New Dimension dies are kind of a lower priced economy proposition. Not all that wild about their sleeved seating die and there are some calibers (223) that I will never use that die on due to the way that they deform the bullets. Not too sure that the quality control on RCBS is what it was when Fred Huntington ran the show...but the RCBS dies I have generally get the job done. CH and Texan are little more than a footnote in the history book today. Lee is a good value for not a whole bunch of money. Dillon is hands down my choice in handgun dies...best taper crimp die I’ve ever seen. Redding and Forester are top notch and well they should be for what they cost. I’m leaning more toward favoring Forester...I like their placement of the expander button up toward the top of the die as a means of not pulling the case neck out of alignment with the case body...although I’ve never had any problem with that with any of the dies I own (brush the inside of my case necks and lube the neck with white graphite.) Forester’s Bench Rest seating die and Ultra seating dies are absolutely outstanding! So my question is: Are high-end reloading dies worth the money? If so, why? Kind of brings to mind a question a viewer on the Jay Leno Show asked the Fruit Cake Lady: “Is premium toilet paper worth the money?” The answer was: “Your a$$ ain’t gonna know the difference,”
Last edited: