Art -
<loadedround>
Dillon pistol dies are excellent, but are designed for their progressive presses only and will not be suitable for a single station press since Dillon dies will be missing the expanding die(second die in set). Without this die you will be unable to expand(open)case mouths to seat bullets. You would be shaving lead bullets and possibly crushing cases with jacketed bullets. Dillon expands the case mouth through the powder filling die on it's second stage. Both RCBS and Redding make excellent pistol dies.
And he's absolutely correct. I use Dillon dies, because I have them, and bought them early on. I have crushed cases, usually one per 100. I like the Lee dies, for their economy, and the fact that they work.
I use the Dillon case gauges, which are pretty much a go/no-go type of gauge for checking sizing, and trimming, after you've resized your case.
I have dies from all the big guys, and like them all, but the Lee dies were the cheapest, and work just fine. I run the slightest taper crimp on my 45 ACP stuff for piece of mind only, as many here had advised me that it wasn't entirely necessary, and they were correct - my ammo functioned just fine without it (that being said, I'm not in the military, or a law enforcement officer, where I'm constantly banging my magazines and ammo around, but just a box of ammo and trip to the range).
I was able to overcome some of the case crushing and copper jacket shaving by doing one thing recommended by Walkalong: case mouth chamfering. The bullets seem to glide right in, with just the slightest pressure on the Rock Chucker press.
-tc