Quality Differences in Dies and turret presses

[No Plea]

I want to add some new handgun and rifle cartridges to my hand loading repertoire (French word meaning "growing obsession"!). Presently, I load metallic cartridges on a single stage press, using dies by Lee and RCBS. I don't see any difference in the quality of the finished products from the respective die makers. But I'm willing to spend more for dies and for a turret press if the cost-benefit - quality of the finished cartridges - makes sense. What do y'all think?
1. Is there a material cost benefit to the more expensive dies?
2. Is there a material cost benefit to the more expensive turret presses?
3. Where is the best place to get the best deals on a turret press and dies?
Thanks for all your suggestions and opinions.

 

[RustyFN]

I want to add some new handgun and rifle cartridges to my hand loading repertoire (French word meaning "growing obsession"!). Presently, I load metallic cartridges on a single stage press, using dies by Lee and RCBS. I don't see any difference in the quality of the finished products from the respective die makers. But I'm willing to spend more for dies and for a turret press if the cost-benefit - quality of the finished cartridges - makes sense. What do y'all think?
I have only used Lee and Dillon dies and I like Lee dies better. I change bullet profiles a lot and Lee dies are a lot easier to adjust.
1. Is there a material cost benefit to the more expensive dies?
Not until you get into dies like a Redding competition seating die or other dies like that.
2. Is there a material cost benefit to the more expensive turret presses?
The turret press will give you more rounds per hour than the single stage press and you won't have to change dies, that's about it. I have been loading on a Lee classic turret five years and load 175 to 200 rounds per hour at a comfortable pace.
3. Where is the best place to get the best deals on a turret press and dies?
www.kempfgunshop.com for the Lee classic turret.
Thanks for all your suggestions and opinions.

 

[ranger335v]

"1. Is there a material cost benefit to the more expensive dies?"

Not much, certainly not for any of the common brands and conventional designs. SAAMI dimensions are a tolerance, anything inside that range is fully "in tolerance", and they all normally accomplish that, so there is as much effective difference between individual dies of the same brand as there is between brands.

Forster BR and Redding Comp seater dies for rifles are "better", on average, than conventional seaters but not by a lot and a good conventional seater will do as well. But, none of the other so called "comp" dies are in the same catagory, they're no better on average than the others. The expensive micrometer seater heads don't add a thing to the product, they are only user features that can easily be used or not.

Lee's collet neck dies are probably the better neck dies on the market for factory rifles but they have a moving part, it's not a simple 'push the case in, pull the case out' thing, so some people have trouble using it correctly. The Lee collet neck die, correctly used, and used with a body die is probably the ideal combo for good sizing and obtaining straight necks without accuracy damaging excessive "bullet tension." (The ideal neck inside diameter is ONE thou smaller than the bullets, no more.)

I've used all dies except Dillon and while there are some trivial user feature differences between brands, the 'best' is purely a matter of taste - and chance of the tolerances. Some like this or that feature but others hate it; love/hate doesn't change the quality of ammo that can be made with any of them. And neither price nor external finish matters to the end product.


"2. Is there a material cost benefit to the more expensive turret presses?"

None, stick with your single stage. Presses don't exactly make accuracy but the more rigid a press is the easier it is to do consistant work. No turret can be 'rigid', the head couldn't turn if it was. Lee's turret is probably the best of its type because of the way they attach and support the head that limits the turret's up-ward springing under pressure better than any center mounted head can be.


There is precious little accuracy advantage to costly or massively strong single stages either. Great press strength helps when massively reforming cases, not so much with normal reloading chores.

 

[REL1203]

I only use Lee and Dillion Dies as well, Only a few sets of Dillions I got early on when i was thinking of going blue, but have 10 or so Lee sets, and REALLY like the Lee Dies. Good price, great quality, always work.

I also have a Lee Classic Turret Press, and I LOVE it. Sure there are times I wish I went progressive, like when i set out to do 1,000 handgun rounds, and could get that done in 2hours, but it takes me 10-12 on mine, but then again I look at cost. I buy a Turret head and maybe a PD for each handgun, and thats it, cost maybe $30 for each one, same thing on a progresswive would be like $150 (rough estimate for convesation kit and PD). Just day, at 1245, i sat down, and just stopped now at 3 and got 428 40S&W reloads done working a good speed. I could probably do 200/hour if really pushed it, but dont feel the need to.

 

[918v]

There will not be a difference in the quality of the finished product because most of the problems are caused by the human using the equipment and by the brass case itself. What you do get with the more expensive dies is ease of operation. It is easier to assemble high quality ammo using Redding/Forster/RCBS/Neil Jones/Wilson competition dies, although if you are shooting a NEF handirifle it may not notice.