Any dies to recommend or avoid? 260 Rem

[Doyputasos]

Ordering my Savage LRP tomorrow and I need to get my dies and other reloading equipment ordered so that I can have some ammo ready for testing by the time I wait my stupid 10 days here in CA. Im already set up with a Dillon 650 for my pistol loading and some 223, but I do all of my LR loading on the Lee press. Do any of you recommend any die setups or have any strong recommendations against any dies?

I am not going cheap (read: lee) and I am probably not getting the superdupermicrometerextraconcentric $100/die stuff either.

I plan on fl resizing only occasionally and neck sizing most of the time (probably go Lee here) but I am not sure to go Wilson, Redding, Hornady, RCBS etc. Maybe it is just personal preference but I would love some helpful feedback.

Thanks

Matt

 

[jfseaman]

Re: Any dies to recommend or avoid? 260 Rem

I went with Forster Benchrest seater and fl, Hornady neck.

Majority of dies I use are Forster Benchrest.

but.......

I'll have to let you know more later as I've not assembled any cartridges yet.

 

[rrflyer]

Re: Any dies to recommend or avoid? 260 Rem

My setup is moving too...

Redding body die
Lee Neck sizing die
Forster Seating Die

 

[427Cobra]

Re: Any dies to recommend or avoid? 260 Rem

Redding Type S FL with the carbide floating expander, with correct bushing it barely touches on exit, my concentricity is great, I seat with either a Redding Comp Seater or a Wilson Inline with a Sinclair Micrometer top.

 

[Niles Coyote]

Re: Any dies to recommend or avoid? 260 Rem

Using Redding full length bushing die for sizing and the competition seater to seat.

 

[Fuzzball]

Re: Any dies to recommend or avoid? 260 Rem

<span style="font-style: italic">"Any dies to recommend or avoid? 260 Rem "</span>

No. Personal tastes aside, they all work fine so I rearly mention my 'favorite' because that would prove nothing other than they're my favorite.

Truth is, dies come in two 'grades'; Forster and Redding are tied for first and all the rest are tied for second. There's so little average difference in effect between them that few rifles or shooters will ever see any difference in the field. If all dies didn't all work good they wouldn't have survived for long in the market, including Lee. And there's nothing unique about the .260.

 

[bunsen27]

Re: Any dies to recommend or avoid? 260 Rem

For the money I feel you would be hard pressed to beat the Redding 3 die set

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/110018/redding-3-die-set-260-remington

If you are starting with 260 Rem headstamped brass the Redding FL will be just fine. If your planning on necking cases from .243Win or .308win I'd look at the Forster BR FL die (the expander ball is much higher on the stem than traditional dies). I have no experience with the bushing type dies so I can offer no reccomendations there.

 

[jagged77]

Re: Any dies to recommend or avoid? 260 Rem

I use a combination of the following depending on certain loads:

Forster FL and micrometer seating die
Redding body die
Lee collet die

Can't give enough praise for the Lee collet die, these things are excellent and I use them in every caliber I reload for (except 338)

 

[leadbullet]

Re: Any dies to recommend or avoid? 260 Rem

I have the redding full length, neck sizer and micrometer seater.
very happy with quality and fine shooting ammo.

 

[Unknown]

Re: Any dies to recommend or avoid? 260 Rem

I agree with the earlier posting that Redding and Forster are #1, RCBS, Hornady and others are #2. Lee is #3. Lee's dies may not have much respect, but their priming tools, and crimp die really do work well.

Possum Hollow makes a really fast trimming tool, VLD inside de-burring tools are the only way to go.

I still haven't found a really good factory made outside de-burring tool, as they all seem to leave a slight burr no matter what speed I run them. I get the best results de-burring the outside of case necks by chucking a small (4 inch diameter) fine grit grinding wheel in my drill, and putting it into a vice. Then as the grinding wheel slowly rotates, I gently place the shells on an angle and rotate them around once. This removes all burr.

I even bought a brand new outside de-burring tool from Wilson, and although it worked better than the others, it still left a bit of a burr I could feel with my fingernail.

 

[ddavis]

Re: Any dies to recommend or avoid? 260 Rem

I've never been happy with Hornady dies. ALL of them have overly stressed my brass. In fact I was getting split necks on my 6.5x55 Lapua brass after two light loads. I switched to a Lee collet die and the problem went away. Also, the seater dies leave marks on the bullets. I've never had a problem with any other dies, including Lee.

 

[Fuzzball]

Re: Any dies to recommend or avoid? 260 Rem

<span style="font-style: italic">"Lee is #3."</span>

The question is personal 'preference' so it doesn't matter, but I wonder why you say that. Have you actually used and measured the output of any Lee dies or is that just a judgement based on eternal appearance and/or common web posts? Reason I ask is I have used, measured and fired ammo from those dies and, on average, I find them to do as well or better than those you put in the #2 catagory; seems external high polish and well cut knurling really doesn't improve the quality of the reloads a die set can produce. ??

The light ring cut on some bullets is harmless but it's due to a square edge on the mouth of many bullet seating plugs. Tbat edge can easily be sanded round and polished smooth with a common electric drill motor and a small bits of medium and fine grit black sandpaper.

 

[mnhntr]

Re: Any dies to recommend or avoid? 260 Rem

I have the same rifle and love it. I went RCBS standard die set and neck size die seperate. If I was to do it again I would have gotten the seater die with the micrometer.

 

[redbullitt]

Re: Any dies to recommend or avoid? 260 Rem

I have shot some damn fine groups with ammunition done with a lee collet die and seater. I have also shot some damn fine groups with Redding and Forster... so maybe not totally helpul, but for me the lee performed well enough, especially for the cost. I would say they are definitely worth a look if you are needing to save cash.

I still use the Lee collet dies on the 223. Work well enough that I never bought anything else for it.