Anyone use Hornady "Custom Grade" dies?

[MCSO1357]

Hello, just wondering if any of you have had any experience with Hornady Custom Grade dies, particularly in 223 or 308. I've seen them popping up on shelves and was wondering how well they performed. I mainly run the Redding Competition dies. Thanks.

 

[sentry1]

I use the CGND to load .223 for my AR. They're inexpensive, but of good quality, especially at that price point. I added the micrometer adjuster to the seating die since I switch between loading 62gr FBHP AND 77gr SMK.

The floating seating stem does a much better job of lining the bullets up than my previous RCBS dies ever did.

 

[ZombieMonkey]

The dies themselves seem to be a bit inconsistent at times in terms of dimensions / quality as compared to the ones I've had from Redding or Forster. If you get a good set, they will pump out quality ammo, but I have encountered two bad sets out of five that I have personally used. One had too generous of a body dimension while the other was undersized so much it was a recipe for stuck cases or cases that were very loose in a case gauge (Both setup properly using Hornady comparator).

I will have to agree with Sentry in that I do actually like the floating seater stem on the Hornady dies, especially on a progressive. That being said, most of my Hornady dies have left the bench in favor of Redding, Forster, and Dillon dies. Truth is that bad dies make it out from all manufacturers as I've had a bad die from RCBS as well, it happens. For the money they are not bad and the seating die is great for a basic seating die. I just prefer Forster or Redding when it comes to rifle dies.

 

[427Cobra]

Until I got my Dillon 650 I loaded all my pistol rounds with Hornady dies, my 223 set was horrible, the floating stem hung up all the time, and the FL die needed to polished or cases would get stuck inside, I replaced them with a RCBS set, my 6.5 Creedmoor set has been stellar, I added the micrometer top to the seating die, my ammo is straight, and I see no reason to replace them with Reddings at 4x the price, Hornady lock rings kick ass BTW.

 

[MCSO1357]

Interesting, thanks for the replies.


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