Re: Best Dies for 45acp
Dillon dies are designed for Dillon progressive presses. They do not include an expander die, and their sizing die has an extra-wide radius at the mouth to make progressive reloading easier, but it also does not fully resize the case body as close to the head as others. Dillon dies come with lock rings that do not have a set screw or anything to hold them in place while the die is not in the press (they are designed for installing the die once in a tool head and leaving it there). Even Lee lock rings are better than that on a single stage press.
Hornady seating dies also disassemble without tools for cleaning, and also reassemble without affecting the settings. Unlike Dillon, they can crimp while seating, have a sliding alignment sleeve that aligns the bullet and case mouth prior to insertion, have an optional micrometer adjuster, and come with excellent cross-bolt lock rings.
I am not a fan of Lee Carbide Factory Crimp dies for straight wall pistol cartridges. These have a carbide post-sizing ring that, if it does anything to the cartridge, is only ironing over a problem that needs to be found and fixed at its source. Their Factory Crimp dies for rifle and bottleneck pistol cartridges are a completely different design, using a collet, and work very well. Anyone's ordinary taper crimp die works fine, including Lee's. Redding's profile roll crimping die works very well, as does the Hornady seating die. The Hornady seating die can taper crimp or roll crimp, but the adjustment for taper crimp is very touchy. Hornady sells a separate taper crimp die as well.
Andy
