mixing brands of dies?

[punter]

I am just getting into hand loading and I've got a question that I'm hoping you all can help me with...

I have been doing a lot of research into equipment and trying to learn the benefits of one brand's offering over another. At this point, I've got a pretty good idea of what will best suit my needs. So, I am getting ready to start buying my dies. What I would like to know is:

Is it all right to mix brands of dies for a given caliber, or do I need to maintain continuity?

For example, I will be hand loading for a .308 bolt action rifle... If my sizing die is Brand X, can my bullet seating die be Brand Y and my crimping die be Brand Z? ...or do the bullet seating die and crimping die need to be the same brand as the sizing die?

I can't help but to ask this question, because Brand X is going to shape to cartridges to a particular specification, which may or not be the same as Brand Y. Assuming Brand Y has very tight tolerances for it's bullet seating die, it makes me wonder if the casing may not "fit" properly since it was sized in another brand's sizing die. Or perhaps the crimping die may not work optimally for the same reason.

Am I off base? ...or are the specs close enough from brand to brand that this is not a concern?

Your insight is greatly appreciated.

 

[MALLARD]

Re: mixing brands of dies?

it is possible that the specs could conflict, but i think that chambers vary more then the dies. So if a die didnt work you could believe your chamber just as out of spec as the die your using. ( depends right?)


you can mix and match brands sure , i do , im sure lots of people do.

 

[ChrisGarrett]

Re: mixing brands of dies?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: punter</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I am just getting into hand loading and I've got a question that I'm hoping you all can help me with...

I have been doing a lot of research into equipment and trying to learn the benefits of one brand's offering over another. At this point, I've got a pretty good idea of what will best suit my needs. So, I am getting ready to start buying my dies. What I would like to know is:

Is it all right to mix brands of dies for a given caliber, or do I need to maintain continuity?

For example, I will be hand loading for a .308 bolt action rifle... If my sizing die is Brand X, can my bullet seating die be Brand Y and my crimping die be Brand Z? ...or do the bullet seating die and crimping die need to be the same brand as the sizing die?

I can't help but to ask this question, because Brand X is going to shape to cartridges to a particular specification, which may or not be the same as Brand Y. Assuming Brand Y has very tight tolerances for it's bullet seating die, it makes me wonder if the casing may not "fit" properly since it was sized in another brand's sizing die. Or perhaps the crimping die may not work optimally for the same reason.

Am I off base? ...or are the specs close enough from brand to brand that this is not a concern?

Your insight is greatly appreciated. </div></div>

I'll mix and match, say using a Hornady InLine New Dimension Seating die w/Micro Seating Stem and Redding Bushing dies.

For my 338LM, I've used the Horandy seater and I now use the Forster Micro Seater, but it's a Redding Body Die and Bushing Neck, or FL sizing die, for those chores.

For 223, it's a RCBS FL sizing die with a Hornady die and Micro Seating Stem.

I have some sets where I prefer Brand X's sizer to Brand Y's, but I'll use Brand Y's seater, over Brand X's.

Chris

 

[rusty815]

Re: mixing brands of dies?

I have Lee's, RCBS, Lyman, Hornady and Redding dies, some calibers have a couple different brands of dies, they all work fine. Theres absolutely nothing wrong with mixing and matching dies.

 

[punter]

Re: mixing brands of dies?

Excellent! Thanks for the insight guys, I greatly appreciate it!

 

[vman]

Re: mixing brands of dies?

Mix and match to your hearts content.

I use a Lee die to decap everything, I use Redding dies to do some parts, Forster dies to do other parts.

For my .308 I use a combo of Lee Decapping, Redding Bushing Neck sizer, Redding Bushing FL sizer with expander removed and finally a Forster Ultra seating for seating.

Oh and I use 21st Century expander die and mandrels for pushing out case necks or turning.

 

[judgedelta]

Re: mixing brands of dies?

As I mentioned in an earlier post. The shell holders are not all interchangeable with the dies, primer tools, etc...

 

[BuzzBoss915]

Re: mixing brands of dies?

Everything is interchangeable, including the shellholders, but they might have a different number stamped on it? The only dies that I personally do not buy is Lee. Never used them and doubt that I ever will. BUT, dimensionally, I would bet Lee is compatible with any other brand. You can use any combination of manufacturers. They are the same. Virtually, at least. It would be personal preference as far as selecting, but the thing is, you generally get a discount to buy a resizer and seater together, in a set, so why not? BB

 

[Fuzzball]

Re: mixing brands of dies?

<span style="font-style: italic">"I can't help but to ask this question, because Brand X is going to shape to cartridges to a particular specification, which may or not be the same as Brand Y."</span>

Seems intuitive but it's really not true. A lot of web 'gurus' write about their favorite brand being made to 'tighter tolerances' but it's well intentioned BS; the specifications are standard and are the same for everyone and that it's provided by SAAMI. Thus, if any die by any maker is out of tolerance it's a slip up; no maker is imunune to that and they will all replace anything that's not right so it's not a major problem.

I've measured the output of a lot of dies and found there is as just much variation between individual sizer dies of the same brand as there is between brands and it's certainly not predictable, even 'on average.' If using mixed brands of individual dies was a hazard I would have been dead more than 30 years ago, out of my 50+ die sets, most are selected individuals from sets by different makers or different sets by the same maker.

The misunderstood truth is that none of our chamber or die tolerances are a specific point, +/- some small amount anyway. Instead, chambers are toleranced from minimum size to some maximum while dies are toleranced from some maximum size to some minimun. It's done that way so our ammo can never over-lap and be too large for any chamber IF it's been resized, trimmed and loaded properly.

Given that the tolerances we work with are a range and not a point, anything inside that range is as equally within specfication as anything else within that range so loud claims of 'tighter tolerances' by any favored maker is meaningless. What would the die maker target; something on the large size or the small size or somewhere in the middle? Fact is, it's chance that determines any effective difference between the results of individual dies so far as how they may match a given chamber, not the brand. And it's rare that the sizer in any given die set is a really good match to the seater, etc.

The better 'competition' die sets - Forster and Redding - are 'better' due to their design, not "tighter tolerances". And even they aren't vastly better than the average sets of common dies, which, on average, do quite good - including Lee's - so it's rare for a new guy to see any difference at all between what he can do with common dies and the much more costly 'comp' dies.

I also have a large mixed brand collection of shell holders which are also spec'd by SAAMI and which I use indescriminately by brand. If one won't swap in a ram, either the ram or the shell holder is out of tolerance but it's not due to a difference of brands.

All of this comes from a LOT of experience and none of it is as soul satisfying as leaping out to tell you exactly what my favorite brand is (or isn't) and why and how you can expect to obtain great results simply by duplicationg me by buying my brand of dies (or anything else) but it's unexciting truth anyway ... your money, your choice.