Newbie to reloading here. Put together a reloading bench and got what I thought was necessary to begin reloading 6.5mm Creedmoor ammo for a bolt gun. I bought a set of Hornady dies, guess I bought Hornady because they are the only source for factory loaded ammo. After reading the tacked instructional posts at the begining of this forum I've come to the conclusion that I should get a neck sizing die for this round.
I bought 6 boxes of factory loaded ammo so I could shoot the new rifle and for a supply of brass. This brass still chambers easily in my rifle after one firing. I read the two posts by doc76251 and learned a lot. He basically said the brass needs to be fired without full length resizing, neck sizing only, until it will no longer chamber in the rifle. That makes sense to me in order to determine what the max headspace measurement is before you bump the shouler back. Can this be accomplished in a full length die? It seems to me that a neck die that doesn't change anything but the neck size is the way to go. Correct me if I'm wrong, please. Since I'll be using new brass eventually I'll have to go thru this process again won't I?
I saw a video on YouTube today where a guy compared a Hornady neck die with a Lee collet neck die. He used a concentricy guage to measure the necks after going thru the dies. The Lee die produced much better results. I've read a lot of good things about Redding dies and everything else Redding for that matter. I've looked at the Redding bushing dies and they are pricey. I don't mind paying the extra $$ if it is worth it. Lee will make a custom die, they don't make dies for the 6.5CM as of yet, for $60 + s/h. That will put the cost of the two at about the same level.
Sorry for the long post here. My main point here was to ask you out there your opinion of my assumption, the merits of the Redding and Lee dies, and suggestions on other brand dies that will do a good job. Thanks in advance for any advice offered.
Shabo
I bought 6 boxes of factory loaded ammo so I could shoot the new rifle and for a supply of brass. This brass still chambers easily in my rifle after one firing. I read the two posts by doc76251 and learned a lot. He basically said the brass needs to be fired without full length resizing, neck sizing only, until it will no longer chamber in the rifle. That makes sense to me in order to determine what the max headspace measurement is before you bump the shouler back. Can this be accomplished in a full length die? It seems to me that a neck die that doesn't change anything but the neck size is the way to go. Correct me if I'm wrong, please. Since I'll be using new brass eventually I'll have to go thru this process again won't I?
I saw a video on YouTube today where a guy compared a Hornady neck die with a Lee collet neck die. He used a concentricy guage to measure the necks after going thru the dies. The Lee die produced much better results. I've read a lot of good things about Redding dies and everything else Redding for that matter. I've looked at the Redding bushing dies and they are pricey. I don't mind paying the extra $$ if it is worth it. Lee will make a custom die, they don't make dies for the 6.5CM as of yet, for $60 + s/h. That will put the cost of the two at about the same level.
Sorry for the long post here. My main point here was to ask you out there your opinion of my assumption, the merits of the Redding and Lee dies, and suggestions on other brand dies that will do a good job. Thanks in advance for any advice offered.
Shabo