Re: which competition dies? cant recover mine....
AS always, another guy, another set of suggestions!
Any set of dies MAY do good work IF the die specs are a close match to your chamber. No brand, or price, can automatically make that chance fit any better but some speciality dies can accomidate moderate differences somewhat better than conventional designs are likely to do.
I am no longer charmed by bushing dies. To be truly effective case necks should be fully turned to a consistant thickness, otherwise the outside is consistant but the inside is not! SO...
1. Neck sizer - Lee Collet neck die
With a good neck sizer, you don't really need an FL sizer. All you really need is something to make the BODIES smaller from time to time. So...
2. Forster body "bump" die
A really good, body length full sleeved straight line seater (NOT a short, sliding sleeve design like Hornady or RCBS has) can't be matched by any other design.
Micrometer heads make it a little easier to change seating depth but anyone with a dial/digital caliper can make ammo any length they wish. A little practice will allow you to get close quickly and a couple of tweaks should be all you need to get dead on. So...
3. Forster BR seater, W/O micrometer head for cost reduction.
Lee's "Classic Cast" series press bodies are made of cast railroad rails, much stronger than the other's of cast iron. AND Lee's are designed from the ground up to have the machining done on modern CNC machines, that reduces costs AND insures accuracy of the work. SO...
4. Press - Lee Classic, your choice of specific model
Priming is "best" done by hand. Several are very good, such as the excellant Sinclair tools, but Lee's inexpensive (as opposed to "cheap") Auto Prime is fully as effective as any and better than some. IMHO.
Many snear at Lee's primers for being made of "pot metal" and "easy to break". Maybe. I do wish they were more robust but I have two, one of large and one for small caps, that are over 20 years old and have never broken. Of course, I don't insist on jamming down on any that are difficult to seat, I prefer to stop and see what the problem is and clear it first. ?? So...
5. Priming tool - Lee Auto Prime
Digital scales are the current fad but, as a former electronic insturment repair/calibration tech, I don't care for them. Much to tempermental, quirky for me.
Beam scales work with gravity. It's always the same, never needs to warm up, doesn't care about any nearby stray magnetic fields. ALL of the reloader branded scales work well but a Redding, Lyman, RCBS beam scale reading to about 500 grains is a great, reliable tool at least expense, very easy and fast to use IF you set it on a shelf about chin high. SO...
6. Powder Scale - any of those beam scales listed above.
