Hornady dies

[yobuck]

There are those of us that shoot 600 to 1000 yards and every little bit of sub par anything shows up at 1000 yards. If your hunting closer ranges or just shooting 100 yards through quality tubes like shilen then I imagine sub standard dies like Lee are fine.. you can probably seat your bullet with a rubber mallet if your only shooting close ranges but when your looking for every fraction of MOA@1000 yards, Lee simply wont do the trick unless you dont mind coming in last everytime

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Are you saying that by using better dies you are assuring yourself the "embarrassment" of not finishing last?
Would you be willing to bet your next paycheck that someone using say Lee dies, couldn't beat you at the next match?
There is no doubt that better tools can as a rule produce better work.
Provided of coarse they are used by those capable of producing the work.
And beyond that, that person having the other things necessary in order to do so.
In the shooting game, that would include having good shooting conditions.
Every world record ever shot at long range was shot because the conditions at that time allowed for it to happen.
In other words, luck plays a major role, even more so than the minor improvements we might see as a result of using better loading dies.
The Williamsport 1000 yd benchrest club was the first such club to exist, having started in the late 60s by a bunch of long range varmit hunters.
As I recall, the first official record group was shot there in 1970, and was roughly 7 and 3/4 inches for the 10 shots.
Both the gun/scope and the type equipment used for loading the ammo, would today be considered sub standard for that type shooting.
Yet today, 50 years later, most competing shooters still wont be shooting groups that good in matches held there or anywhere 1000 yd matches are held.
Lets not be fooled into believing that even the very good shooters always shoot very well at long range.
And lets also not be fooled into believing that by having the most expensive equipment, would turn all of us into very good l/r shooters/hunters.
Today there will probably be on average about 100 shooters at the Williamsport matches. How many millions of rounds have been sent down range in those 50 years? And how much have we actually gained/learned as a result? Other than whatever amount of enjoyment it brought to the partisipents? Frankly having known many of them, I would question how much actuall enjoyment many of them got out of it.
Bottom line is that for average Joe shooter/hunter like myself, standard dies will produce ammo that will be more than capable to satisfy his needs.
And for l/r hunting, to kill animals at distances much further than he will probably ever attempt to do.

[Ted_Feasel]

Are you saying that by using better dies you are assuring yourself the "embarrassment" of not finishing last?
Would you be willing to bet your next paycheck that someone using say Lee dies, couldn't beat you at the next match?
There is no doubt that better tools can as a rule produce better work.
Provided of coarse they are used by those capable of producing the work.
And beyond that, that person having the other things necessary in order to do so.
In the shooting game, that would include having good shooting conditions.
Every world record ever shot at long range was shot because the conditions at that time allowed for it to happen.
In other words, luck plays a major role, even more so than the minor improvements we might see as a result of using better loading dies.
The Williamsport 1000 yd benchrest club was the first such club to exist, having started in the late 60s by a bunch of long range varmit hunters.
As I recall, the first official record group was shot there in 1970, and was roughly 7 and 3/4 inches for the 10 shots.
Both the gun/scope and the type equipment used for loading the ammo, would today be considered sub standard for that type shooting.
Yet today, 50 years later, most competing shooters still wont be shooting groups that good in matches held there or anywhere 1000 yd matches are held.
Lets not be fooled into believing that even the very good shooters always shoot very well at long range.
And lets also not be fooled into believing that by having the most expensive equipment, would turn all of us into very good l/r shooters/hunters.
Today there will probably be on average about 100 shooters at the Williamsport matches. How many millions of rounds have been sent down range in those 50 years? And how much have we actually gained/learned as a result? Other than whatever amount of enjoyment it brought to the partisipents? Frankly having known many of them, I would question how much actuall enjoyment many of them got out of it.
Bottom line is that for average Joe shooter/hunter like myself, standard dies will produce ammo that will be more than capable to satisfy his needs.
And for l/r hunting, to kill animals at distances much further than he will probably ever attempt to do.I would be willing to bet at a 1000 yard accuracy competition that you take any 2 shooters of equal ability and on using Lee to load and the other using precision equipment to load.. I would bet my paycheck everytime on the person using precision loading gear.. there is a reason the army marksmanship team doesnt use Lee dies or presses.. they use Forster press and either Redding, LE Wilson or Forster dies

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[want2ride]

I use the regular Custom and Match Bushing dies, and they have done very well for me. I have replaced the RCBS dies I had and now only have Hornady sizing dies and die sets and some Forster seating dies.
The custom sizing dies are good, and the match (bushing dies) are very good.
The custom are fine for even long range hunting, I have several rifles that are 1/2 to 3/4 moa out to 500, but a good scope is essential for this.
The Match are fine for everything up to including match rounds... hence the name.

I also use a MEC press and a FX 120i scale, so that helps with concentricity and precise powder charge.

[Ted_Feasel]

I use the regular Custom and Match Bushing dies, and they have done very well for me. I have replaced the RCBS dies I had and now only have Hornady sizing dies and die sets and some Forster seating dies.
The custom sizing dies are good, and the match (bushing dies) are very good.
The custom are fine for even long range hunting, I have several rifles that are 1/2 to 3/4 moa out to 500, but a good scope is essential for this.
The Match are fine for everything up to including match rounds... hence the name.

I also use a MEC press and a FX 120i scale, so that helps with concentricity and precise powder charge.I use hornady bushing neck size dies for my bolt action rifles, other than that I use Forster full length for resize, LE Wilson inline chamber dies for seating (and forster) and Redding taper crimp dies for my semi auto rifles. I'm really content with le Wilson inline seating dies, you use a arbor press with them but they are very precise.

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[Ted_Feasel]

I use hornady bushing neck size dies for my bolt action rifles, other than that I use Forster full length for resize, LE Wilson inline chamber dies for seating (and forster) and Redding taper crimp dies for my semi auto rifles. I'm really content with le Wilson inline seating dies, you use a arbor press with them but they are very precise.

Sent from my SM-N960U using TapatalkForgot to throw in their Forster coax press

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[eddiesindian]

Never tried them.
Been using Lee equipment My wife bought me as a gift with a few other odds and ends of other brands that I picked up along the way for 25 years. I don't shoot professionally/competitively or pay a whole lot of attention to microns or the expansive amount of internet hearsay, but have managed to consistently load some darn fine ammo with the Lee Deluxe die sets and case length gauges, along with Lee Safety scale and Lee presses. All I know is I'm satisfied when I find a load my rifle likes and I can cover 10 shots with a dime or put 5 through the center of a quarter at 100 yards from a factory rifle especially a spray painted sporter. Though their may be ways to make loading easier or faster, in my experience really good ammo seems to be a product of the basics and putting the puzzle together with the right combination of components, weights and seating depth.
Plus 1

[yobuck]

When you look at the group aggregate totals for all the years at a place like Williamsport, you might be able to come to some realization of what im trying to say.
If you go to their website that information is available.
There is no doubt that today unlike 50 years ago, you wont be able to compete there or really anywhere, with out the very best of everything.
Loading, including the tools required are just one of many things involved.
Today you would be hard pressed to find a factory action at a match, and if you do, for sure it has been trued up.
In 1970 there would have been no custom actions, and "truing" would not be very common, and not even known about in many cases.
Also rifle scopes would have "all" been the external adjusted type like Unertle up until at least the 90s.
Today, there wont be any of those seen at a match.
Not to mention barrels, which are also no doubt better today than 30 years or more ago.
Lowell Amend is a very old close friend, and the only person to have ever won the aggregate award there 2 times.
And he did it using a lefty Savage action. He is/was however very fussy about his loading.
George Stephanis was the first inducted into the hall of fame there, and he isn't all that fussy about anything. lol
We have been hunting together for many years.
Look at the records for the yearly group aggregates over all those years, and realize that these are the best of all that shot there.
Yes they are better today, but can all that be attributed to just loading?

[Ted_Feasel]

Plus 1End the end that's what matters. If what you use works for what you do then I'd say your good to go:)

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[varget204]

I've got the Hornady Custom Match Bushing die set in 6 mm Creedmoor,it has Micrometer seater,resized cases are always .001 or less avg 0 to.0005,do wish numbers were bigger on seater micrometer,like my Forster Ultra Micrometer seater.Very happy w/ themGot the set on sale from Brownells under $ 80

[Ted_Feasel]

I've got the Hornady Custom Match Bushing die set in 6 mm Creedmoor,it has Micrometer seater,resized cases are always .001 or less avg 0 to.0005,do wish numbers were bigger on seater micrometer,like my Forster Ultra Micrometer seater.Very happy w/ themGot the set on sale from Brownells under $ 80Definitely agree about numbers on hornady dies, very hard to read

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[nksmfamjp]

I use Hornady as my baseline. With those basic dies, the Hornady micrometer seater attachment, I make good anmo. It shoots 0.9” groups in my Ruger M77 at 100 and holds 0.95 moa at 300 yds. I think that will do for that rifle.

in my Savage 12 300 WSM, I use a Forster now and see no reason to change based on variation and runout. Considering a Whidden bushing die for sizing, but need more data to sell it to myself!

[charlie b]

From the 6br website for the .308 neck sizing section (which is what I do)

...... Some shooters get best results only sizing one-half to two-thirds of the neck. Another inexpensive option is the Lee Collet Die (http://www.leeprecision.com/cgi/catalog/browse.cgi?1136070942.797=/html/catalog/dies-collet.html). This works by squeezing the neck around a metal mandrel that extends down into the case. Collet dies can produce very low run-out, they don't cause brass build-up at the neck-shoulder junction, and they are inexpensive. However, it is somewhat difficult to precisely control the amount of tension and the collet's fingers can leave marks on your brass. Still, some .308 shooters swear by the Lee die........

I like my Lee die sets and have used them for years. I am not a competitor and am happy if I shoot 0.5MOA at 600yd. I have shot to 1000 but don't do it on a regular basis. The Lee dies do this for me so I don't see any reason to get anything better. And I use them on a Lee Loadmaster progressive.

IMHO, the only thing better would be the coaxial press and precision die sets made for bench rest accuracy games, but, I am not willing to spend that much money for that little gain in accuracy.

PS for someone who is asking about dies, recommending bench rest die sets is absurd. If they are interested in competition then they will do the research to find out what is best and buy it.