Newby Advice on buying dies

[Toothpick]

Morning
I’m going to try my hand at reloading. I know, bad timing. Have brass and bullets for 9mm and .223 a day friend to help, my buddy has dies for everything but those 2 rounds and will provide some primers to get me started. I am looking on eBay since I’ve had no luck elsewhere. I’m leery of buying used dies and don’t know if I should be.
Prices for new dies are pretty high (which is ok) but some are 2 die sets for .223 and I’m thinking that may short me. My buddy is out of pocket so I’m asking fellow OSA members.
Oh, forgot to mention, I have a rock chucker press so I’ve been looking at RCBS does even though others will work.
Thanks

 

[Leadlobber]

I use RCBS and Redding for rifle , Redding finish is nicer . Lee carbide pistol dies work well for me,

 

[DRC458]

I stay away from Lee and the Hornady New Dimension dies. I own just about every other brand (except Dillon), including some of the older Hornady dies. I haven't had any real issues with all the rest. RCBS makes good dies, as does Lyman. YMMV

 

[Rayce]

Right now is a difficult time to find equipment for most everyone. So you can spend a lot of effort and money.

Used dies can be tricky, you just never know what the die has been subjected to, so a inspection of the dies is imperative. Try to buy from someone you can trust and is willing show you the dies prior to purchase. Getting a die set New in box is always preferred.

I personally have hornady, rcbs and Lee dies.
I prefer hornady custom grade die sets for handguns that have a titanium nitrade ring which allows you to deprime and resize a casting without lubing. This remove one step, if you have a single stage press, you will want to remove as many steps as you can. Rcbs also offers a similar type die. The Lee dies I have are for bullet resizing.

Reloading is quite the process, find one caliber and work to get everything you need for that particular round. Work on building it up to completion. This will give you an idea on dies and other tools you will want to work on the next caliber you want to work. I hope this helps.

 

[dlbleak]

I’ve got about every brand made. The Hornady precision dies are nice but Lee will get the job done.

 

[Oklahomabassin]

Morning
I’m going to try my hand at reloading. I know, bad timing. Have brass and bullets for 9mm and .223 a day friend to help, my buddy has dies for everything but those 2 rounds and will provide some primers to get me started. I am looking on eBay since I’ve had no luck elsewhere. I’m leery of buying used dies and don’t know if I should be.
Prices for new dies are pretty high (which is ok) but some are 2 die sets for .223 and I’m thinking that may short me. My buddy is out of pocket so I’m asking fellow OSA members.
Oh, forgot to mention, I have a rock chucker press so I’ve been looking at RCBS does even though others will work.
Thanks

Most dies for straight wall cases are carbide 3 die sets. Most dies for bottle neck cases are 2 die sets.

Hopefully this helps answer your question why .223 is 2 die set and you probably saw 3 die sets for 9mm. The carbide die sets are more expensive but eliminate need to lube the cases.

 

[Rez Exelon]

The carbide die sets are more expensive but eliminate need to lube the cases.

Sort of.. I've stuck cases in carbide dies too. Much more rare to be sure.

I have dies of every manufacturer and sets much older than I am that all work fine. As long as they are clean and maintained the old ones are just as good as new.

 

[panayoti]

I have dies from most manufacturers for pistol and rifle. The lee decapping system is the best. The decapping assemblies are broken in my dies except the lee and dillion. My dies are old so maybe rcbs and lyman have improved . I started reloading in the late 80s.

 

[Toothpick]

Thanks everyone!
My buddy has 3 separate press set up on his bench so we can do more than 1 process at a time. (I think)
I’ll see if anyone has dies the are willing to sell in the want to buy Ads
Wish me luck

 

[mouthpiece]

I stay away from Lee and the Hornady New Dimension dies. .............YMMV

Can you expound on this?
To the OP,
I have several different brands of dies and have found some of the newer sets are easier to adjust and set
I would suggest borrowing and using your friends dies and becoming familiar with setting up and using them so that you can see the differences and similiarities of different types/manufacturers.
There are also things like some sets are made specifically for certain types of bullets like the 38spl set I have that is for wadcutter type bullets that seat and crimp right at the case mouth basically. I didn't know that when I bought them so therefore needed another set that will seat a bullet that is more like a standard/typical bullet.

Ask lots of questions here. There are many experienced reloaders here on the forum.