Which reloading die mfg? and which de-priming tool?

[Trigger1212]

Gents,

For my 45-70 I currently have a set of Lee dies. For the money they are great dies but not necessarily the best. Curious as to what the gestalt opinion is here as to which are the most popular dies? I have used everything from Redding Competition dies on down.

I do have a powder compression die mounted to a Lee die. Any reason I'd need to replace that? All it does is compress the powder, and it looks to be straight with no bulges to the side of the case after use.

As part of the die mfg question any suggestions on using a neck sizing only die? If so whose and why?

As stated above I currently have 45-70 but torturing myself over making my 1877 build a 40-65, in case the calibur makes any difference to you.

Wade

[Don McDowell]

Lyman dies are my favored for the 45-70.
For depriming I use the lee universal decapper in a Lee hand press, or the Distant Thunder decapper.

[rdnck]

Lyman here. Shoot straight, rdnck.

[Trigger1212]

Gents,

Can you share the why of your choice of Lyman dies? What do you like about them or is better than the other dies out there?

Also, what do you include in your die set? Are they the typical 3 piece set, FL die, seater, crimp?

What do you use for a powder compression die?

Lastly, do you use neck only dies or....?

Thanks

Wade

[Randy Bohannon]

Somehow I ended up with 3 die sets, RCBS,Lyman and Lyman short neck and taper crimp.BACO powder compression die in the Lyman expanding die and BACO expander in the RCBS expander.Bullet seating (greasers) in a Vickerman In line seating die.All depriming is done with a Pope recapping tool at the range and cases put in a container of soapy water.

[Randy Bohannon]

Somehow I ended up with 3 die sets, RCBS,Lyman and Lyman short neck and taper crimp.BACO powder compression die in the Lyman expanding die and BACO expander in the RCBS expander.Bullet seating (greasers) in a Vickerman In line seating die.All depriming is done with a Pope recapping tool at the range and cases put in a container of soapy water.

[Randy Bohannon]

Full length size new brass, neck size fired brass and expand for greasers.For paper patch deprime and clean,reload some guy's use a taper crimp die to snug up the bullet.

[Lumpy Grits]

I use RCBS, had to many issues with Lyman and poor QC. Their C/S was a joke.
Gary

[Michael Johnson]

In general RCBS for initial sizing of new brass. I use Distant Thunder's decapping tool. After the brass is clean I reprime with RCBS hand primer. Only the neck is resized with Steve Meacham's bushing neck sizer. Bullets are seated with Shiloh's seating die. This process works best for me.

[ChrisF]

I use Redding for all my dues

[ChrisF]

I use Redding for all my dies

[jackrabbit]

Having owned just about every kind, I continue to be more and more of a Redding fan. The others are ok, but Redding is fantastic! For just a little bit more money you get a much better product. Plus, of the ten or so donation request letters I sent to various reloading related companies, who was the only one to respond at all, let alone actually send a donation? You guessed it, Redding!!

[Lumpy Grits]

Having owned just about every kind, I continue to be more and more of a Redding fan. The others are ok, but Redding is fantastic! For just a little bit more money you get a much better product. Plus, of the ten or so donation request letters I sent to various reloading related companies, who was the only one to respond at all, let alone actually send a donation? You guessed it, Redding!!

That does say much
G.

[Clarence]

I have RCBS dies for .45-70; Lyman for .40-65. I deprive with an original Lyman tong tool.

One thought about the Lyman .40-65 dies. In order to form brass from .45-70, you probably need to push the cases 0.010-0.020" further into the die than the shell holder allows. I use a .223 shell holder, back off the die, than turn it down until a case enters the chamber. I use a piece of 3/8" rod to tap the case from the die. Only required once, while forming, since only neck sizing is required after that. Not sure whether other die brands are different. Not a relevant concern if you're starting with Starline .40-65 brass.

Don't beat up yourself over the choice of .40-65. It's a great caliber.

Clarence

[Trigger1212]

Clarence,

Would you choose the 40-65 over the 45-70 for all around use in silly-wette and hunting? Not talking long range matches (yet!).

Wade