What do I have?

[Old Gaffer]

Greetings All;

I'm just now getting ready to start reloading and I bought a [used] Lee 1000 set up. Right now I'm only going to reload .45 ACP for Bullseye shooting; later I may reload 9mm, .38 Spcl, and .30 Carbine.

The decapping die that came with the press is marked "LEE-45ACP E8". I haven't been successful in finding out whether or not this is a carbide die. If it is, great, I'm almost ready to go, if it's not, I'm going to buy a new die.

Then the question becomes one of whether to buy a carbide die, or one of the nitride die sets.

And the Redding competition seater.

And what else?

All the best,
Rob

[dreamweaver]

whether or not this is a carbide die. If it is, great, I'm almost ready to go, if it's not, I'm going to buy a new die.

Then the question becomes one of whether to buy a carbide die, or one of the nitride die sets.

if the one you have isn't carbide, you're going to buy a new one, but it might not be carbide (nitride?). I don't understand.
I'm getting ready to buy some dies, that's why i ask.

[DWARREN123]

If it is carbide (not all carbide) it will have a insert, the carbide part, inside the die and you can see it if you look inside.
Unless you are doing something different, the regular die used with a little lube or the carbide die will work great. Also the carbide comes in at a lot lower price.

[Old Gaffer]

if the one you have isn't carbide, you're going to buy a new one, but it might not be carbide (nitride?). I don't understand.
I'm getting ready to buy some dies, that's why i ask.

If the die I now have is NOT carbide, then I am going to buy a new die.

The reason I want either the carbide or titanium-nitride die is that neither of them require the use of case lube, and by using one of the new dies, I can skip the requirement of lubing my cases before de-priming and resizing them.

On the other hand, if the die I now have IS carbide, then I'm ready to start reloading.

If I didn't have any dies already, I'd just buy this
http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpag...eitemid=661032,

but since I DO have dies, I may just get this
[http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.exe/showproduct?saleitemid=976740"]
and call it good.

All the best,
Rob

[dreamweaver]

thanks, now i understand.

[Old Gaffer]

OK, so a little more research (and some careful reading when I'm not brain-dead tired) and I came up with the answer - not from Lee, surprisingly enough, but from MidwayUSA, from whom I quote

All Lee straight sided pistol dies have carbide sizers

So it appears I'm ready to go as soon as I mount my press.

All the best,
Rob

[WESHOOT2]

You'll know if it's NOT when a case sticks....