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Old June 3, 2002, 12:33 PM   #1
Tol
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Are "competition" rifle dies worth the money?

I am starting to reload some new rifle calibers.
These reloads are for stock hunting rifles (mostly Remington 700 BDL's).

I am getting tempted by higher end dies like the RCBS Competition 2 die sets and the Redding Competition Seating Die.

Will these dies make any difference that I'd notice in a bone-stock hunting rifle of reasonable quality?

Thank you guys for all the great advice you give,
Tol
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Old June 3, 2002, 12:42 PM   #2
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I don't like the RCBS offerings, the Redding is the way to go.
If you want cheao, Lee Collett dies work well.

Difference in box-stock? Zip. You may get better brass life from Redding's bushing dies, but I doubt you'd see any significant accuracy difference without doing some rifle tune-ups.
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Old June 3, 2002, 01:11 PM   #3
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The comp dies will have higher QC levels so the opportunity for run-out problems will be lower. This probably won't be an issue unless you're shooting at longer ranges, though.
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Old June 3, 2002, 04:10 PM   #4
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For factory chambers and un-neck-turned brass, use the Lee collet dies.
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Old June 3, 2002, 07:04 PM   #5
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Considering the cost of "competition dies", and their expected lifespan, sure it is worth the cost.
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Old June 3, 2002, 08:11 PM   #6
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I second the opinion of the RCBS "comp" dies. The sizer may be ok; but, the seater sucks compared to a Redding comp seater. And I have a set of RCBS comp dies. And the Redding comp die so I know of where I speak.

I use a RCBS X die to resize and the Redding die to seat. Works very well and you don't have to trim cases.
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Old June 4, 2002, 07:02 AM   #7
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Tol,

For a stock hunting rifle go with Lee dies. Decent quality and low priced.

For a finely tuned varmint or target rifle you can afford to upgrade your ammo quality too. For highpower rifle in '06 and .308 I use RCBS X-dies for sizing and Forster Competition seater dies for seating.

Note: for a company with RCBS's experience you'd think they'd get a better design for seater dies. The ones I've tried were total JUNK. Bullet runout with them was a prime example of "how bad it can get" Twenty thousandths or more....

Best to all,
Swampy
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Old June 4, 2002, 10:41 AM   #8
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FWIW, you won't get peak results with the Redding bushing dies unless you neck turn your brass. The Lee collet dies do well on "rough" brass.

And I own both.
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Old June 4, 2002, 10:59 AM   #9
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Redding bushing die provides a way to limit neck tension and brass working. For those of us with large neck areas in our chambers, the turning won't help.
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Old June 4, 2002, 12:19 PM   #10
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In a super-accurate varmint ot target rifle you may (or may not) notice a difference.

I think that I've used dies from every major manufacturer over the last 40 years, and I have no complaints against any of them except Lee. I wouldn't buy a Lee die, except their factory crimp die for semi-aito handgun reloading.

I have noticed no difference between regular dies and so-called competition dies in any of my rifles. Not even an extremely accurate 6MM and an equally accurate target .300 MinMag.

While Redding dies are my personal favorite, I can't honestly say that they are any better quality than Lyman, C-H, Hornady, RCBS or Pacific. Just my personal experiences.
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Old June 5, 2002, 10:20 AM   #11
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I exclusively use only Redding competition seating dies for all the calibers that I reload. Utilizing progressive and single stage reloaders have never experienced a problem to date and it makes the adjustment process for seating the different bullets a walk in the park.
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