[mkee]

I'll be ordering a die set for a 480 Ruger shortly. Was wondering if anyone has seen an advantage in brand for pistol cartridges. Hornady and RCBS die sets have served me well, so I'll probably get one of those. If I get the RCBS, they'll be the carbide dies.
Thanks for any info.

 

[Graybeard]

Mine are Hornady. While I have a lot of RCBS dies and even some from various other makers pretty much all I get these days is Hornady.

 

[Questor]

RCBS is the best.

 

[KN]

I agree with GB, Most of mine are Hornady. RCBS would be a close second for pistol dies though. KN

 

[ricciardelli]

Might as well ask, "Which is best? Ford or Chevy?"

Those who own Redding will swear they are the best, those who own Lyman will swear they are the best, those who own RCBS will swear they are the best, those who own Hornady will swear they are the best, those who own Dillon will swear they are the best, and those who own Lee...all I can say is, "I feel your pain".

What do I have? I have one set of Lyman, one set of Lee, one set of Hornady, one set of Redding, and a couple of hundred sets of RCBS.

(I also drive Fords... :grin: )

 

[Questor]

May as well ask "Ford or Yugo or a broken unicycle with a flat tire". When Lee is an option the standards have to be low.

I had one custom Hornady die that I eventually threw in the garbage because that's where it belonged. The decapper was flimsy and they charged me $8 to replace it. I replaced it with an RCBS and all my problems were solved instantly. Go with RCBS.

 

[Patriot_1776]

I too have owned both RCBS and Hornady. I will further say that RCBS works better in my experience.

One plus RCBS has over the Hornady, is RCBS uses (for pistol) a tungsten carbide insert; whereas Hornady uses titanium carbide or something like that. The tungsten carbide is much harder, and therefore smoother.

My Hornady set was used for 454 Casull/45 Colts; what I minded the most, was the 454s would get scratched up, because of the ti-carbide not being super smooth. I suspect a brass build up, and it didn't get any better with use. Tried some crocus cloth as I read to remove the buildup, helped for about 5rds. or so, and started scratching again. After trying the RBCS dies on the 454 cases, I was happy to see the deep scratching go away.

My advice, mkee: Go with RCBS![/color]


-Patriot