Puts them WAY ahead of L.E Wilson! I bought a Wilson .257 AI neck die from Brownelles that was grossly incorrect and called the number for "technical assistance". They proceeded to tell me that I had a fat chamber and they would be happy to hone it for me if I paid shipping. I said "it just so happens that I do not even have a chamber yet. This is virgin brass. It should fit into an AI die with room to spare". They proceeded to tell me that perhaps when I fire-formed a case the problem would work itself out(you know how those cases are always shrinking when you fire them for the first time...especially in AI chambers)

Eventually the person providing "technical assistance" said that she grabbed a .257 AI sizer from the shop, and that a piece of .257 brass protruded by the same measurement as mine, therefore my die was correct and I simply did not understand how Wilson dies were supposed to work. Then she said that if I would ship her my die and three fired cases, they would be happy to hone it out for me. I asked if when upon receipt of my die they realized their mistake they would refund my shipping. She said "I'm really not sure if we can do that, but I've been working at Wilson for seven years and they have never made a mistake". I refused to pay shipping and send my die in because I feared that anyone who hadn't made a mistake in seven years might not admit it when they finally did, so she requested that I send in pictures. I sent pictures, I sent in measurements from cartridge drawings, and still got no where! After three days I requested that I speak with someone else. I was re-routed to a person above her who IMMEDIATELY said "that was clearly reamed to .260 AI headspace. I will ship you a new die with a shipping label in the box for you to return the die you have". I thanked him, AND informed him that I had been told that other .257 AI dies in their shop had the very same problem that mine had, so he likely had a whole batch in his inventory, and in the inventory of retailers that would need to be corrected. He did not respond to that but valuable information. This was on June 22nd. In late September, three months later, I ordered a Wilson .257 AI seater from Brownelles. What do you know...SAME STINKIN PROBLEM! They'd had three months to perform a recall and failed to do so. My guess is that they figured they would just tell the next schlub to mail it in so they can hone it and make it fit his fat chamber, when in reality they remachine it and charge him shipping without admitting their mistake! Anyway, I was kinda hot and sent them an e-mail. I informed them that I was disappointed that they hadn't performed a recall when I knew full well they'd known about the problem for three months. The dies are for a 6.5-257AI build, so on the seater I have to ream the bullet channel. I asked them if they would open the bullet channel for me since they were gonna cost me a fair bit of time waiting on a correct die to come in(and before I decided to do it myself, the quoted me $15 to ream it for a 6.5. The reason I chose to it myself was to purchase the die at the $93 Brownelles charges instead of the $135 MSRP plus $15 to open it up). I said that if they wouldn't machine it for me, I'd appreciate it if they would at least send me a correct die, and I'd consider taking my business elsewhere in the future(Redding and Forster). Now like I said, I was kinda hot. Perhaps I shouldn't have invoked the name of their competition(but i didn't curse or call names. I just said that any good manufacture would have performed a recall and dropped a few names of good manufactures) Their response was that perhaps I should take my business elsewhere immediately, that they don't respond to threats and insults, that they had gone "above and beyond" for me with the sizing die and they were done helping me. I sent them a picture of their warranty and they decided to stand by their warranty which require that I pay the shipping. I told them that I wasn't going to pay the shipping to correct a mistake that THEY made and had been aware of for THREE months! Later that day, while on the phone with Brownelles, I got an e-mail from a different L.E.Wilson e-mail address stating that they would send me a corrected die if I would send them back the one that I had. I misunderstood and thought they would be paying the shipping back to them and agreed. The "corrected" die came in and did not include a shipping label. Now that's a pretty sad day when a company considers it to be "above and beyond" to pay the shipping to fix THEIR mistake!
To chamber this gun I calculated where the shoulder would start if you necked a .257 up to .264. I then sized the neck of 7x57 brass in a 6.5 Creedmoor die, measuring with a homemade comparator, until the neck/shoulder junction(or more correctly, the part of the shoulder that was .300" because my neck diameter is .300") was at the proper position. I then used a 7x57 case sized down to my calculated dimension as a "go" gauge, and one that had been sized down about .003" long as my "no go" gauge. BOTH "corrected" L.E. Wilson dies are still about .030" short. I assumed that I had misscalculated somewhere along the way and reamed my chambers about .030" deep, and would simply have to ream my dies accordingly. Guess what....My Redding .257 AI body die, and .257 AI custom competition neck sizing die work perfectly! I get a .002" shoulder bump(measured with my .300" comparator) with shell holder bottoming out on the die, and just starting to cam over. I could probably get .001-.002" more if it cammed over fully. That means my headspace is just right, because the 6.5-257AI should be about .003" shorter to the neck/shoulder junction than the .257AI, and since the die should size to the minimum cartridge, which is smaller than the minimum chamber, the .257AI body die should still give me a few thousandths bump with a minimum chamber in spite of being .003" shorter. The "corrected" Wilson dies really are still about .030" short! On top of that, I switched to sizing my virgin 7x57 brass down in a standard to .257 Roberts sizer with the .257 button replaced with a .264 button and what do know? Just when the shell holder hits the bottom of the die without camming over , I get a case that measures to my calculated dimension(the reason then .257 die will size it far enough without camming over is that my calculated dimension was calculated from the SAAMI minimum chamber, not cartridge. I actually size the brass about .002" more than that, which does require camming over) So, even the "corrected" Wilson dies are still wrong. They were an absolute nightmare to deal with, so I'll just be reaming the dies deeper myself and buying someone else's product in the future, or making my own hand dies if I must have hand dies.
Redding here I come!
By the way, Brownelles offered to let me return the die and THEY would pay the shipping and refund my money, but said that they couldn't send me a replacement because "we ran out of those this morning. They may have been recalled" During the conversation I received the e-mail that Wilson was sending a replacement, so I didn't go through Brownelles for the return.
Brownelles-good
Redding-good
Forster-good
L.E.Wilson-usually a good product, but dog poo customer service.