dies for 6.5-284

[twmule]

whitch bullet seating dies is the best forgeneral target shooting and some f class not benchrest, keep hearing talk about dies that hold the bullet very straight

 

[watercam]

Redding Type S neck bushing sizing dies are great for helping make your brass last longer by not overworking (oversizing?). Their Micrometer seating dies keep the bullet inline with the case as do Forster and Hornady seating dies. All have a sliding sleeve that holds the bullet in line with the case before the actual seating operation happens. With Redding one can get them as a set.

 

[Laurie]

Redding Type S Sizer and Competition seater are very good in terms of loaded round quality. The sizer is a bushing type though, so you need to identify the bushing size(s) you need and buy a suitable bushing or bushings on top of the die. The Competition seater has a spring loaded case alignment / support sleeve that produces very good results as well as a seating stem that is an incredibly neat fit and 'floats' marginally making it self-centring. Redding also makes a bushing Competition neck-only sizer that employs a spring-loaded sleeve to align and support the case.

Forster BR dies (which means all Forster dies in practice) also employ a spring loaded sleeve in the seater which does a very good job in producing rounds with minimal bullet runout. While the Redding Competition seater has a micrometer top as standard, the Forster equivalent comes in two versions, a standard BR version with a slot-headed adustment rod and locking nut, or the more expensive 'Ultra' version with micrometer top. Forster also makes bushing-bump sizer dies for some cartridges now. This is a neck sizer die that unlike other neck-sizers also 'bumps' the shoulder. If properly set up it'll provide 0.001-0.002" clearance between your case shoulders and rifle chamber.

Both are very good and give good results, but the Forster is cheaper. Note that Redding also makes standard model die sets. They are very well made, but do not employ alignment sleeves or micrometer tops.

Any modern die is well made and gives good results if used properly, but 'standard' type dies whether from Forster, Redding, Hornady, Lee, RCBS, or Lyman work the brass more than bushing or custom types. That is they usually size the case neck down far more than needed then drag it over an expander ball to get roughly the right amount of neck grip on the bullet. This is not good for the brass and expander balls are a common source of case and loaded cartridge runout. As well as the various bushing types mentioned that allow you to control the amount of neck-sizing, Forster will provide a standard die honed out to your specified dimension to suit the brass you're using. It used to cost an extra $10, but I don't know about now.

Laurie,
York, England

 

[Rust]

For seating (6.5 X 284, .223, .308, 30-06 etc) I use the Redding Competition bullet seater dies with the micormeter adjuster. End of story.

For sizing, depends on the state of the brass, sometimes I use a standard Redding sizing die with a carbide ball expander in conjunction with the competition shellholder set (to adjust shoulder bump) and sometimes I use a Redding Type S neck size die with the carbide coated bushings when a bump isn't required.

The only thing I change is the lock rings, I go with the Sinclair (or similar) clamping lock rings rather than run a screw into the dies threads.

But you see the drift here, Redding.