BEST .223 Dies

[Pablo]

Two questions.

What are the BEST .223 dies?

What are the BEST LEE .223 dies?

[BarryinIN]

That's a loaded question. I'm sure everybody will have an opinion, but unless they've tried all of anything it's hard to say what's best.

Here is my .223 die story:

I was using RCBS .223 dies. I would also buy Lyman and Redding, and sometimes Hornady dies for other calibers, but never Lee. I hated their cheap junk.

Then I was getting ready for a Highpower match the night before the match. I couldn't just go to my big brass pile and use any, because my match brass was brass that I had carefully weighed and sorted to have the same weight, the primer pockets were uniformed, the flash holes deburred...It had to be THIS brass.

I broke a decapping pin when I let it get loose and flop out of alignment with a flash hole. Crunch. I didn't have any pins and no other RCBS dies that used the same (small) pin that I could rob.

Great.

I head off to the gun shop before closing to buy a replacement package of pins. They didn't have any. OK, I'll buy a new die set. All they had was Lee, disgusting Lee. I'm in a bind, so I buy them, take them home, and finished loading my ammo for the next day's match. They worked with no problem, to my surprise. Still, I would order new dies on Monday.

I won the match, shooting my highest score to that point.

I've been buying Lee dies a lot since then.

I know they didn't make super benchrest winning ammo, but the point is they were a LOT better than I thought. I usually do buy Lee dies now.

I buy their standard line, like these:

http://www.grafs.com/retail/catalog/product/productId/7912

I do use a Forster Benchrest seating die for .223 match ammo though. I didn't always. I used to use the RCBS one.

I never did like the Lee seating die much, but I have seating dies in the standard .22, .30, .35, etc) sizes from other brands that I can use.

The seater is usually more important for accuracy, and the sizer more important for getting a case to fit the rifle.

By that last part, I mean they can vary in the final dimensions they take a case to. I have three sets of .308 dies (RCBS, Redding, and Lyman) and they all size them to different dimensions. Only the Lyman will reach far enough down the sidewall to take ex-military (MG-fired) brass down enough to let them fit in the chambers of some of my rifles. A small base die is what I should use, but this shows the differences. They all three squeeze the shoulder area down to a slightly different size.

To be honest, there are things I like, and things I dislike about all brands of dies. If I like the sizer, I don't like the seater, or some other thing. I've had, in various calibers, RCBS, Lyman, Redding, Forster, Hornady, Lee, and Dillon. Now when I start loading a new caliber, the first dies I try are the Lees. There is a good example of where I like their sizers, but not their seater.

I guess on average, I like Lyman dies. I don't know I'd say they really shined at anything, but are OK at everything.

Actually, I do like one thing about Lymans and Dillons over others, and it might be important with .223. Where most dies retain the decapping pin by a friction fit by a collet, the Lyman and Dillon sizers have a pin with a head on it that is solidly retained. This matters on .223 because sometimes the flash hole is close to the size of the decapping pin, and the case can "grab" the pin and pull it out. It doesn't break anything, but it takes a while to get it out, then disassemble the die to put it back in.

I love the Hornady seating die- when it works. They have a collar that guides the bullet straight into the case when seating. That's great, but the spring wire ring that retains this collar does a crummy job and it eventually won't hold it in. Then you have this collar assembly falling out every other case. Before that, though, the sliding collar starts sticking inside the die.

The Forster Benchrest seating die is similar, but the collar is spring loaded on return, so it doesn't stick in the up position. It's also a tighter tolerance collar that holds the bullet a little straighter. They aren't super expensive, but we are talking more money than an entire Lee die set with shell holder., to put it in relative terms.

If it comes up, I originally bought small base dies for .223, but the second set (the Lees) were standard. Except for a few rounds through a .223 Contender barrel now and then, all of my .223 goes through AR-15s, and 95% is ex-military brass. I haven't had a problem using standard (non-small base) dies.

The only time I've needed small base was with the .308s, using ex-military brass, and then for just two rifles. I think 99% of US military 7.62 NATO gets fired through MGs, and they must have really generous chambers. As I said, they are hard to get sized enough to chamber commercial chambers sometimes, and often crack at the web from over-work after a shot or two.

I don't see anything like that with 5.56/.223. If much of it goes through SAWs, they must have tighter chambers than the M60s and M249s.

[RLH70]

I am very happy with my RCBS AR Series Die set in .223 and 7.62x39.

[Bill_in_Utah]

In .223 I've got Lee, RCBS and Hornady dies (bought one and the other two I've ended up with in trades and such)

When loading I seem to grab the Lees every time. They just work well and loaded thousands and thousands of very accurate ammo. (okay with a little help from me)

Take care

[Pablo]

Right on. Thanks guys!

The reason I ask - it seems .223 is tough round to reload, at least judging by the lousy stuff I've seen and read about.

[Bill_in_Utah]

Right on. Thanks guys!

The reason I ask - it seems .223 is tough round to reload, at least judging by the lousy stuff I've seen and read about.

Many other rounds that IMO (and experience) are harder to load.

.357 Sig is no picnic for example. Even with using .40 S&W to resize the base and .357sig to take care of the bottle and neck its still a pain.

.223 is a walk in the park for me.

Bill

[BarryinIN]

I gotta go along with that. The .223 might be the easiest to load I have, if not for the little bullets being less easier to handle than those on some larger cartridges.

The first thing I loaded was .357, at age 15, with no help. I destroyed a few cases in the process. The next was .223 a couple years later, and I don't think I lost any.

And yes, I wish I could say the same for .357 Sig when I tried to load it 20 years later.

There is so much screwed up .223 reloads because there is so much .223 reloads. Keep slopping it out as fast as they can and there will be problems.

[Pablo]

Of course .357Sig is everyone's nightmare.

Most guys doing .223 blame their dies. I think maybe they have no way of checking the neck angle and radius, because this is where the screw ups happen. OAL, diameters are all fine. Necked area goofy.

[steves]

The 223/ 5.56 is no more or less difficult than any other rifle caliber. There is in all other calibers a learning curve to get the dies adjusted properly .Be sure to get a case size gauge like this http://www.lewilson.com/casegage.html they are imo almost a necessity once I started using them . Dillon dies work great for progressive loaders IMO. The only caliber I have trouble with is 40 S@W. I think the problem is the cases fired from Glocks. I load ,223, 30/06, 308, 300 Weatherby mag ,38 special, 357 mag, 9mm, 40S@w and 45 ACP . Come to think about it I haven't shot my 223 for at least a year! I'll have to do it soon.