[MattB000]

http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.exe/showproduct?saleitemid=253720

I'm considering buying this in the future. I know it's expensive, but I would rather go big only once. Anyways, does anyone have this set and do you know if the seating die will crimp? I plan on using it in conjunction with an AR15 and I'm assuming a crimp is mandatory.

[mc223]

This set will do just as well at much less cost.

http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.exe/showproduct?saleitemid=440144

And if you want to crimp.

http://dillonprecision.com/template/p.cfm?maj=47&min=1&dyn=1&

These are exactly what I have been using for a long time. Seating concentricity is around .003. Cases must be trimmed to a uniform lenghth for uniform crimps. I crimp very lightly. Some shooters do not crimp at all.

If no crimp is desired with the Hornady seater, just raise it up so the crimp does not make contact with the brass.

[BigJakeJ1s]

According to the Midway's technical data for the Hornady die set, the seater will roll crimp.

I've not used the rifle dies, but the Hornady 45 colt dies work very well for roll crimping, better in my experience than the Lee carbide FCD.

The Lee collet-type FCDs for rifle and bottleneck pistol cartridges work very well if you want to crimp separately.

Andy

[Empyrean]

Micrometer add-on for Hornady dies: http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.exe/showproduct?saleitemid=394708

[P0832177]

Crimping for an AR is not necessary at all. Now, do some people crimp you bet, and do 22 cal bullets come with a cannalure, you bet.
To me crimping and seating are two seperate operations.
To have uniform crimps a person should have consistent length brass brass.

Crimping for blasting ammo is what I do, but for precison ammo no way! I have loaded for many autoloader platforms and never crimped precision ammo. To each his own.

To me the best dies on the market are Redding. I would get Redding Deluxe Set, as it has FL die, Neck die, and seater die. I would upgrade to the carbide expander ball.
I would either get the Lee FCD or the Redding Taper Crimp die if I was going to crimp. And, I would not buy from Midway. www.gunstop.com is way cheaper!

[scrat]

lee fcd is a very good dye.

[30Cal]

Most service rifle competitors do no use crimp.

Ty

[pistolero6869]

I been using a Lee FCD it work great!! and its cheap to purchase.

[Walkalong]

Long after the initial pain of the up front purchase is gone the Redding dies will be there. They are great dies if you truly want to load the best ammo. Sweet to use. Now, that doesn't mean the other brands won't load some really good ammo, they will. I use Forster dies for some rifle calibers. I bought them long before Redding came out with the competition seaters and they work great. If I was buying a die set today for a varmint gun or a highpower gun, I believe I would purchase Redding dies, but that also means I would be going to great lengths to get everything else the best, bullets, powder, the exact right load, the best barrel. In the average stock, even the best stock, rifles, you will be hard pressed to see the difference on paper between Redding. Forster, RCBS, or Hornady competition type sizer/expanders and seaters. Lee collet dies will load pretty dang good ammo as well. I know, not much help, right! Buy what you want, don't worry about if you paid the most or the least, you will use them for so many years the cost difference per round will be so small as not to matter.:) If you really wanted X dies instead of Y dies and buy Y dies, you'll end up buying what you wanted anyway down the road and still spend more.