9mm dies for progressive. Redding Pro series

[atblis]

So I've finally noticed that my Lee carbide sizing die occasionally nicks the side of a 9mm case on my Dillon 650 due to not being lined up perfectly. So I am now thinking I need a sizing die with a bit of a chamfer to operate more smoothly with the progressive.

The Redding Pro series dies interest me, but I am having a hard time stomaching $85 for pistol dies, especially when I only need the sizing die.
http://www.redding-reloading.com/pages/titancarb.html

I looked at a Lyman carbide die in Basspro, and the sizing die appears to have a pretty good chamfer. More so than the Lee die, so maybe it'll be good enough for my purposes.

I have these questions.
-Are the Redding Pro dies that good? Do they do anything that other dies wouldn't do for me (Lyman, RCBS, etc. )
-How are the Lyman carbide dies? Chamfered enough for my purposes?
-Is the expander die that comes with the Lyman set one of their M expander dies or something else?

 

[jmorris]

You might look for the source of the problem. Many use Lee dies without problems. If you get a die with a more generous chamfer you are more likely experience problems with the “bulge” at the bottom of the case

 

[rjrivero]

Ditto what jmorris said. You need to figgure out why your die is not lined up. Did you take the stage (support for the base plate0 off the press for any reason? Call dillon and they'll send you out an alignment tool to make sure the stage is lined up perfectly.

I thought I had a bad tool head once, but it turned out the stage was mis-alligned. Probably happened when I moved.

 

[atblis]

I shoot a lot of range brass, so I suspect that part of it could due to some of the cases being out of round (got stepped on). It doesn't do it to all of them, just enough to piss me off.

 

[rfwobbly]

I used a set of Lee carbides on my 550b for well over a year without issue. To me, the Lee decapping pin design is just right for a progressive since it is 1) on dead center, and 2) able to move upward if it does not hit the primer hole.

The secret to using Lee dies on my 550 was to move the shell locating spring so that the shell is firmly located by spring pressure and not just simply held loosely in the shell holder. It takes a near microscopic adjustment, but I got the spring tip in as far as possible to a point that would still allow the shell holder to rotate. This puts pressure against the side of the cartridge case and allows the shell holder to truly locate the case.

Try that.

 

[NVMM]

Take a look at Dillon's dies.
They have a nice chamfer and work great for me. No bulge here!

 

[rfwobbly]

+1 I was just fixing to go back and add that.

 

[atblis]

Yeah, I like Lee dies a lot (use them for most things).

I am using an XL650. I don't think it has the same shell locating system as the 550B. IIRC, the first stage has basically nothing holding the case in the shell plate. It gets fed in, but nothing is positively holding it in the shell holder on the upstroke.

 

[rjrivero]

atblis,

I presume you're adjusting the shell plate feeder when you switch calibers. Sometimes some loose media, etc can find it's way under the feed ramp and keep the shell from fully seating into the shell plate. Usually a quick brushing or puff of air from an air puffer does the trick.

 

[freakshow10mm]

We use the Redding Pro Series dies on all our pistol machines. Yes they are that good.

If you have a C&R FFL, Graf's will give a discount price of $59.99 on the dies.

 

[Walkalong]

The Dillon and the Redding Pro series have the biggest radius's on them. If your press is not indexing just right, they may be your best bet. I have used Lee, RCBS, and Redding sizers in 9MM on my Projector, and now LNL AP, and they have all worked just fine. I would not rate any of them over the others.

Unless your press is not indexing well, or the brass mouth is well out of round, any sizer should work well.

 

[Otto]

-Are the Redding Pro dies that good?

No, not really.
The only die that has ever failed on me was a Pro Redding sizer.
Add the fact that they charge a premium for 9mm dies makes them even less of a value.
I use their pistol in-line seater dies but only because it's unavailable from Forster.
I doubt that your Lee die is causing alignment problems..

 

[Walkalong]

I bought three Redding sizers. All three had the carbide ring come loose. Redding replaced one, and I fixed the others. I also had a Dillon .38 sizer do it. I fixed that one. I have never had a Lee or RCBS sizer loose its carbide ring.

That said, Redding makes really good stuff for the most part. Very hard to go wrong with RCBS.

 

[Otto]

Same here...
What did you do, JB Weld the carbide back in?

 

[Walkalong]

Did a little trick I learning fixing electric motors way back when. Take a punch and put little divots in the die interior where the ring will sit, then use high strength Loc-Tite and tap the ring in being very careful to keep it straight the whole time. We used to use the punch on endbells for motors where the bearing fit. Usually that was enough by its self, but sometimes Loc-Tite was needed as well.

 

[freakshow10mm]

Interesting. Have run many, many thousands of rounds on the presses with Redding Pro Series dies and never had any issue with the ring coming out. I've got probably 100,000 rounds on my .40/10mm die set alone.

 

[atblis]

So, I considered everyone's responses, and thought about my problem a little more. I am thinking that a beveled entry might not be necessary at all on 9mm due to the taper of the case.

I came to this conclusion, 9x19 is a tapered case, so the mouth is naturally smaller than the base. It should be an 0.011" difference in diameter. If the dies are made correctly with the taper in the sizing ring, the mouth of the case should fit through the base of the carbide ring no problem even without much of an entry bevel. I did note that newer Lee dies appear to have a bit more of an entry bevel than mine (mine are about 8 years old). I pulled the die out and cleaned and inspected it. There is a taper built into the Lee Sizing ring. A fired case goes 1/3 to 1/2 in before meeting any resistance.

I decided to clean the press really well. One of the stations in the case holder had powder crammed into the groove. I've cleaned that out, and that might be the problem. Haven't tried it yet. It would also explain why the problem was observed intermittently.

 

[Deavis]

Make sure that you aren't cramming the case into the shellholder with the case insert slide. I've noticed if you push them in past the point necessary, they will pop back slightly when the spring loaded insert slide jumps back. It will allow the case to be off just so much as to catch the edge of the die. Adjusting the insert slide so it comes up just a smidge short of fully inserted works better for me than pushing them in hard.