Bullet Runout & the Redding Competition Seating Die in .223 Remington

[capreppy]

Just thought I would share my experience with the Redding National Match Die set. Not a fanboy (yet) as all of my other die sets are Hornady (4 pistol & 1 rifle) and 1 Lee rifle.

I got a Redding National Match Set several months ago on the cheap ($85 shipped versus MidwayUSA's price of $149.99 plus shipping).

I've only been loading .223 Remington for a couple of months, but have gotten addicted to chasing accuracy out of my gas gun (DPMS 24" 1-8 Twist fluted bull barrel).

I've been checking bullet runout on my completed rounds using a Hornady Concentrity Tool. I checked a couple hundred rounds this morning while I was sitting in listen only mode on a conference call for work. Out of the 200, I found 5 that were .002 off and a quick bump of the concentricity tool and the runout was corrected. I am typically seeing +/- .0005 runout. I am pretty damn impressed with this. I did load some with other seating dies (won't name names) before I got the Redding and the difference in runout is just plain amazing.

 

[lightman]

I've seen test that show it to be nearly as good as the Wilson.I have five of the Redding,and I'm happy with them. Lightman

 

[jelenko]

FWIW, using Forster Benchrest seating die in a Forster Co-ax press, most rounds come out with no perceptible movement on the dial. Very occasionally [one in 50 or so], one will get to 3/4 of a thousandth.

 

[kelbro]

OK, I know that it may be rare but, I have a set of LEE (oh no!) dies for my 223AI that produce .001 or less runout consistently.

 

[ranger335v]

Good cases loaded in any seater that's manufactored on the tight end of the tolerance range will frequently load as well as we can use. Forsters and Reddings seaters are more consistantly good because of the full body sleeve that aligns bullets before seating starts.

 

[Offfhand]

To everyone who measures runout, where are you taking the reading? At neck, at tip of bullet, or in between? And are you measuring case runout before bullet seating? What are the more popular tools for measuring runoput? Thanks for comments.

 

[Walkalong]

This NECO tool used to be very popular. Sinclair makes excellent tools as well. The RCBS tool is nice too.

 

[jelenko]

The instructions say to measure overall round run out on the 'flat' part of the bullet, which is where I'm measuring it.