Collet dies or full-size dies?

[zahc]

I'm buying my dad some stuff for father's day. He has a 6mm remington which is an amazing rifle but nobody makes varmint loads for it anymore. So, I was going to buy him a rockchucker supreme, and dies. He already has a tumbler, powder scale, and bullet puller, and calipers.

I'm looking at Lee dies because they are cheap. Midway has the Pacesetter dies which are full-length and have factory crimp, and they have a collet die set which apparently isn't full-length resizing. Which one should I get?

http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.exe/showproduct?saleitemid=543463
http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.exe/showproduct?saleitemid=562972

Also, what about case trimmers? Is a case trimmer mandatory or do you only have to trim them when they start to get long in the tooth? Anything else I'm forgetting?

 

[Steve C]

If he only will be loading for 1 rifle then the collet neck sizing dies will produce the best accuracy from cases fired from his rifle. It will also prolong case life. Lee does have a deluxe die set with both a full length sizer and collet combination. This would be handy if he got hold of cases fired in another persons gun that needed a full length resize.

The Lee case trimmers work just fine, you'll need to buy the base and cutter and the proper stem and shell holder for the 6mm. They're a bit slower and not adjustable but they will trim off any excessive length. If your dad is only going to load a couple hundred or fewer rounds at a time then slow isn't necessarily bad.

 

[zahc]

Midway doesn't seem to have the deluxe set for 6mm. Thank you though I think I will get the collet set because he only has 1 6mm.

On the case trimmer, is it absolutely necessary; I mean, is he going to need one in order to reload? I'm pushing the budget here but I basically want him to be able to buy powder, primers and bullets and be able to reload, at least in the short term. He's in great need of 6mm ammo because the woodchucks are eating his soybeans!

 

[SASS#23149]

You will most likely need a case trimmer,prety much a 'requrement' for rifle rounds.
The Lee is the way to go if you don't requrie mass production speeds for the trimming operation.
a too-long case can cause dangerous overpressure conditions.
You could try resizing and measuring the brass before getting the trimmer on the off chance that some or all of the brass is within spec.

 

[zahc]

midway doesn't have the lee case trimmer on their website either..geez maybe I should try somewhere else? Recommendations?

 

[Bush Pilot]

The Lee collet die is great for bolt action rifles, I've got probably 20 sets myself. Lose the FCD for rifles, you don't need it.

 

[snuffy]

http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.exe/showproduct?saleitemid=572620

http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.exe/showproduct?saleitemid=476992

There you go, with those two items you're good to go for trimming 6mm. For under 10 bucks! Does he have a drill motor/hole shooter? Or a cordless drill/screwdriver? Then he can trim with power.

 

[ranger335v]

"Collet dies or full-size dies? "

Both. Cheap if bought together in Lee's "Deluxe" set with both sizers and a "Dead Length" seater.

A neck sizer is nice but usually only works with brass fired in the owner's rifle. Even then, after a few reloads it will need to be full sized to allow easy chambering.

Set up properly, a Lee "Dead Length" seater works as good as any and better than some more popular seaters. It does not crimp but that's rarely needed for bolt rifles.

Lee's case trimmers are non-adjustable but that's really no problem either.

With proper bullets, the 6mm Rem. will be an excellant ground hog eradicator.

 

[zahc]

Awesome. Yeah he definitely has drills.

 

[Ol` Joe]

[QUOTEAwesome. Yeah he definitely has drills.
][/QUOTE]

If he uses a drill or dremal tool with the Lee hand trimmer tell him to be sure to wear a glove. I won`t tell why....
They ARE a great tool for the $$ I use a few of them.

If he is useing brass from his rifle and it is under max lenght to start the collet die will reduce the trimming frequency. He might even find he never trims a case if loads are kept resonable. I`ve used them on my `06 brass and loaded max level charges up to 12Xs with no trimming. I toss brass at this point just because I feel better doing so but, you could likely get more out of them if you were careful.

 

[zahc]

I bought an RCBS rock chucker supreme press, 2 6mm dies, a reloading manual, 100 Nosler 70g ballistic tip bullets, case trimmer, and case chamfer tool.

He has a bunch of once-fired brass that he's been saving from factory ammo. Is there any way to tell which ones are best? I kind of assumed you would try to stick to brass from the same factory ammo, or can you just kind of mix hornady and remington or whatever else?