Dies for HORNADY LNL AP

[ndoudrz]

I am considering purchasing the Hornady LNL AP and am wondering what dies to buy for reloading 25-06 REM, 22-250 REM and 30-06 springfield. Any input is appreciated. Would like a three die set if possible. Thanks in advance for any and all feedback.

 

[cfullgraf]

My first choice of dies for my L-N-L are Redding with RCBS as the alternate if I cannot find Redding.

But, all my rifle cases are sized on a single stage press so that I can clean the lubricant off and trim the cases before loading them.

 

[noylj]

I have never found any dies by any maker superior to others (though Arbor press dies made with the same chambering tool as the barrel are probably better to the degree the rifle, load, and shooter are better). There is a lot of money spent on pro dies, but, I have never read a double-blind study that proved any superiority.
I don't use three die sets for bottle neck cartridges and jacketed bullets. I lightly chamfer the case mouth inside and out and seat the bullet with no case mouth flare, so no crimp. Check bullet run out. That is the only accuracy trick that has shown a statistical significant improvement in accuracy in my tests. YMMV.
I have tried from Redding Pro dies to the cheapest Lee dies and my 30-06 still, after 40 years, gives me 0.75-1.25 MOA--as long as run-out is under 0.003". I have no super rifle or super shooter to go any further in the search for accuracy.
My recommendation is to start simple and build from there, actually proving if changes are helping (and remember, you can not know what variable you are shooting in any accuracy tests as that knowledge will affect results).

 

[Demi-human]

Um, Hornady. Obviously.

In seriousness, Hornady has many features of the Highclass Redding dies, at a more digestible price. And the red box will match the press!

Their rifle sets will only come with two, if an extra die for expanding is wanted, it will have to come as an additional purchase. Which I have done for my “Match” set, a sizer, a expander mandrel, and a seating die. I only crimp when necessary, which is most often never.


Spending a ton of money on expensive dies doesn’t necessarily correlate with finer precision. It’s a steel tube. As long as the dimensions are right it can say Buick on it for all it matters.
Spending more for RCBS dies didn’t get me a proper sizer for 50AE, but I did get a separate expander and crimp die when I threw out the sizer. Those went in the Hornady die box, with a correctly reamed sizer die, for an extended set.

The expensive dies should go through more control processes to ensure they are the proper size, but that may not match up exactly with your rifle chamber, as @noylj suggestes.

 

[Walkalong]

Buy some RCBS dies and be happy. FL size every time, just don't push the shoulder back a lot.

 

[edwardware]

Any dies you like. . .

Buy features, not names. Want a basic micro seating die: Hornady's are nice. Want a fantastic micro seater, body-only, or neck-only: Redding. Want a window & micro seater: RCBS. Basic pistol powder-through expander: Lee.

One note: the Lee dies are a bit shorter in the threads, and might have trouble holding a lock ring on top of the thick LNL AP head.

Don't buy the box color, buy the features.

 

[rfwobbly]

I am considering purchasing the Hornady LNL AP and am wondering what dies to buy for reloading 25-06 REM. Any input is appreciated. Would like a three die set if possible. Thanks in advance for any and all feedback.

Your highest ammo volume gun should drive your press decision. Unless you have an AR in 25-06, or shoot on a rifle team where you need 150+ rounds a week, a progressive press is not really going to be any faster. The reason for this is that after Sizing, the case has to come out of the press to be trimmed. Once trimmed it can go back in a second time for primer, powder and bullet. So unless you can also do "in-press trimming" (where the trimmer will cost as much as the LNL AP) your time savings will be marginal for 25-06.

Now if you simply want to run the 20 or so rifle rounds through the press in addition to 500 handgun rounds every week... then we have a workable plan. But just the rifle rounds by itself, "No" I don't think you'll be happy... with the cost, reloading time, or bench space required.

With only the 25-06 you told us about, you'd be happier with a Redding T7 press.

Hope this helps.

 

[Blue68f100]

Any mfg dies will work. My preference would bi in this order. Redding, RCBS, Hornady with Lee being the last. Redding will be the most expensive, Hornady and RCBS should be close to the same price. Lee being the cheapest. With Hornady you get the split locking nut. Which is what most swap out for. Most all of my Rifle dies are Redding Type S or RCBS.

With that said. These days, it may be what ever you can find.

 

[ndoudrz]

Your highest ammo volume gun should drive your press decision. Unless you have an AR in 25-06, or shoot on a rifle team where you need 150+ rounds a week, a progressive press is not really going to be any faster. The reason for this is that after Sizing, the case has to come out of the press to be trimmed. Once trimmed it can go back in a second time for primer, powder and bullet. So unless you can also do "in-press trimming" (where the trimmer will cost as much as the LNL AP) your time savings will be marginal for 25-06.

Now if you simply want to run the 20 or so rifle rounds through the press in addition to 500 handgun rounds every week... then we have a workable plan. But just the rifle rounds by itself, "No" I don't think you'll be happy... with the cost, reloading time, or bench space required.

With only the 25-06 you told us about, you'd be happier with a Redding T7 press.

Hope this helps.

I will be reloading 30-06 and 22-250 as well.

 

[ndoudrz]

I am considering these Hornady dies.

 

[Walkalong]

They will work just fine

 

[375supermag]

Hi...
I have two Hornady LnL progressive presses set up and running...one for small primer, one for large.
I have found that (for me at least), that Hornady dies were inferior to the RCBS dies that I replaced them with.
I also use RCBS dies on two different RockChuckers with a couple of Redding sets in certain calibers. I do use a couple of Hornady dies for specific tasks in certain caliber as well.

Never had any good results with Lee dies...maybe I don't know what I am doing.
It's possible...I have only been reloading for about 40 years now. Still have a lot to learn... certainly haven't figured out how to make the o ring locking ring setup on Lee dies to function reliably or the powder measure on the Lee 1000 to work properly.
My Lee 1000 resides in a box in a cabinet in my reloading room. Maybe some day when I want to get really frustrated with substandard tools, I will drag it out and try to make it work again.
Until then, I will just rely on my RockChuckers and Hornady LnL progressive presses to turn out high quality dependable ammunition...like they always do year after year for thousands and thousands of rounds annually.

 

[noylj]

Any dies you like. . .

Buy features, not names. Want a basic micro seating die: Hornady's are nice. Want a fantastic micro seater, body-only, or neck-only: Redding. Want a window & micro seater: RCBS. Basic pistol powder-through expander: Lee.

One note: the Lee dies are a bit shorter in the threads, and might have trouble holding a lock ring on top of the thick LNL AP head.

Don't buy the box color, buy the features.

Never was an issue. At most, a lock ring needs 1/4-1/2 turn to hold die. When there was an issue, I simply removed the lock nut, removed the o-ring, screwed lock nut back up the die upside down and always had at least two full turns of the nut.
Without personal experience...

 

[noylj]

Hi...
I have two Hornady LnL progressive presses set up and running...one for small primer, one for large.
I have found that (for me at least), that Hornady dies were inferior to the RCBS dies that I replaced them with.
I also use RCBS dies on two different RockChuckers with a couple of Redding sets in certain calibers. I do use a couple of Hornady dies for specific tasks in certain caliber as well.

Never had any good results with Lee dies...maybe I don't know what I am doing.
It's possible...I have only been reloading for about 40 years now. Still have a lot to learn... certainly haven't figured out how to make the o ring locking ring setup on Lee dies to function reliably or the powder measure on the Lee 1000 to work properly.
My Lee 1000 resides in a box in a cabinet in my reloading room. Maybe some day when I want to get really frustrated with substandard tools, I will drag it out and try to make it work again.
Until then, I will just rely on my RockChuckers and Hornady LnL progressive presses to turn out high quality dependable ammunition...like they always do year after year for thousands and thousands of rounds annually.

Really? I have only been loading since about 1972 and find Lee to make excellent dies. I prefer Hornady, but I still like Lee.
Only problem with Lee was a pte die where the expander was very roughly machined. Contacted Lee and they replaced the expander insert.
For sizing dies, Lee and Hornady size further down the case. The titanium nitride coated ring on the Hornady and titanium carbide ring on Redding make sizing very slightly easier.
All expander dies from all manufacturers have worked well, but for purely expanding, I like uni body dies like Hornady.
For pte dies, you go with the powder measure manufacturer.
For manually pouring powder into the case, I prefer Lee pte with the built-in funnel and the fact the Lee funnel fits it perfectly.
For seating, I like Lee and Hornady. Lee will make custom seating stems inexpensively and I like the Lee bullet feeder as, with age, I have a hard time placing the bullet square on the case. Operating the Lee bullet feeder manually, the case picks up the bullet aligned and seems to stay that way. I like the bullet alignment sleeve on the Hornady seating dies.
For crimping, all taper crimp dies I have ever run work equally as well. For roll crimping, I only buy Redding Profile Crimp dies; however, if you remove the carbide ring, the Lee fcd produces the second best crimp in terms of accuracy.

 

[rfwobbly]

I will be reloading 30-06 and 22-250 as well.

Great ! But that tells us nothing about your volume of reloading.

 

[THEWELSHM]

Hornady work well for me, I have some Lee which work well on an RCBS.single stage. Some disparage them but, millions of people can get some ammo put together with Lee, I sold my turret and went with LNL..

Thewelshm

 

[Highland Lofts]

I know people who load accurate loads with Lee dies.
I do not like the lee customer service so I do not use many lee products.
As far as dies go.I like RCBS and Hornady.

 

[Skgreen]

I use RCBS/ Hornady
On 'standard' dies, the seating stem adjustment on Hornady is a bit more pleasant than RCBS.
Different Hornady stems are available for high BC bullets,, not so much for RCBS rifle dies.

 

[Walkalong]

not so much for RCBS rifle dies.

I guess they figure folks loading those are buying their “match” dies

 

[ndoudrz]

Great ! But that tells us nothing about your volume of reloading.

First off, thanks for all of the replies and shared information from all of you!! "rfwobbly" well, with the 25-06 and 22-250 we do a lot of prairie dog shooting so we go through several thousand rounds with our 2 rifles. My son and I each have 1 of each caliber so it's getting to be a must to reload our ammo. We also do a lot of furbearer hunting during the winter months burning up more ammo. 30-06 is used mostly for big game hunting and have two of those rifles to supply ammo for as well. Since acquiring ammo is getting to be quite difficult, why not load a couple hundred rounds of those also to have on hand. I will eventually purchase the shell plates for 9mm and 380 and will reload "lots" of those as the wife and I shoot those every weekend at the local range. Quite easy to burn up hundreds of those in a weekend as well.

 

[rfwobbly]

First off, thanks for all of the replies and shared information from all of you!! "rfwobbly" well, with the 25-06 and 22-250 we do a lot of prairie dog shooting so we go through several thousand rounds with our 2 rifles. I will eventually purchase the shell plates for 9mm and 380 and will reload "lots" of those...

Understood, and thanks. For your rifle needs, you and your son should be able to reload all you need in 2 or 3 sessions per year. You'll see that having a second person makes things go much faster. And the LNL AP is perfect for the job since you can install dies on an individual basis.

As far as accessories, must haves would be the "UFO" lighting system by KMS Squared and the "Ultramount" by Inline Fabrication. Loading rifle takes much more energy, and the wider stance of the Ultramount will save your shoulder and back by increasing the stability of the bench.

IMHO, you won't need the case feeder option until you get to pistol reloading.

Hope this helps. And thanks for your help in understanding.

 

[ndoudrz]

Understood, and thanks. For your rifle needs, you and your son should be able to reload all you need in 2 or 3 sessions per year. You'll see that having a second person makes things go much faster. And the LNL AP is perfect for the job since you can install dies on an individual basis.

As far as accessories, must haves would be the "UFO" lighting system by KMS Squared and the "Ultramount" by Inline Fabrication. Loading rifle takes much more energy, and the wider stance of the Ultramount will save your shoulder and back by increasing the stability of the bench.

IMHO, you won't need the case feeder option until you get to pistol reloading.

Hope this helps. And thanks for your help in understanding.

I have chosen to purchase this as well. It is out about 6 weeks. 3d printed Hornady Lock-N-Load case feeder - YouTube . I will place my bullets by hand so will be nice to have the case feeder.

 

[mstreddy]

OP, a consideration in reloading rifle on a progressive is the powder choice. Generally, larger stick powders don't meter too well in some of the powder measures.