Quality diffrence between Rcbs and Hornady dies?

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ALDA BERGR

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Well, as caption, is there a quality diffrence between Rcbs and Hornady dies?
I would guess no, but since i have yet to use Hornady, i dont know.

However, orderd a set of Hornady in 375 H&H today.
 
Both quality dies.

I much prefer Hornady seating dies for bottle neck cartridges. The sliding bullet sleave makes seating bullets so much easier.

For straight wall I much prefer RCBS's flare die. It puts a better flare and comes apart for cleaning. The Hornady flare die is machined from a solid piece of steel and is about impossible to clean.
 
RCBS has an advantage in ease of customer service; Hornady's not bad, but not quite so easy.

Die quality is comparable, provided you stay away from the Hornady American Series dies; Custom Grade are nice dies, American Series are chintzy.
 
Dont know how it is in the U.S, but here the Hornadys are a little cheaper. Lee being the cheapest.
 
Hi...
I have used RCBS dies for decades after starting out with Lee dies and presses.
Very pleased with the performance of RCBS dies.
When I bought my first Hornady LnL presses, I decided to try Hornady dies. I used them for about a year before I realized that I was constantly needing to readjust the seating and crimping die when loading straight wall handgun cartridges. Replaced them with RCBS dies...problem solved. Never did figure out why the Hornady dies wouldn't maintain their settings. No interest in experimenting further to find out why. I need my reloading dies to function properly and to maintain settings once the adjustments are locked in.
Rifle dies are different...my son and I are constantly experimenting with different bullets and adjusting seating depths and such. We have only used RCBS and Redding dies for rifle cartridges although my son has bought some Lee dies in a couple of rifle calibers to try.
 
I like blue :)

I also run both Hornady and RCBS dies in my blue press along with blue dies depending on the cartridge.
 
I have dies for atleast thirty calibers and 90% are RCBS because of their great customer service.

When I first got back into reloading a couple of years ago I had bought a bunch of Lee dies, I had an issue with a set of Lee dies and did not like their customer service at all so I have been replacing my Lee dies with RCBS.
i have bought about seven sets of the Hornady dies.
But I prefer the RCBS dies.

The nice thing abought buying new Hornady dies is you grt a hundred free bullets just pay the shipping.
 
Either will produce equally concentric ammunition, with a slight edge to the Hornady rifle seating die. But functionally, I hate the RCBS stem adjustments, and feel much better control and accuracy of adjustment in the Hornady seaters.

Personally, I also expect Hornady does a much better job of passivating their dies, as I get far less tramp steel surface rust after long term storage in Hornady dies than in RCBS.
 
The Hornady seating for is more user friendly. I prefer the RCBS sizing die.
 
In my limited experience both brands get the job done without any drama. RCBS and Redding have excellent customer service. I don't know about Hornady.
 
I've only been reloading for about 10-12 years. Still using the RCBS dies I started with. They have been flawless so never felt the need to try another brand.
 
I load a wide range of calibers so if I see something in a caliber I need at a decent price I will buy it to use for now. When I see a set of RCBS or Hornady at a decent price I buy them to use and set the other set aside in case I need them for some reason or another.
 
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I wore out the titaniun nitride resizing ring in my Hornady Custom sizing decaping die after reloading about 40,000 rounds of .45 acp on my lnl ap press. It would no longer resize remington cases enough to hold the bullet firmly! I replaced it with a Dillon die which is carbide instead of titanium nitride resizing ring.
 
All being the same, and they virtually are since they are manufactured to meet saami specs, the target won't know the difference if you are doing your part.
That old saying, it ain't the arrows, it is the indian.
 
Got several kinds of dies in LOTS of calibers, between RCBS & HORNADY both are great & any problems with them
have been my fault when I first started loading.
But like I have read here already, LEE has turned into a company that is cutting corners & their service reps are
disrespectful with purpose! They used to be great to get things made that no one else offered & were helpful
with new reload persons as well as pros.
 
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