Dillon carbide dies or..?

84ta406

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Those of you with Dillon machines, are you using Dillon dies or anything else? I have a lot of RCBS, Hornady and Lee die sets and I would hate to have to buy more of the same. What are you using? If not Dillon, any issues? The one thing I noticed is my RCBS dies almost seem too short.
 
Those of you with Dillon machines, are you using Dillon dies or anything else? I have a lot of RCBS, Hornady and Lee die sets and I would hate to have to buy more of the same. What are you using? If not Dillon, any issues? The one thing I noticed is my RCBS dies almost seem too short.
I’ve tried to switch all of my pistol dies to Dillon. They make beautiful dies.
I have used Lee and RCBS with no issues though.

IIRC you can mount the locking ring on the under side of the tool head so that you have more room to screw the die in further.
 
My theory was that if it was anything I planned to make big quantities of, 9mm, .45 and .223 I would go with their carbide. Anything else I would be going slower so it wouldn't be as imperative to use their dies.
 
Must have. The Dillon dies "kick" the primer off the decapping pin. Otherwise you'll find when you go to seat the new primer the old one got drawn back in. Gets old pretty quick.
If your dies are too short, try putting the locking nut on from the bottom.
 
I have a mix now. Hornady and Lee. I recently switched to a resizing/decaping Lee U. I am using them on the 750. The Hornady are long enough that I can have the nut on top. The Lee is a little short.

But the only reason I am using what I am using is because I already had them. If I was buying everything new again, I would buy their dies.

One thing I hate, the screw to secure the Hornady dies use to lock the nut is very had to tighten because it always seems to end up pointing at another die, making it very hard or impossible to tighten.
 
This is what I mean. If you have other dies, they get in the way. And somehow, they always seem to end up pointing towards the middle, lol. Never to the outside where it would be easy to adjust.20200710_075942.jpg
 
Take a look
at the locknut and wrench set dillon has . They're smaller outside for clearance. I think I have them on other brands of dies. I'll take a pic when I get home.
 
If you really have to skinflint it maybe take the die out take the lock ring off and turn it over. If everything ends up in the same place I'd bet all the cash I have on me the Allen screws ends up 180 degrees on the other side.
 
This is what I mean. If you have other dies, they get in the way. And somehow, they always seem to end up pointing towards the middle, lol. Never to the outside where it would be easy to adjust.View attachment 371834
Sharpie mark the die to locknut alignment, remove from press , tighten the locknut, then reinstall.

or tighten the locknut just enough to have a good drag and then use a toothpick to put loctite (or fingernail polish) on the top threads while installed.
 
Which Press? On a 1050, I can't get reliable decapping with out using Dillon's spring loaded die, besides that I use RCBS for all pistol/staightwall rounds on my 650.
 
when I got my Dillon 550 twenty five years ago, I already had Lee carbide dies so I thought I'd use them. I did have to turn the die lock rings upside down like mentioned above. Never had a problem so they are still in all the toolheads.
 
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All Dillon dies here, but honestly it's because that's the only brand I've ever owned. If I had money invested in other brands, I'd probably stick with them unless they proved to be an issue.

I believe I've read that Redding manufactures the dies for Dillon...can anyone confirm/deny ?
 
All Dillon dies here, but honestly it's because that's the only brand I've ever owned. If I had money invested in other brands, I'd probably stick with them unless they proved to be an issue.

I believe I've read that Redding manufactures the dies for Dillon...can anyone confirm/deny ?
From what I understand Dillon gets their dies as blanks and then they do the finish work themselves. Basically like chambering a barrel blank.
 
I am using a 650 now. Sounds like the Dillon dies are definitely best to use.
Yea and no. It all depends what you want to do.

For example, a lot of people like to use a U die for resizing, I dont think Dillon sells those.

For very fine adjustments when seating, a Redding competition die will be great.

Dillon has great products. If you are only loading plinking ammo, then definitely buy all Dillon, but if you are loading more than plinking you might need other dies.

That being said, you can reload match quality ammo with Dillon dies.
 
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