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As a part of getting started with reloading, I want to do .45 ACP so I'm shopping for dies.

The first question I guess I need to answer is whether I'm going to crimp while I seat the bullet or separately. I am leaning toward separately as I am using an 8-station turret but I'm not set on that.

Redding, while I'm sure is premium, is a bit too much for me right now. Lee's cost is attractive but I can afford to go with a more expensive set. RCBS, Hornady and Lyman all seem to have some advantages over the others that make it difficult to choose.

The Lyman set with the different seating plugs and the M-die to better facilitate seating lead is the leader right now plus it has the separate crimp die in the set. Hornady is second as their new dimension seater/taper crimper looks interesting and RCBS is third though I understand their customer service is some of the best.

Does anybody have any recommendations on a set?

I use all Dillon dies now, but I used Lyman before getting Dillon presses. (That was decades ago!) You should always use a separate taper-crimp die on semi-auto cartridges.

Chas.

OK, clearly I'm on the right track if my thought process matched yours.

Lyman 4 die set it is. Guess my bench is destined to be loaded with orange.

I have Lee, Hornady and Dillon in 45 ACP. I started with the Lee just after Obama got elected as that is all I could find. I had heard that they were low in cost and one got what they paid for (not true). I later bought a set of Hornady dies and loaded a big batch of ammo with both for testing. They both shot the same (very well). I bought a Dillon 650 several years ago and got the Dillon dies with the press. They load excellent ammo as well but I can't tell any difference in the ammo loaded with the three different dies sets.

Customer service is great with all three.

One area that gives Lee the nod is their factory crimp die. I get about 8-10% (sometime more) rounds that will not gauge once they are loaded and the only way I can get them to gauge is to run them through the Lee Factory Crimp die. Those rounds may have functioned just fine but I am not taking ammo to a match that has not been gauged (learned that lesson at the first sanctioned match years ago).

Don't get excited about the different seating plugs. I shoot a lot of semi wad cutters along with round nose bullets but have found that the seating plug for the semi wad cutter bullet did not work well on any of the die sets. I get better results using the seating plug for round nose bullets when loading both for both semi wad cutter and round nose bullets.

I know Lee are inexpensive compared to others but I have only used the Lee dies and they seem to make perfect ammo for me. I use a case gauge for all and it all looks good. No rejects. Lee carbide dies with Lee factory crimp. Makes good ammo. Clean them after you buy them as they are all soaked in oil. I hear that they are short for Dillon presses but I don't Dillon (yet).

LEE ultimate dies set for 45 ACP.

although I don't crimp 45acp

I arrived in topic expecting something completely different.

Jago668 wrote: Mon Dec 03, 2018 7:23 pm I arrived in topic expecting something completely different.

Me too

Your a little ways from me (Pasadena area) but welcome to use and check out my lee set for 45acp. I'm not going to be loading anything anytime soon.

+1 on Lee's

I use RCBS and Redding for my rifle rounds, but all of my pistol caliber reloading dies are Lee. I can't justify spending double or triple the cost for the more expensive ones when the Lee dies perform just as well. Tolerances are more than good enough. They seem like they'll hold up easily for decades. They even come with a shell holder so you don't have to go hunting for the right one. The only downside is that the dies don't have set screws for the locking nut. Nothing a sharpie can't fix, though. I mark all of mine so if it drifts a little, I can drift it back into place.

Jago668 wrote: Mon Dec 03, 2018 7:23 pm I arrived in topic expecting something completely different.

Haha. I didn't consider that when I wrote it out.

PBR wrote: Mon Dec 03, 2018 8:51 pm Your a little ways from me (Pasadena area) but welcome to use and check out my lee set for 45acp. I'm not going to be loading anything anytime soon.

Appreciate that offer, thank you!

I decided to go with the Lyman dies since they are on sale for a really good price at Optics Planet right now.

I do have a set of Lee dies for .30-06 coming so I will evaluate those and decide what to use for future calibers. Appreciate the input everyone.