total freakin' newbie

spurgemastur

I loaded my first 35 rounds today (.45 ACP) and then went out and touched them off. There were no problems anywhere in the process. I'm hooked and now have questions. But I'll start with one.

To what extent are the dies from different companies interchangeable with the presses from other companies?

I can only name a few companies off the top of my head (Lyman, Dillon, RCBS...hmmmm....Lee). Somebody offered to sell me a set of .38/.357 Lyman dies for half of list price (and I know that they've not been used for more than a couple hundred rounds). At present I have access to a Lyman press that belongs to a friend, so I'll at least be able to use these for a little while.

BHAVIN

Most all of the modern dies and presses use the same diameter and thread pitch for dies 7/8"x14 (I believe). Make sure that the dies are Carbide. Carbide or Titanium nitride does make the loading process much easier because in straight walled pistol cases you don't need to lube cases where as if you use non carbide you do.

gotstolefrom

As BHAVIN said, they will all thread into your (borrowed ?) press, and NEVER forget his advice for the Carbide dies for the straight walled pistol cases. Lubing a case befor sizing is an extra step, it can be messy until you get your routine down, so use the carbide.

I bought Lyman Dies from my 44 and 38/357 calibers only because they cover the range of power I was interested in at the time. I'm back to loading 45ACP now and tried a Lee die set..no problems. They are priced much less, so I was looking for the hitch, but never found one.

When you buy a press, consider one of the 'better leverage' ones that have an extra link in the operating arm. It provides much more power at the holder for the same amount of force on the handle.
"Orange Crush" was one of the early ones. It seems minor, but it isn't, particularly if you get into longer or rifle caliber loading.

ENJOY !

konamtbiker

Hornady, Lyman, RCBS, Forster, Redding all the top brand dies and Presses will work together. I do believe that Dillon though will be proprietary with some of their equipment.

BHAVIN

Dillon uses the same size dies.

B17-P51

+1 for Bhavin, except in the Square deal[:(]

franksremote

quote:Originally posted by gotstolefrom
As BHAVIN said, they will all thread into your (borrowed ?) press, and NEVER forget his advice for the Carbide dies for the straight walled pistol cases. Lubing a case befor sizing is an extra step, it can be messy until you get your routine down, so use the carbide.

Hornaday One-Shot is quick neat and makes the press run like butta No you don't need it, but with it the proces is easier and stroke more consistent.

spurgemastur

Thanks all for the input. I bought the dies. They're carbide. I'm not even sure that Lyman makes non-carbide dies. A steal at $17.50

Skeedaddy

Any die set should work, but use the shell holder from the same mfg., ie., RCBS dies w/ RCBS shell holder (my 2 cents worth).

HandLoad

Like B17-P51 sez, the dies for the Dillon Square Deal B are different.

You may have to get different lockrings or trim some locking nuts for a few older presses like my Bonanza/Co-Ax, but generally they all fit each other's presses.