Your preferred 300 Blk dies ?

[Neal]

Greetings! New member here and I guess you could call me a 300 BLK wannabe. Planning on buying a barrel or complete upper for my AR. For the last several years when I buy a new set of dies I have chosen Redding because I believe them to be of better quality than the rest. I have dies from Lyman, RCBS, Lee, Dillon, Hornady, and Forster as well as several sets of Reddings. So a few days ago II was about to order as set of Redding 300 Blk dies, I found some disturbing negative reviews on the Reddings in this caliber. Also found some bad reviews on the Hornadys and RCBS. So please tell me your favored dies and why. Looking for any opinions, good or bad, on any of the popular 300 BLK dies. Also, apparently, cast, or coated cast bullets require the case neck need to be flared, sometimes called "belled" a little to prevent scraping the bullet as it is forced into the neck. None of theses dies come with a neck flaring die like straight wall cartridge die sets. So what are you using to flair the case mouth?
Thanks much.

[SwampDog_13]

I can't call RCBS my preferred dies for the 300 blackout as they are all I have used for sizing so I have nothing to compare them to. The sizing die has worked just fine for me but I did swap out the seating die for a Forster ultra micrometer seating die since I move between so many different bullets in this caliber.

For the neck expander I use the Lyman m-1 neck expander and the Lee 300AAC crimp die.

I've made some pretty good ammo on this setup but then again you know what they say about that blind squirrel

[smustian]

I use a RCBS sizing die, Lee powder through die, Hornady seating die with micro adjust and a Lee Factory crimp die.

[cwlongshot]

I bought Hornady causedealerout of RCBS & Redding.

Ordered Redding on line.

My prefered die is always Redding first RCBS second. The

CW

[bangbangping]

For the neck expander I use the Lyman m-1 neck expander

That works.

Another option is a Lee Universal expander die paired with inserts from NOE. NOE sells the inserts in .001 increments for a reasonable price.

I own a Lee crimp die, but since my brass is always trimmed consistently I generally use a Redding taper crimp die to remove the bell.

IMO, there is no "best" die. They all work.

[Luke2236]

LGS has Lee stuff, so that's what I have for all my reloading - just started with 300BLK and first order of business has been converting a couple hundred .223 brass. Slow going taking my time, but I'm in no rush and no hiccups so far. Also already had the Lee universal expander die.

[GunFunZS]

For most things, I prefer the lee dies. Their decapper/sizer powder through flaring, and FCD are gold. Often their surface finish is lacking. In the case of the 2 300 BO sets I've worked with, both had a really nice decapping pin/ expander ball design. However. They have a rough finish that tends to make the expander pull down on the return stroke. Chucking that in a drill and hitting it with oiled 400 grit then 1000 grit makes a big difference.

Another Lee die I plan to get because of people here for 300 BO is the body to a .357 mag powder through expander with the insert from the same die in .32 mauser. This will pre-flare the 300 BO brass while powder charging and hold it centered at the same time for cast bullets. No need for M dies or universal expanders. It also solves the flaw in the normal rifle adapter to end up off center on the 300 bo brass and munch the edge or unevenly flare it.

Hornady has a more clever seating die for rifle rounds with a spring loaded floating thingy to hold the bullet centered through the whole stroke.

RCBS has a bunch of over priced things in unhelpful sizes. IMO they are a constant fight with losing decapping pins, having the settings come loose, they seem to have excess friction. But when you need small base, they are the way to go, at least for that die.

Lyman has a cool M die thing.

IMO the "best set" would be a frankenstein. If I could only have one brand of dies, reguardless of cost, it would be LEE.

[hardcase]

My progressive is a Dillon. When I bought my 300 Blk dies, Dillon didn't make dies for this caliber. They do now.

I use Lee dies in all but the powder funnel/belling die. It is a .30 cal Dillon rifle die. Works well enough I haven't felt the need to buy anything more.

[2manyToys]

I use the Lee universal decapper, RCBS small base formeing die, Lee universal expander with NOE expander buttons, Forster competition micrometer seating die, and Lee Factory Crimp die. This is not how I started out, but came to through a long (and somewhat costly) process of elemination to get the most concentric and consitant rounds.

[hardcase]

I use the Lee universal decapper, RCBS small base formeing die, Lee universal expander with NOE expander buttons, Forster competition micrometer seating die, and Lee Factory Crimp die. This is not how I started out, but came to through a long (and somewhat costly) process of elemination to get the most concentric and consitant rounds.

I failed to mention I also use the Lee universal decapper in a Rock Chucker single stage to remove primers prior to cleaning brass. Helps to keep the primer pocket uniform and the crud out of my progressive. I still run the brass through the sizer in my progressive, the primer is just already gone.