.223 dies

[dzrtram]

I have never loaded .223 because I have had several thousand rounds of ammo. That's about all shot up now and it's time to reload. I have a Dillon 550 press, but I don't really enjoy loading rifle caliber on it, so I bought a Redding T-7 for $160. Now I need dies. The reason for my question is thatI ran into trouble using Lee dies on my Dillon years ago because Lees are so short. I read somewhere that the Lees are hard to use on a Hornady LNL Progressive also. Then I read that Lee has lengthened their dies.
What dies are best? Do I need to use the Lyman M Die, Lee FCD, or Redding Profile, or just a set of any brand throughout the whole set? If one set, which brand?
I ask this because I use a mix of dies on almost all my calibers. For example for .30-30, I use the Dillon sizing die, Lyman M Die, Hornady seater, and Lee FCD. After trying several ways of loading the .30-30 I found this setup make the best cartridges the fastest with the least mistakes.
BTW, I know some people don't understand why some of us mix dies. No need to mention it because we have our reasons
Thank you for any help you can be.

[airborneranger]

i use lyman and rcbs personally, mainly thats what my father has used over the years and i just stick with what has worked for him. the dillon dyes are good too we have some of them. I reload my 223 on my dillion 550 with no problem. But i resize them all on my lyman turret press. Reason is that they have to be lubed for resizing and i found that with the dillion press theres a little play in it and u may not get a very precise resize especially using once fired military brass. Some of the brass has been stretched so much probably from being fired from a S.A.W. or a shot out m16 and that little bit of play in the dillion dont allow the brass to be resized down to zero and thus might not chamber in your rifle cause its not properly resized this is a problem i ran into when i first started reloding my 223 and using once fired military brass. if u want to know more about this problem feel free to e-mail me ill tell u the whole story of it, it was a real nightmare.

[klutz347]

I use Hornady dies with a Lee Factory Crimp die in my Dillon 550. I have tried RCBS and I was having problems with the seating die crushing the tips of my HP bullets.

As far as the Lee dies being short, they are. On my Dillon I had to put the lock ring under the tool head to lock it in place.

[txfyrguy]

You can't go wrong with the Lee die sets. I tried a few others and none of them came close to the Lee dies. They don't buckle shoulders like many others do, and are very easy to work with.

[PSG1]

Lee,with a factory crimp die. :cool:

[AR Fan]

The Dillon .223 die set is a very good choice for the 550. The Dillon sizing die consistently delivers cases that pass SAAMI spec ammo gauges.

The Dillon taper crimp die is the only way to crimp .223 if you want to maintain accuracy, but also want some insurance against bullet setback.

Happy Holidays,