As I have mentioned, during the birth of my ammunition-reloading sojourn, I bought a single-stage press and standard carbon steel dies. Pretty much everyone did. When I realized the thrill of lubricating cases wasn’t, I bought a sizing die with a carbide insert. A whole new world!
My first Dillon progressive press later on was an even bigger step forward. To afford the Dillon I decided I needed to look for ways to save a few bucks and not purchasing Dillon’s dies seemed logical. (I’m proof “Penny wise pound foolish” is often too true!)
After all, I had reloaded for years using my first set of dies with the eventual inclusion of carbide sizing dies. After setting up Dillon’s press as instructed, I fussed, fumed and cussed as I tried every adjustment I could to compensate for my decision to use these dies.
Move the handle slow and smooth and all went pretty well but at any speed cases began jiggling enough for at least one not to enter its intended die. A shooting buddy said he ground the mouths of his dies wider, polishing the area, to emulate Dillon’s dies, with their smooth bevel guiding empty and filled cases inside.
Sounded good, Mr. Rotary Grinder and I went to work. (Remember: an amateur with a rotary grinder is probably more dangerous than an armed drone!) Things got better but there were still occasional problems at higher speeds. I could hog out the mouths of most dies as much as I wanted but there was a limit with the wonderful carbide inserts – excessively deep bevels left a rough transition between steel and carbide, where cases would hang up.
I broke down and bought a complete set of Dillon dies, with carbide sizer. My rotary grinder and reloading dies have been separate ever since!
Three-Die Sets of Dillon Carbide Pistol Dies
Of course, the hot point for carbide sizing dies is they never need messy lubricant. No rolling cases on lube pads before sizing and no wiping them afterwards (or tumbling or whatever). Nope, just pull the handle and slide the clean cases in and out of the sizing die, with de-priming thrown in. As mentioned, for a progressive press it’s imperative that the mouth of the sizing die, and those of the other dies, be flared/belled to guide the case or case and bullet straight up to the action area.
I believe when the Dillon progressive presses arrived there were no other reloading companies with dies suitable for use with Dillon’s machines. Other companies were still deep in the single stage press market.
With time, Dillon added a number of attractive and highly useful features to their dies, with the special needs of their progressive machines in mind. Still they were applicable to other reloading systems. Quick-disassembly for cleaning and maintaining settings and a “floating decapping assembly” are just two of those helpful features, along with the cavernous radiused die entries.
With these dies, the Dillon progressive presses come into their own!
