What's the best dies for reloading 8mm Mauser for use out of an M48 or K98?
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What's the best dies for reloading 8mm Mauser for use out of an M48 or K98?
Everyone will tell you a different opinion here...so I guess they're all OK. I use RCBS and have no problems. If brass is short in supply, you can use trimmed down 30-06 which could be easier to find where you are.
I use Lee collet's for my 303's, Redding & Forster for my 308's as Jim says it is up to you Lee collet 3 die set are good value for money if you are just starting out you get neck sizer, full length sizer & Bullet seater plus the cartridge rim holder for the Lee presses.
Well I don't have a .303 yet, but that's good to know for when I do... You actually like the Lee's? I tend to find them of lesser quality.Quote:
Originally Posted by CINDERS
They're cheap so there's a following here in Canada. Most gun guys won't spend a dime. Cinders has sure put his share of ammo down range with effect and if he likes them so be it. I've had trouble getting replacement parts for them here in Canada, even the dealers couldn't get them. RCBS replacements are available. There's also the used section of all the gunsites that have old out of manufacture types that will suit you fine. I had a set of Lee dies for .223 for a few years and loaded several thousand with no trouble. Also I've had Herter's, Lyman, Forrester...if they're serviceable, it doesn't matter.Quote:
Originally Posted by amadeus76
I use the FLS Lee on my 303's because I am running 2 No.4's 2 x MkIII's so to save having to sort brass I just FLS and they fit all 4 just recently I won the state titles in the "As issued" invitational shoot with my No.2 - No.4 shot over 3 ranges multi positions so the Lee's work.
Jim mentions the brass shortage we have that here as well for some reason we have not been able to buy Remington 303 brass for the last nearly 2 years in Western Australia
My mistake, he's loading for 8mm Mauser. It's the same for that one though. I'd need to make it from 30-06 to be efficient...
I have a RCBS 8mm Mauser die set that does the job. Overall I tend not to really care about the brand when it comes to dies, more about the cost. I have Lee dies, RCBS dies, and two CH4D dies. Highest quality is by far the CH4D dies, however they cost a small fortune and I only bought them as no one else makes dies in the calibers I needed.
I've had great results using Redding dies. They make a neck sizing only die for the .303 also.
My RCBS dies are from the 50s and still work great. I would advise against used Lee dies... I have a 7.7 set that the decapping rod slipped too many times and I can no longer get it to stay tight in the die no matter how much I clamp it down, leading to it getting stuck in brass once, and now it likes pop out when decapping. Don't know what you're getting with any used die set but that seems like a really obvious risk with the Lee. My new Lee die sets and Lee Loaders work okay though. I also recently had a bad experience with a brand new Hornady .223 set where on the third shell the expander ball broke but that may have been a fluke flaw in the expander as my other set, for .270, worked fine over 200 pieces. RCBS are my favorite though, quick and easy to set up and never had an issue new or used with them. I would buy new Lee dies again though if RCBS wasn't an option or economical, same for Hornady. I'm sure Redding makes a good set, never had any.
I use a mix of LEE and others, but I only buy LEE if I need a new set. I love the collet dies, especially for light rifle loading. I decap all my rifle brass with the little manual setup and a small hammer.
For my precision rifles, I use Redding Competition micrometer dies. For hunting and informal shooting, I have (old) Lyman dies, RCBS, Hornady. I load 8x57JS with the latter, no real preference but it was the brand carried by the retailer I bought my 1st. 8 mm cases.
Pistol ammo is loaded with Dillon dies on my XL650.
I load quite a lot for 8 Mauser and use the Lee collet dies.
No issues at all.
Also the ammo is accurate and, what's most important, also extremely consistent.
If I had found the Lee classic reloader, I probably would have chosen that, but it does not exhist for 8 Mauser.
I have maybe a dozen different brands of dies and more than 100 sets.
I rate Forster the best, followed by RCBS and Redding more or less even depending on the type of seater that you buy. Many of the Forster die sets come with a superior BR seater. The Forster FL die is also very good.
The Redding Competition seaters are very good but very expensive and most unnecessary.
I have measured many FL die sizing chambers and the RCBS dies tend to be more accurately and uniformly dimensioned than other brands with the exception of maybe Forster.
All the other brands have no particular benefits. I buy all my die sets used and all are relatively cheap so the cost advantage of the Lee dies disappears.
Lyman dies tend to size to the minimum as do CH. Pacific Dies are sometimes too short and sometimes too long.
If you are happy with mediocre dies you can slam ammo together with any of them.
After the rod on a Lee die slipped for the second time, leaving the expander ball firmly in the case with the decapping pin protruding through the ignition hole, I did 2 things:Quote:
Originally Posted by cipherk98
1) Threaded the rod and fitted a good steel nut on the thread, like an RCBS die.
But the nut meant that the rod could not be set down far enough for proper decapping, so:
2) Removed the decapper pin from the sizing die and used a separate decapper ever since.
I'm satisfied with the Hornady custom grade dies in 8x57 JS I bought last year . I like the floating sleeve of the seating die. I already used Hornady's in .300 Win Mag, 7,5x55 SW, 6,5x55 SE.
I have a Lee set of 8x57 dies, and I've never had a problem what's so every. It's been seven years since I bought the Yugo M48 & the dies.
My Lyman 8x57 dies have worked fine for a decade so far. Then again, I am not feeding an MG-42.
My RCBS and Oz-made Simplex "Master" dies from over thirty years ago still work fine. The only FLS dies I have had to replace are for .308. They just wore out at the base of the neck region, from the sheer amount of brass run through them.
There are very few "really bad" die sets out there.
The separate decapping idea is good when dealing with heavily-crimped ex-mil brass, for the first time. Once you "process" the primer pockets (ONCE!), "normal" dies are fine.
See if you can get a de-priming spindle that has a Tungsten Carbide expander ball / plug. These are a revelation, as they pretty much eliminate the "squeal" and drag encountered with "hardened" steel expanders. Lyman make a range of them and they are available with different "adapter' plugs to suit the different threads in the top of various manufacturers' dies.