What set up for 308 Win?

[Toby]

Hi,I load for 222 and 6.5x55.I was a little influenced by the guy who taught me loading and bought Forster benchrest dies for both cartridges.No problems there,good,accurate ammunition.Then I met a guy who raved about Lee's collet die,this also made hassle free,accurate ammo(quicker turnaround,no lubing etc)I also on a whim bought a Redding comp.seater for the pair as well.Sounding expensive yet?What I want to do is buy as little equipment to load good 308 rounds.Are the regular seater dies that inferior to the benchrest/comp type?What I am thinking is,a collet die,a Redding body die and a Forster/redding seater die.Does this sound half sensible?Ps please don't anyone mention Wilson hand dies ATB Toby

[Ronin]

Toby

 

use whatever you think best.

 

I would myself stick to one make per calibre - I do like the Forster BR seaters, they are very nice to use.

 

Unless you are loading for competition shooting or have fitted neck cases, it may be hard to justify the extra cost of the micrometer style dies sets.

[Elwood]

I'm happy to use standard neck and full length dies, but I always go for the competition micrometer seating dies. In my opinion they are quicker and easier to set up, and more accurate.

 

My prefered choice of dies is Redding.

[Guest varmartin]

The .308 is so forgiving you can just use the Lee Deluxe set.

 

For the price it is worth it to try them out.

 

Polish the neck sizing mandrel and also the collet .

 

Degrease to clean out all swarf and light lube.

 

If you have a Toggle or over centre type press ( RCBS RC4 ) set your neck sizing die to size the neck as you require when the ram is at its highest point and comes to a stop, this way you size the neck the same every time.

 

I know this is incorrect as per the literature that comes with the dies, but this is what I do and the runout and neck tension variance is almost unmeasurable.

 

This is what I do...It may be incorrect but it works.