450Bushmaster.net

Maybe I've been living in a bubble but this is the first time I've seen Lyman dies for our caliber.

Midway has them

I have a couple of their dies in other calibers and they work well, but the price seems a little high to me, though the chamber gauge is a nice plus. I'll still take Hornady dies. I love their seating die with its bullet aligning sleeve. Some Forster seating dies have the same bullet aligning sleeve but I haven't seen a 450b set from them. IIRC, some Redding seating dies do as well. Removes the need for the expander die IMHO. I've loaded over 2.5k 450b loads and only had one "squisher" without using the expander. YMMV.

Hoot

The Redding’s have been out for a while now. I thought the Lyman’s have been, too, but Midway is saying new arrival, so maybe not. A couple things I like about the Lyman’s is the case gauge and the nitride coating. The only reason I like the coating is because I use rcbs lube which is water based. That’s always made me a little leary about my dies. I haven’t had a problem yet, but it would be nice to not have to worry about it. Lol

Also, I’ve had a couple crushes in 450B and a few more in other calibers. I find this usually do to me forgetting to chamfer the case mouths. I also use a Lyman VLD chamfer tool as it seemed to help a little bit more than a regular chamfer tool.

Bmt85 wrote:...snip... I find this usually do to me forgetting to chamfer the case mouths.
I also use a Lyman VLD chamfer tool as it seemed to help a little bit more than a regular chamfer tool.

Ditto on both counts. Never use the primer pocket tools inside however.

Hoot

I picked up a set of the lyman. I'm new to loading for the 450BM, but have been loading lots of 44mag, 444marlin, 45LC except all of those headspace off the rim.

I just grabbed some Barnes 200grn xpb to give it a go. Going to try OCW this weekend.

So, in answer to my first question, “Which dies” the answer would be ‘Hornady’, right? I was at a gun show today. The guy who sells reloads uses almost all Dillon equipment and he recommended the Dillon dies for my single stage press. He said to stay away from Lee dies. I won’t be using a Blue Press, I have the RCBS that pre-dates the ‘Rock Chucker’ by one model- it doesn’t have the leverage-advantaged under carriage. But it’s what I have and I think it will load 450 B just fine. So Hornady dies? How much should I expect them to cost? Does about $70 seem right?

What about shell holder? Length gauge? OAL gauge?

Smithjdsr wrote:So, in answer to my first question, “Which dies” the answer would be ‘Hornady’, right? I was at a gun show today. The guy who sells reloads uses almost all Dillon equipment and he recommended the Dillon dies for my single stage press. He said to stay away from Leedies. I won’t be using a Blue Press, I have the RCBS that pre-dates the ‘Rock Chucker’ by one model- it doesn’t have the leverage-advantaged under carriage. But it’s what I have and I think it will load 450 B just fine. So Hornady dies? How much should I expect them to cost? Does about $70 seem right?

What about shell holder? Length gauge? OAL gauge?

This is the best price at the moment Link.
The shell holder is the same as .30-06 and 308 parent calibers. IE probably the most common one out there. I use a caliper to measure case length and COL. Every reloader should have a set of calipers and a micrometer. A good case length gauge, like the one Tromix sells is also good for checking to make sure the cases are't too fat to pass the "Thunk Test", without having to chamber every one. After repeated reloads, especially if you load them hot, the cases can slowly get fatter down beyond where the die resizes and eventually they get stuck when chambering or won't extract. If you have a caliper, you can also check them for fatness.

Hoot