I'm considering buying some Redding competition dies. I found a group buy on another forum with some outstanding deals. It's in the general price range of nearly everything else and I thought this might be a perfect present for me from me for Christmas ;)

I'm thinking of picking up the Competition Bushing Neck Die Set. It includes:

• Competition Bushing Neck Siziing Die


• Body Die


• Competition Seating Die

So this is a Category I (.308 Winchester, 58155 set ). I'm going to be loading for a R700 in .308.

I've never used a neck die before, but from what I understand, this should extend my case life as well as give me a better fit to my chamber.

Also, assuming I understand, if the rounds get too hard to cycle (i.e. stiff) then I could use the body die to resize appropriately right ? In other words, if I need to address a stiff bolt, I can go the extra step of sizing with the body die so my stiff bolt cycle is gone or I could use this for sizing if I were to pick up an AR10 of some sort ?

Lastly, it seems I also have to buy a set of bushings for the neck sizer. How do I pick this piece ? Redding Bushing Selection says these need to be .335 to .343. How do I know what I need to order ? I'm using Lapua brass with Hornady 168 gr AMAX bullets. I also have some Hornady brass I'll be shooting until it dies.

Thanks for the help.

Be aware that Redding has had extended delivery times, and so it this is a time sensitive need.....then dump the Group Buy!

You be well served with a 0.336" bushing with Lapua Brass for good neck tension.  Get the Titanium Bushing not the steel.  If you want to really take a extra measure to help with not over working the brass....you could use a 0.339 bushing on the first pass then you can use 0.336"

The body die only sets the shouder back, not messing with the neck neck tension at all.

You could could consider the Type S Match Neck Die Set, this just has a regular Type S Die vs the Competition version.  May say you a few bucks.

+1 on the Type S Match die setup.  I only need a micrometer on my seater die.  I mostly us type S FL dies not so much neck dies.  

Really depends on how much you want to spend.  Reloading companies will gladly take all you have if you want to go that route.

A typical SAAMI chamber will have 0.010" or more of clearance at the neck of a loaded round.  A bushing die will produce excessive runout if you size more than 0.004" at a time; they're intended for use with custom chambers with tight necks.  The bushings float in the die, and they don't center properly if the brass is too large in diameter.  You can use them with a SAAMI chamber, but you'll have to size your brass using multiple bushings, reducing the neck diameter in steps of no more than 0.004" at a time.  This was more hassle than I wanted to deal with, so I ordered a die from the Hornady custom shop with the neck diameter I wanted to use.

As far as seaters go, the Forster Ultra Micrometer Seating Die is far superior and costs much less.  The Redding seating stem will bell out and gall the bore of the seater sleeve; it will do so quickly if you use compressed loads, but will do so eventually regardless.  The geometry and metallurgy of the Forster are done right, so their dies don't suffer from this problem.  The seating stem of the Forster has better contact with the bullet; the Redding will leave an indentation around the ogive of the bullet.  This probably doesn't affect accuracy, but distorting the bullet isn't doing anything good.

First off, thanks for the replies guys. I appreciate your input and guidance.

As always, it seems my head isn't quite around this just yet. I appreciate your patience.

So, it sounds like buying the body die will work for me. If I go the route of neck sizing (and I can't see why I shouldn't) then I definitely need something to push the shoulder back and make the cartridge load easier into my rifle. That's great.

As far as seating, it seems the Forster seating die is the way to go based on this reply and several Google attempts. It's also cheaper which made me skeptical, but I found many other folks that shared ronemus' opinion. I'll order those elsewhere.

Now, as far as neck sizing goes. I'm on the fence now. A gentleman above recommended two different bushings. However, since I do not have a match chamber, is it worth my while to purchase a bushing neck sizing die ? If not, what should I focus on ?

Lastly, is there any reason I couldn't pick up a Redding body sizing die and a Forster seating die ? Just because the group buy is going on with the Redding equipment and it's cheap?

Thanks.