Looking into dies for 308 Win, and trying to decide what would be best for me.

Looking to get more consistent reloads than factory ammo (and that I can tailor to my gun), but not looking to get every tiny ounce out of the rounds. The rifle they are going into is a stock Remington 700, so not a high-dollar, high tolerance precision rig.

Would I still be best suited with something like the Redding dies and only neck-sizing with the interchangeable neck rings? Or would a regular side die / expander work for me?

I do plenty fine getting moa groups from an rcbs resizer and forster ultra micrometer seater.

I like the micrometer seater for various bullet designs, makes seating depth easy

Rob, thanks for the suggestions. I know Redding seems to be regarded as "the best", but I wasnt sure if they would be the best fit for me.

Hornady makes a set of "match dies" that are similar to the Redding in that they have a micrometer seating die and bushing set-up for the necks.

I do know how to reload, and already have some equipment (RCBS Big Max A4).

Hornady match dies are a great value for what you're looking for

Out of curiosity, what do you consider "the best" dies to be. I've read a lot of positive reviews on the Forster dies, but they dont seem to be as main-stream as the others (Hornady, RCBS, Redding, Etc)

Forster Bench Rest or Micrometer dies.  An arfcommer did a runout test using various dies and said these were the most consistent.



Remington 700LTR, 168gr SMK over Varget, Leupold LRT, Timney, last Sunday:

I've been reloading .308 since about 1980 with RCBS FL dies.  Never had a complaint with them.  I recently replaced the RCBS dies with Hornady FL dies.  They work great too.

Out of the box Howa and Remington 700 BDL, 1 1/8" groups at 300 yards. Aim a little higher.

When it comes a Micrometer Top Seater the Forster is a great value!  The problem with Forster is that the availability is problematic at time even with common calibers.
The good thing with Forster is that their pricing structure is the same across the board for their offerings.
Forster will custom hone their FL sizer dies for a fee for customer supplied FL sizer dies.

Whereas, all the other die makers for the most have tiered pricing.

A good set of Redding dies would be Master Hunter Set
Competition Seater Die (you would need the VLD stem in you are using VLD style bullets this is extra)
You get a NON BUSHING FL sizer with a carbide expander ball.

A step would be the Type S Match FL Set
Competition Seater Die (you would need the VLD stem in you are using VLD style bullets this is extra)
You get a BUSHING FL sizer with a standard sizing button or you can install the decapping pin retainer and allow the bushing to control the neck tension.
Of course you need to settle on a bushing sized based upon the neck wall thickness of your brass and what platform the reloads are for.

I would look into Lee 4 die sets.  Started with them 18 years ago because of cost and still using em.

Ditto, but mine were just 3 die sets, started with 30-06 and 243(I do have the 4 die set for 308). I started back in 03/04. Still have my original Challenger press, but later got the classic 4 hole turret. Don't ever see myself getting progressive

I started with lee dies 28 years ago with their anniversary set, they worked fine. I have started using Redding rifle dies and a Dillion 550. Just yesterday I decided I wanted to load .40 and .223 general purpose loads. Well I just placed an order this morning for Dillion dies and the whole toolhead set up. The damn lee dies are to short for the 550. Maybe lee makes the dies longer now but I just spent $400 because I went with budget Lees years ago

Sometimes you can put the lock ring on the underside of the tool head to make short dies work. I do this with .380 dies on my 650.

As for the OP's question- my preference is as follows.

Redding Body die + Lee Collet die
Forster Benchrest Die (though I admit the micrometer version would be nice- I'm just cheap)

I was going to do that but it looks like the ring would hit the index sprocket, so I just ordered the Dillon dies. Man those dies are awesome.

On that we can certainly agree. Dillon makes my favorite pistol dies by far.