Driftwood Johnson, SASS #38283 Posted January 12, 2011 Share Posted January 12, 2011 Howdy I want to start loading some 44 Russian. I have a set of Hornady 44Mag/44Sp dies that I use for 44 Sp. Will probably want to buy another set and dedicate them to 44 Russian. What dies are you using for 44 Russian? In other words, what brand do you use that has the range to load 44 Russian? Thanks I have a box of 44 Russian with Starline brass. Looks like they fit into the 44Mag/44Sp shellplate for my Hornady machine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SGT. ELI 35882 GUNFIGHTER Posted January 12, 2011 Share Posted January 12, 2011 I use the Lee .44 Russian carbide 3 die set. I've used them for several years with no problems, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cpt Dan Blodgett, SASS #75655 Posted January 12, 2011 Share Posted January 12, 2011 Howdy I want to start loading some 44 Russian. I have a set of Hornady 44Mag/44Sp dies that I use for 44 Sp. Will probably want to buy another set and dedicate them to 44 Russian. What dies are you using for 44 Russian? In other words, what brand do you use that has the range to load 44 Russian? Thanks I have a box of 44 Russian with Starline brass. Looks like they fit into the 44Mag/44Sp shellplate for my Hornady machine. Actually you should be able to get by with only a seating and crimping die. Your sizer and expander from the 44 spec should work just fine if you adjust them correctly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Driftwood Johnson, SASS #38283 Posted January 12, 2011 Author Share Posted January 12, 2011 Actually you should be able to get by with only a seating and crimping die. Your sizer and expander from the 44 spec should work just fine if you adjust them correctly. Thanks, but I like to have complete sets for every caliber I load. I don't like resetting them once I have them set. Looking for brands of 44Mag/44Sp dies that can be threaded in far enough to work for 44 Russian without any grinding. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Church Key, SASS # 33713 Posted January 12, 2011 Share Posted January 12, 2011 I have a Dillon 550 and use Dillon .44 Spl./Mag. resizing, powder, and seating dies + a Lee .44 Russian Factory crimp die. I talked to Dillon before I set this up and they said "Our dies have lots of adjustment room, just keep screwing them down as they will work. Dillon knows what they are doing. I shoot .44 Russians in my pistols for both smokeless and APP. These are .44 Mag. Ruger Bisley's and shoot like .38's cause I'm old and wussy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lefty Dude, SASS # 51223 Posted January 12, 2011 Share Posted January 12, 2011 DJ; Lee might have a 44 Russian die set. Or they can make one for you. Check Redding also. And Buffalo Arms , They carry 4D dies. 4D makes just about everything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ketchum Quick, SASS #72923 Posted January 12, 2011 Share Posted January 12, 2011 I have been using my RCBS .44 Mag/Special dies for sizing and neck expansion and I have a .44 Russian "Cowboy" die from them for seating and crimping. I used them on my Rockchucker prior to getting a 550. KQ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blastmaster Posted January 12, 2011 Share Posted January 12, 2011 RCBS makes a three-die set just for the 44 Russian. It is in their Cowboy Series of dies. Blastmaster Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshal Phil DeGrave SASS #55202 Posted January 12, 2011 Share Posted January 12, 2011 I use the Lee 3 piece set, and bought a Dillon crimping die. I had to take the Dillon crimper to a grinder to shorten it up a bit. Whole setup works great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buffalo Dick, SASS #12880 Posted January 12, 2011 Share Posted January 12, 2011 I use the Lee carbide set they make for .44 Russian. Lee dies are good and the price is very reasonable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M.T Chambers, SASS#76185 Posted January 12, 2011 Share Posted January 12, 2011 I use the RCBS Cowboy 44 Russian/Special dies for Rooskies and standard carbides for 44 Special/Magnums. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Professor Cubby Bear, SASS #29521 Posted January 12, 2011 Share Posted January 12, 2011 Add +1 to the positive feedback on the Lee .44 Russian set. My set works just fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H. K. Uriah, SASS #74619 Posted January 12, 2011 Share Posted January 12, 2011 Well, I don't have .44 Russian, but I do have several other calibers, both RCBS and Lee. The RCBS dies I inherited from my father, the Lee's I purchased as needed. I have no complaints about the RCBS, but the Lee's are less expensive, and they "powder through the expander die" feature is a real plus, IMO. The closest I can offer you any advice is this, I do have set of RCBS .38 Special/.357 Magnum dies. I have exactly 2 cases of .38 Short Colt and 1 .38 Long Colt. These dies will not properly sizes, seat or crimp the shorter brass. As such, I plan to pick up a set of Lee .38 Short/Long Colt dies, as I have just aquired a revolver in .38 LC. I would *guess* that the .44 Special/Magnum dies will have a similar problem with the shorter .44 Russian brass. Good luck. I have a feeling that you and I are gonna wanna show each other more than a few new toys the next time we meet at the range. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Coconino Pistolero, SASS # 72432 Posted January 12, 2011 Share Posted January 12, 2011 I use Lee dies for .44 Russian with BP with good success on the 550. I got them as part of a package with the Opentops and they work as well as the RCBS I use with .44 Colt. I agree one set of dies per cartridge is better than messing around with adjusting them. Especially when you get older and more forgetful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colorado Coffinmaker Posted January 12, 2011 Share Posted January 12, 2011 Driftwood, Started shooting a lot of .44 Russian once I got my '66 working with the short cases (AJ's Carrier). I'm like you, I like to set up a tool head and leave it that way. I use Redding .44 Russian dies and am quite happy. I didn't experiment a lot with the dies, but I do know some will actually hit the shell plate before they are down far enough for Russian so I just went for dedicated .44 Russian dies. Dillon 650. The Redding are separate seating and crimping. I use a standard Dillon powder drop for .44 cases. Coffinmaker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Long Gulch, SASS #53035 Posted January 13, 2011 Share Posted January 13, 2011 Driftwood, I use the RCBS 44 Russian/44 SPL Cowboy dies. They work fine for me on a Hornady LNL progressive. I thought the extra added length of the LNL bushing might be a problem. Eveything has worked fine for the last couple a three years now. YMMV, but I don't think by much. The RCBS may be a little more spendy than others, but I like 'em. LG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Driftwood Johnson, SASS #38283 Posted January 13, 2011 Author Share Posted January 13, 2011 Howdy Again Long Gulch, that's exactly what I want to hear. I load on a Hornady L&L too. I popped my Hornady 44 Mag/44Sp dies in the press earlier, and it looks like I will have room to drop the seating/crimp die down the extra 3/16" or so needed, but I haven't tried resetting them. Thanks for all the answers, I think I will look into the RCBS Cowboy dies. I already have a couple of their sets for 45 Colt and 44-40. Holy Mackerel, those suckers are expensive. I think I'll keep looking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rex M Rugers #6621 Posted January 13, 2011 Share Posted January 13, 2011 Driftwood , when I first got some 44 Russian brass some years back , I had to have my Hornady seater die cut off a bit to get it to work. Since then I got a set of the Lee 44 Russian dies and left them set up on my Hornady Pro-jector. I don't know how much different the L-N-L is to the older press , probably not much. I also got a Lee FCD for 44 Spec./Mag , but it will not work on the Russian cases. The Lee dies work fine , when I bought them I don't believe RCBS offered the Russian set. Good luck , Rex Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Preston County Rider #74173 Posted January 13, 2011 Share Posted January 13, 2011 Driftwood - I've been using the Lee 44 Rus dies for about three years for my BP loads and they work fine - cheaper than the RCSB. They are easy on the Starline brass - I have one set of the Russians that I've adjusted for my 44 Colt rounds also Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
"Pop" Dawson Posted January 13, 2011 Share Posted January 13, 2011 Driftwood, I use the RCBS 44 Russian/44 SPL Cowboy dies. They work fine for me on a Hornady LNL progressive. I thought the extra added length of the LNL bushing might be a problem. Eveything has worked fine for the last couple a three years now. YMMV, but I don't think by much. The RCBS may be a little more spendy than others, but I like 'em. LG Like you I want complete sets set up for my loads and don't want to change them. I have a set of RCBS dies set up for the .44 mags, one for .44 spec. and a set of Lee's for the .44 Russian. I use the same one to size and remove the primer and just change out the expander and seater dies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ethan Cord Posted January 13, 2011 Share Posted January 13, 2011 I had a set of Dillon .44 Mag dies trimmed down by a machinest. I like the Dillon dies for ease of cleaning them. If Lee makes a set of .44 Russian dies they will give you good service and are the most affordable new dies available. I have a set of Lee 38/40 dies I have been using for the past 20 years (I had these trimmed down a bit as well). I do most of my loading on a Dillon 550 and also like to set up a tool head and just leave it alone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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