Using Redding Competition Die Set with a Dillon Press

[Johnny Buck]

Does anyone have experience using a Redding Competition Die set to the shoulder bump on a rifle cartridge with a Dillon press?

 

Johnny Buck

 

 

[The Original Lumpy Gritz]

They work great.

You need a case gauge to confirm headspace. 

Learn to anneal the case mouth. 

[Vail Vigilante]

I do it all the time for my Ruger Precisions.

My recipe

 

So go get a little kit that allows you to measure the distance between the base of the cartridge and some point on the shoulder with your dial caliper.. Hornady has them, there are also clones on Amazon. I have one of the clones and it works. 

Do any annealing, primer pocket stuff, trimming...THEN

 

Get a bushing that reduces your neck diameter .001 to .002 for a interference neck tension fit. Run that in the neck sizer.

THEN

Using the dial caliper with the kit installed above, figure out what that distance is.

THEN

Set the Redding Body die to kiss that back, somewhere in the neighborhood of .0005 to .0015. You do not need a whole lot.

You can use the case gauge if you want to.

OR

You can use your rifles chamber. 

When you have the shoulder moved back the bolt should close with normal resistance...

Now for Dillon specific....

 

 

Pull out all the index pins.

Redding bushing style neck die in station one. 

--Primer installed here like normal.

Body die in station 2.

--after this point you will charge powder off the press after you kiss the neck--

Seater in station 3.

Nothing in station 4.

 

You will not run "fully progressive" this way. Essentially you are using the Dillon as a very classy turret press.

 

Hope this helps

VV

[Vail Vigilante]

BYW,

Don't believe that you can not make very high quality ammo on the Dillon.

One of Mike Dillon's employees placed 2nd in the Cactus Classic using a very early Dillon press.

When you get into those high end bench gun matches, the diff between 1st and 2nd has nothing to do with the reloading tools.

 

VV

[Johnny Buck]

Do you have a picture of your setup with Redding Dies?

 

JB

[The Original Lumpy Gritz]

3 hours ago, Johnny Buck said:

Do you have a picture of your setup with Redding Dies?

 

JB

Post up pictures of your setup.

What model Dillon do you use?

[Nostrum Damus SASS #110702]

Watch this.

 

[Vail Vigilante]

On 5/6/2026 at 10:41 AM, The Original Lumpy Gritz said:

Post up pictures of your setup.

What model Dillon do you use?

RL 550

[Vail Vigilante]

I will get pics up tonight.

[Vail Vigilante]

Pards,

Ok, here are the pictures, I am going to split this into a couple posts.

The first picture shows the kit I am referring to above. It allows you to measure between the base of the case and a point on the shoulder. The brand name is Hornady, I bought a clone from Amazon, and I think it works just as well.

The next picture is of my 338 Lapua Magnum dies. Station is bushing style neck die. Station 2 is a bushing style FL die. It has the decap rod and bushing removed so it is the same thing as a Redding Body die. Next station is a powder funnel that I rigged together, and station 4 is a Forester Ultra seating die. If you find it uncomfortable to seat bullets in station 4, seat them in station 3 and charge powder off the press.

[Vail Vigilante]

The next picture is of my 6.5 Creedmoor setup. This is a complete Redding die kit, Station 1 is a bushing neck sizer with a micrometer adjuster, 2 is a body die, 3 is a powder die 4 is a bullet seater. If you are uncomfortable doing bullet seating on station 4, charge powder off the press and do it in station 3.

 

Following is a picture of my 300 PRC setup. Station 1 is a bushing style FL sizer. Station 2 is a powder setup, Station 3 is a micrometer die. This is the best overall value of all my die sets, it is Forester, and it came complete with the sizer, seater, and 3 bushings in useful sizes. 

[Vail Vigilante]

This last picture is of my 6mm GT setup.

It is a Redding FL bushing die, a powder setup, and my Forester seater in station 3.

 

You may note that there is a missing setscrew in the powder die, and you might also note that it does not really look like a factory Dillon drill and thread job. You would be right. How I handle powder dies is I have a TON of extra powder dies that came with my measures. So what I do is drill some holes in the side, thread them, and then I can gently lock a Dillon rifle funnel into place. Then it is just a matter of screwing it down over the cartridge and funneling powder into the top. And yes, I lost the setscrew on that picture...........

 

You may also note that not all my dies have bushing style neck dies. At the moment the trend is toward controlled FL sizing. That is to say start screwing your FL resizer down until you kiss the shoulder. Not, however to just crank it down to the shellholder.  So that is what I have gotten for the latest 2 RPRs in my assortment. I can always add that back in later.

 

I have yet to try the "floating" setup in the post above. These guns are running so well I do not know if messing with my dies is what I should do.

 

You may have noticed that I am hung up on Ruger Precisions. You would be right. Next thing is a RPR in 308 Win. Because I have a pile of really good cases and they are just sitting there............

 

I hope all this helps....

VV

[The Original Lumpy Gritz]

To help with seating, use a Q-tip with silicone spray on it inside the neck.

What's your T.I.R on bullet runout? You want no more than .003.

These are the best case gages made.

https://lewilson.com/case-gage?srsltid=AfmBOoraO4w8DjWmgDAvp46DdWmTFV1yFYF5jq3ujBJDOgI7GLYUCckz

[Vail Vigilante]

I do not know what my TIR is. I do not have the fixture to measure this.

At some point I probably will.

But these rifles are running well.

My last time out the 6mm GT went .08 for 3 rounds.

I thought I had two fliers. 

But on close look, it was a little group.

The 6mm GT is the easiest, the 6.5 Creedmoor is the most difficult and the 338LM and the 300 PRC are somewhere in between in terms of finding a good load.

I have some case gauges, but I just use my rifle's chamber most of the time.

Hope this helps.

VV

[The Original Lumpy Gritz]

31 minutes ago, Vail Vigilante said:

I do not know what my TIR is. I do not have the fixture to measure this.

At some point I probably will.

But these rifles are running well.

My last time out the 6mm GT went .08 for 3 rounds.

I thought I had two fliers. 

But on close look, it was a little group.

The 6mm GT is the easiest, the 6.5 Creedmoor is the most difficult and the 338LM and the 300 PRC are somewhere in between in terms of finding a good load.

I have some case gauges, but I just use my rifle's chamber most of the time.

Hope this helps.

VV

Go with 5 shot groups and make note of the CBS placement.