# carbide pistol dies



## Fallguy (Jan 23, 2004)

I recently got into reloading rifle cartridges. I have worked up loads for my 243 and am working on my 223. The next thing I want to work on is my pistols (load ammo for practice shooting). I have a 45 Auto and a 9 mm.

My question is the carbide dies. Are these the best for pistol reloading? Also,I thought I read that you do not lube cases with the carbide dies. Is that correct?

Any other differences/similarities in rifle reloading and handgun reloading that will help me along would be appreciated.

Thanks a bunch!


----------



## People (Jan 17, 2005)

With hand gun cassings you do not have to use lube. I just polish and wipe them off to get the dust off of them. Then at that point you are good to go. In my book they are worth the extra cost.

Chuck Norris brushes his teeth with a mixture of iron shavings, industrial paint remover, and wood-grain alcohol.


----------



## Plainsman (Jul 30, 2003)

All my pistol dies are carbide. It sure speeds things up when you don't have to lube, and you don't need to wipe off lube. The other thing is you will find pistol dies are a three die set. The difference is you will find a die to expand the mouth to accept the bullet. Don't overdo it. Bell the mouth just enough to accept the bullet. With lead bullets you will have to bell slightly more so that you don't shave lead off the edge of the bullet as you seat it.


----------



## rasmusse (Oct 24, 2006)

Carbide dies are only for straight walled cases, like most, but not all pistol cartridges; e.g. .357 Sig and 7.62x25 Tokarev.


----------



## Fallguy (Jan 23, 2004)

Plainsman

A question with things now that I will have 3 dies:

With my rifle I do the following in this order: deprime and resize the cases, trim the cases and deburr them, prime them, charge them with powder, and seat the bullet.

With pistol, where would this expanding of the mouth come in? Is this done before trimming and deburring, after trimming and deburring, or do you even have to trim and debur?

I use the Lee Brand tools for trimming where I use my Craftsman drill and do it that way with the lock stud and cutter. I am also using an RCBS Deburring tool with the drill.

Thanks.


----------



## rasmusse (Oct 24, 2006)

I use Lee carbide dies for .38 Special, .357 Mag, .44 Mag and .45 Long Colt. The expander die is also the "powder thru" die and therefore serves two purposes. I also use the Lee auto disk powder measure to really simplify the process.

With straight wall cases like .45 ACP and 9mm Parabellum you should not have to do a lot of trimming and de-burring unless you are really into competitive shooting. There is not too much case stretch in my cases, but then, I shoot revolvers so your mileage may vary.


----------



## Swifty56 (Sep 14, 2009)

Carbide dies are very nice indeed. In my experience with straight wall pistol cases, usually the case splits from working the brass too many times, before there is enough stretch to warrant trimming. I have never had to trim a 45 ACP in the 20 some years I have been shooting and reloading for the caliber. I use a progressive press for pistol rounds as it makes loading a batch of 200 or 300 alot quicker. Case mouth belling takes place after the the priming step, it is rather an important step as too much bell, the bullet will not be crimped correctly allowing for loose fit. too little and the case will either crumple, or it will shave a little meat off the slug. For 45 ACP and 9 MM a taper crimp die is prefered as it allows for better feeding and extraction, but does not compress the case enough to stop it from proper headspacing on the mouth.

Swifty


----------

