General Advice Requested On OEMs Of Reloading Dies

Hey All:

Background: I am a fair to midlin' reloader, heretofore focusing on pistol rounds on a Dillon XL 650. All my loading gear to this point has all been from Dillon.

Current situation: I just picked up a lovely Marlin 336 in 35 Remington, pre-Remlin and NIB. First thing I did was to contact Dillon and they informed me that - in their infinite wisdom - they do not make any shell plates in 35 Rem for the 650. They suggested I purchase a 550 .... uh, no thanks. So this means I will have to buy an additional press for the 35 Rem (and also for 30-30 Win) (if you have not figured it out yet, I love lever guns). I have decided to go simple and get a single stage - single turret press for these low production volume rifle rounds, probably a Hornady LNL (still TBD). I now also have to get new dies, from where-ever.

Question: There are a bunch of vendors who make dies .... Dillon, RCBS, Redding, Lee, Hornady, etc. They all market their die sets as the greatest thing since sliced bread. I have no clue as to which is "best" and why.

Any recommendations? I am looking for specific buying factors. Thanks.

 

Actually, there is the LNL AP progressive press and the LNL Classic and Iron turret presses. I am looking at the Classic and Iron presses. Thanks.

 

The "Iron" model is a newly released version of the Classic model. This beast is US made of cast iron, weighs 26 lbs all by itself, has an ambidextrous lever pull thingy that allows you to position the throw lever for either left-handed or right-handed folks, and a redesigned top upon which you can mount various stuff for easier and faster access to tools, dies, and what-not. Pretty much all else is the same. Except for the price, which is roughly twice as expensive as the Classic model. I am not sure if it is worth that price. It is so new that there are no current YouTube reviews yet, but I think you can buy Iron kits from some online sources.

So now we have the Classic, the Iron, and the AP progressive models. All under the umbrella of the LNL brand. Confusion reigns supreme.

 

My error.

 

I am going to go with the Hornady 200 grain FTX (#35105) over Hodgdon-Hornady LE powder.

 

To my knowledge, 35 Rem is a SAAMI-certified cartridge. Therefore all factory rounds will use identical SAAMI-spec cases. Hornady brass should be the same dimensionally as Winchester, Federal, Remington, whatever.

The secret sauce in Hornady LE factory rounds are not the cases or primers, but are the proprietary bullets and powder. And since both my Marlin 336's absolutely LOVE their factory LE rounds (30-30 and 35 Rem) far and away more than any another factory rounds I have used (Federal, Winchester, Remington) I will stick with the Hornady stuff when doing my own loads.

 

I have run the Hornady brass through my Wilson case gages, and they appear to be the same as all the others.