Originally Posted By: Harley1340As you can tell, I am new on the site, But have been lurking and doing quite a bit of reading..
I have aquired a 16.5" contender barrel in 6-45 an my question is about dies.. Any brand better than other do i "need" a crimp die ?? I do not plan on building an AR at this time..
Also am looking for load data for 16.5" ,Does it exist ????
Regards,Harley
Someone please correct me if I am wrong.
No, you wont find data for the barrel, just the load itself (i.e. xxx grains of powder using xxx grain bullet). What you may find is someone who shot those loads out of that barrel, and they can at least tell you how fast and what type of accuracy they are shooting. I have never seen a load specific to a barrel, its all standard to they type of bullet and powder.
As far as crimp (and its been a while since I've look) most dies that I know of have the crimp function. When setting it up, you either set it up to crimp or not to crimp, that's your choice. If you're building a bolt action rifle, don't worry about crimping them. I have hundreds of 6x45's loaded up, not a single crimp on any of them, and no issues.
Brands for dies are all personal preference as well. I have a mix of RCBS and Hornady dies, but you also have Lee, Redding and a few other brands out there. Personally, I like RCBS, but other may tell you they suck and go with brand X instead. If you don't know what brand to get, I'm sure plenty of people here will offer their opinions, or you can take a look around the internet, lots of information to read up on them.