I am going to buy a set of dies for .223. I will be loading for bulk and accuracy. what dies do you recomend. I am going to get both a full length and a neck sizing die. these will be used on both a progressive and a single stage presses. Thanks

Unless you spring for an expensive set of Redding or Forster BR/Comp dies, all other dies are petty much the same except for the external surface finish. Lee has a neat set that includes their excellant neck sizer (collet) along with an FL die and a good seater.

RCBS has an excellant warranty policy. The only other brands that also stand behind their dies are Hornady, Lyman, Dillon, Redding and Forster. :)

I'll give another vote for the Lee's. The delux die set comes with the collet neck sizer and a full length die. Only thing I can add is if your shooting an AR platform neck sizing usually doesn't work. You need to full length size for the positive feeding in the AR's.

I'm chiming in on this because I have a 223 on order and I want to read what the members have to say. I have my own ideas on die selection and they go like this.

Redding FL sizing die (Lee would be a good replacement and my experience is the Lee die sizes on the small side)

Lee Collet Neck Die

Redding Body Die

Forster Ultraseat Die

Redding Taper Crimp Die

I use this die mix when I can and I am very satisfied with my results.

Another vote for Lee here.

get the lees they are well built dies

I use a RCBS small base die as well as the Lee and can't tell any difference in full length resizing between the two. I only shoot 223 in the AR platform, We use a lot of military once fired Brass so the small die is a must, as we don't know what weapon was used in the firing. I will add in the AR I use the Lee Factory Crimp die as well, all the 223 military ammo I have seen has a crimp at the bullet, I use a med to med light crimp with no problems at all with accuracy.