Custom Grade New Dimension 2-Die Set (.308 Winchester)

Hornady's Custom Grade New Dimension set is the rifle die set to buy when you want a measurable improvement over a basic two-die set without moving into competition pricing. Two design choices earn the small premium. The expander is elliptical rather than a conventional ball, which Hornady says provides extremely smooth neck sizing and significantly reduces friction and case neck stretch, and it lets you neck brass up without a separate expander die. The seater uses a floating alignment sleeve and floating stem that hold the bullet, the case neck, and the seating stem in alignment before the bullet ever enters the neck, which is the mechanism that keeps a bullet from starting crooked. The Zip Spindle rounds it out: light threads on both spindle and collet let you make fine decap-stem adjustments by turning it or zip it up and down quickly for larger moves, then lock it against slippage. Sure-Loc rings clamp around the whole die body instead of driving a set screw into the threads, so repeated setup does not chew up the die.