I am of "the less you mess with it..." school of thought, and when I began hand loading for 223 I bought the Lee Ultimate 4 die set. Didn't take long before I was neck sizing only. Brass wasn't growing, no problem chambering, so why not? The Lee was giving me less than .001 run out on the necks, and the seater die was .003 or less in OAL. What's not to like about that?

Then I bought a 22-250 and got the same Lee Ultimate dies for it. Initial accuracy and consistency was terrific, then began falling off. Wanting to shoot heavier bullets, I bought an 8 twist X-caiber barrel and some new Lapua brass. Again, initial accuracy was great, but then began falling off and that had me searching for answers, so it was back to the forums....

That's when I went to the tool box and dusted off the dial indicator, and then the real education began. The Lee 22-250 dies were producing a bunch of run-out, and the seater die was not even holding within .005 in depth. I could see that some new dies were in my future.

I got an RCBS competition FL sizing die off this forum, and started over with new Lapua brass. Neck run out is .001 or less and it's shooting much better now, but I plan to get the Micrometer seating die anyway to tune my seating depth.

I recently built a 6mm BR and decided to start with the RCBS competition die set, and I have to say that it's a real confidence builder to know your hand loads are the best they can be with regard to run out and seating depth. The RCBS is holding run out and depth to .001 or under.

I will stick with the Lee neck sizer for my 223, but I'll be getting a micrometer style seating die for it too. I have seen the light.....