Thread: Shell holders

I have just acquired an rcbs partner press to begin doing my 284 loads on. Time to buy some shell holders, question is are they all interchangeable. I see hornady and lee do shell holder kits where as rcbs are just individual and quite alot dearer. I will also be using the primer arm on the press in the beginning if that makes a difference? Cheers

Shellhokders can vary in dimension by brand in my experience. I would be incluned to buy the correct rcbs and stay with it especially since you intend to use the press for primer seating.

Height wise they should be the same, but lee tend to have a slightly smaller priming hole in them. My case trimmer (an old Pacific) will only work with Lyman / rcbs / hornady shell holders. Other than that, go to town.

Lee shellholders are quite a bit thicker and won't work with my Lyman hand priming tool. Lyman shellholders work fine in my Hornady press.

I would stick with RCBS though all shell holders are interchangeable the primer holes in some are of a different shape and size
as you are priming with the press you could have issues with other brands you only buy a few shell holders to cover a range
of cartridges the 284 uses the same holder as the .308 30/06 family of cartridges I prefer the RCBS over the others for some reason.