Newbie

[Martini25-308]

I have been rummaging around in the threads here for a couple weeks and thought it would be a good idea to register. It has been a bunch of years since I hunted or reloaded, but my son is getting of age and is very interested in guns and shooting. Fly fishing and bow hunting swayed me from the gun sports. See my web site.
I have two rifles that my wife’s father had from the early 50s. He passed away in 58 and since I have not been into hunting in so long, neither have been shot and the guns have been leaning in the corner of the store room. I know, someone should come and kick my butt!?!?! According to the serial number, one is a model 70 made in 1949 and still in very good shape. The other is a 25 Souper, also known as the 25-308. I think my wife’s father may have built this 25, it has an Ashton barrel and a bolt action that I am not sure of. They are now cleaned and oiled and properly stored (for those of you headed my way with steel toed boots).
So here is the project: the 25-308 would be a great starting gun for my son and as many of you know, this is a wildcat, so I am going to set up and reload. I have called Hornady $107.00 and RCBS $132.00 for custom dies. 4-6 weeks delivery time. Any thoughts on custom dies, would one be better than the other? Lee? Lyman? I have a friend at work with a chrono so I should be able to fine tune this baby if the barrel is any good.
The optics are of 4x 50s vintage also, so I will be in the market for scopes.

Thanks, and also a thanks to Rocky for getting back with and the help so far.

Marty Bartholomew