RCBS Dies & Sticking Cases = Garbage!!!

In 25 years reloading with RCBS dies, I've never had a SINGLE stuck case.


On the issue of customer service, I've had GREAT, FAST service from BOTH Lee & RCBS. Can't say a bad thing about either in that regard.
 
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Well, I have Hornady, RCBS, and Lee dies in my reloading room. I don't have hundreds, but I do have more than one set if dies. The only difference I have found has been price or availability. Most of them are Lee since I can't tell the difference in a loaded round, why pay more?

That being said, One set of Hornady Custom Dies in .303 Epps, because no one else wanted to match the price. 7.62x39mm in Hornady, Lee, and RCBS because I got each of them when I HAD to have them. RCBS and Lee for.223, .30-06, 8x57mm. All the rest are Lee. I have a Rockchucker press, Lyman and Pacific powder measures, RCBS Rangemaster 750 digital scale, Lyman 550 scale, challenger press, turret press, classic cast press, and a classic cast turret press. I have Lee case trimmers and a hornady case trimmer. RCBS, Lyman, and Lee shellholders. Lee, RCBS, and Lyman case prep tools. My loading blocks are homemade, my trickler is homemade, my universal decapping press is an arbor press from Princess Auto that I modified.

For me...it is all about price and the end result. No one can convince me that Hornady or RCBS equipment at twice the price will make any better hunting and plinking rounds than Lee. That being said, I threw away the Lee powder measure and the scale since they DIDN'T do the job I needed them to do and went back to those that did, in those instances, I NOTICED a difference and used the better stuff (used product in both cases).

Edit: Only trouble I have ever had with customer service was with Redding when I was starting out and using borrowed dies. Broke a decamping pin, phoned for a replacement, cost me $4 plus shipping, IIRC. NO FREE, NO QUESTIONS ASKED WARRANTY. I have since had the greatest of service from both Lee and RCBS.
 
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I bought my first reloading equipment in 1976, RCBS press, dies etc. . Since then I've happily reloaded with RCBS and over the years accumulated many more RCBS dies as well as 1 Hornady and 1 CH die . . It's been a pleasant experience with only one stuck case in all this time. . A 338 case got stuck and I highly suspect from some walnut media picked up off the case lube pad. . No big deal as I still had the "RCBS Stuck Case Removal" outfit that someone told me years ago that someday I would need. . After all these years I still new exactly where it was and got it all ready to go but before I set it up, with drill bit and all, I figured I'd remove the decapper/expander from the die and give the case a bit of a tap with a drift. . Well wouldn't you know it, the case popped out like a kid outta bed on Christmas morning. . Yes, it was an RCBS die. . Cleaned the case lube pad and continued on. . No problem. . My first choice is RCBS.
 
Haven't visited for a while.

The only way to tell exactly what a die is doing is to measure a fired case, resize it and measure it again.

I've done this many times, and most often you will find that a RCBS will size a case much smaller than minimum chamber, more like minimum ammo. That is how they are designed. LEE, in his book states that LEE dies are designed to size to just under minimum chamber spec.

RCBS dies are well built, not junk, but oft times they are too small dimensionally for most reloading requirements. About 1/3 of my RCBS dies make small ammo, the rest are good. Out of about 10 sets of LEE dies, 1 was bad, chatter marks in the neck area, quick exchange.

I did a write up about case measuring on another forum, if I get time I'll post it on this site.
 
sharp shooter said:
I agree 100% about the customer service! They are amazing to deal with - probably the best.

The person that told me that the dies were made overseas is a very very respectable site sponsor. They indicated that it was the dies only that were made overseas. I believed them as they deal with RCBS daily and I was not the first person that had issues with their dies.
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This should be current enough. Unfortunate very very doesn't seem to know what they sell. Cheers

----- Original Message -----
From: "rcbs tech" <rcbs.tech@ATK.COM>
To: 3macs1

Sent: Saturday, April 06, 2013 1:20 PM
Subject: RE: rcbs.com - Ask RCBS Form


All of our dies are made right here in our plant in Oroville California.

B. Reed

RCBS Customer Service
605 Oro Dam Blvd.
Oroville, CA 95965
(800) 533-5000

Customer Service Hours
Monday-Friday 6:30 a.m to 3:30 p.m. Pacific Time
 
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^Great follow up to confirm RCBS is Made in USA. See you included the email date, thank you!


Dilemma is each time shopping for new dies RCBS has this great reputation for quality and customer service, and Made in USA to boot (not as good as Made in Canada but not aware of any dies made here). Being a smart shopper I always compare with LEE; Made in USA, good customer service, slightly less quality, shorter warranty but 1/2 to 2/3 of RCBS price. Thus far usually end up with LEE. Is there a convincing argument to go with RCBS?


Next set of die will be RCBS, gonna try it. Have tried Hornady and Lyman, ended up back to LEE.
 
nitro-express said:
Haven't visited for a while.

The only way to tell exactly what a die is doing is to measure a fired case, resize it and measure it again.

I've done this many times, and most often you will find that a RCBS will size a case much smaller than minimum chamber, more like minimum ammo. That is how they are designed. LEE, in his book states that LEE dies are designed to size to just under minimum chamber spec.

RCBS dies are well built, not junk, but oft times they are too small dimensionally for most reloading requirements. About 1/3 of my RCBS dies make small ammo, the rest are good. Out of about 10 sets of LEE dies, 1 was bad, chatter marks in the neck area, quick exchange.

I did a write up about case measuring on another forum, if I get time I'll post it on this site.
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I have the opposite problem, I have two sets of full length dies for my .223/5.56 rifles and if the dies are set up making hard contact with the shell holder or press cam over the Lee dies will make the cartridge headspace length .005 "SHORTER" than my RCBS dies. The finish and quality of the RCBS dies are much better than the Lee dies and the ONLY advantage to buying Lee dies is price at the cost of quality.

Shoulder bump can be controlled by adjusting the dies up or down and I have headspace control shims and Redding custom shell holders I use to control shoulder bump.
 
I have owned most brands of dies and no complaints. I stick with LEE these days because I think their Collet dies are the best bang for the buck.
 
bigedp51 said:
I have the opposite problem, I have two sets of full length dies for my .223/5.56 rifles and if the dies are set up making hard contact with the shell holder or press cam over the Lee dies will make the cartridge headspace length .005 "SHORTER" than my RCBS dies. The finish and quality of the RCBS dies are much better than the Lee dies and the ONLY advantage to buying Lee dies is price at the cost of quality.

Shoulder bump can be controlled by adjusting the dies up or down and I have headspace control shims and Redding custom shell holders I use to control shoulder bump.
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In order to have accurate statistics the sample has to be big enough, and my sample is very small compared to the number of dies made annually. Your findings confirm that any dies (from any manufacturer) may set the shoulder back more than another die (from any manufacturer).

This just shows how important it is to measure and confirm the dimensions of the resized case. I have posted a "How To" on this forum, Search for "Reloading 102: Measuring the Case". It's a bit wordy but I think it covers the bases.
 
I have 16 sets of RCBS, 2 sets of Lee and 4 of Dillon. They all work fine and they all have had cases stuck in them at some point or another. It usually came down to operator error in my case and most times it was because I did not lube the inner neck of the brass, being in a hurry or distracted by something else. Anyone who says they have never had a stuck case, in my opinion is, has not reloaded as much as they like to think they have(even if you have been doing it 100 years). That's like saying all Nascar drivers have made it to the Daytona 500 without a single fender bender.
 
Well, I sized a whole bunch more last night in the Lee die, and no issues.

I should not have called the RCBS garbage, but I was frustrated and felt I just wasted my money.

Regardless I am using the Lee sizing die, and once I have a good collection of fired brass, I'll be using the neck sizing die.

Nice that for a few bucks cheaper the Lee includes the neck sizer as well. ;)

I'll stick to the Lee dies.....
 
RCBS will not have their product produced overseas. When Fred Huntington sold RCBS, it was a condition of sale that quality must be maintained and that they be produced stateside. In the mid 80's, their quality did go down. (that's when Redding got a name for better quality products) ........The Huntingtons, when they heard and verified the rumors, threatened to take the company back according to the terms of sale!!! The family's reputation was at stake. Quality control went back to the top of their agenda and has remained there.

Huntington's still provide the custom work and RCBS products from their store across the road from the RCBS factory, and they still keep a sharp eye on the quality rolling out. If you get a proven fault from RCBS and they won't back the product, just call Huntingtons.

That's your piece of history for the week!!!
 
Anyone else finds the spindle on the RCBS lock out die bends fairly easily.


Too bad the Chargemaster is MIC and not US or Canada (yeah, right, electronics in Canada, dream on). ChargeMaster made reloading a lot easier and confident.

3macs1 said:
No. The electronic ones like the scales are made over seas. After the sale they also did make the rough castings for the presses over seas and do the final machine work in the US but that lasted less than a year and they have not returned to that procedure.
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The only thing that I don't like about RCBS dies is the locking ring. Hornady has a much better design than that crappy brass set screw. I usually swap the locking rings out on my RCBS dies for Hornady locking rings which you can buy from Sinclair. Actually, I swapped out the locking rings on my Forster 300WM dies for Hornady as well...and sold the Forster ones to cover the cost.
 
burnaby said:
Anyone else finds the spindle on the RCBS lock out die bends fairly easily.


Too bad the Chargemaster is MIC and not US or Canada (yeah, right, electronics in Canada, dream on). ChargeMaster made reloading a lot easier and confident.
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My Chrony is made in Canada, so they claim.
 
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