Here's the deal. I love collet dies. I try to use them with all my guns. But every once in a while you got to FL size at least the body, and if you get brass from somebody that has shot it in thier gun, you have to FL size. So for 300win, I decided to get a cheap set of pacesetters. First off, inside is rough, I mean very rough. Second, it pushes the shoulders back further than any other die I have seen. In my 300win, it pushes the shoulders back .02" from fireformed. Now some could say I have bad headspace. Well, we checked that, and its bang on. Ok, no problem, just set it up to partial FL, to match my shoulders with a head and shoulders gauge. Ok, now, it squeezes the neck so much, I can barely put a bullet in, and when it does, I scrape out copper, and I am deburring with a 30degree lymans tool for this purpose of smooth seating, and I am lubing the inside necks.
Lastly, bullet runout after all this mess, on all loads is between .006" to .012". I have a feeling, this is from the hard seating.
Dadgone, I try to go cheap, and save 15 dollars, and have 50 dollars of aggrivation.
So I brake down and get a set of RCBS, pushes the shoulders back only .003", fine with me. And runout is decent. All between .002" and .005".
Now, I have found a few sets of RCBS where the expander ball is too small before, but they sent me a new one. And have once saw a set that didn't push the shoudlers back near enough, but my gunsmith took a hair off, so they custom fitted my rifle. But overall, I am back buying RCBS.
I've actually had all of the problems you described with a RCBS FL die- sometimes you just get a bad die, doesn't matter what color of box they come in-unless its a redding.
I have several dies sets from RCBS and Lee and I've had problems with Lees too- especially the collet dies.
I have the opinion that RCBS equipment is overrated- I have a case trimmer that doesn't cut straight, a set of 7.5x55 swiss dies that are cut too tight for for the rifles I reload for, and an expensivepowder measure that's a real PITA to use with extruded powderswhere a $20 Lee measure does the job perfectly. I've compared RCBS presses with Redding presses side by side in stores, for the same price the Redding is far better made, the lee is about as well made as the RCBS for 1/2 the price.
I've recenty discovered Redding dies as well, those will be the dies I mostly buy in the future.
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I've actually had all of the problems you described with a RCBS FL die- sometimes you just get a bad die, doesn't matter what color of box they come in-unless its a redding.
I have several dies sets from RCBS and Lee and I've had problems with Lees too- especially the collet dies.
I have the opinion that RCBS equipment is overrated- I have a case trimmer that doesn't cut straight, a set of 7.5x55 swiss dies that are cut too tight for for the rifles I reload for, and an expensivepowder measure that's a real PITA to use with extruded powderswhere a $20 Lee measure does the job perfectly. I've compared RCBS presses with Redding presses side by side in stores, for the same price the Redding is far better made, the lee is about as well made as the RCBS for 1/2 the price.
I've recenty discovered Redding dies as well, those will be the dies I mostly buy in the future.
Yea, your right. If I would have gotten my troubled RCBS dies right from the get go, I would have been kinda salty on them, but over the 20 or so die sets I have for RCBS, I have gotten 2 or three, that I had to send in. Or they didn't ask questions, and shipped me a new one.
One thing I did once was buy like 3 sets of RCBS dies. I took careful measurements of what I wanted, and compared them, and kept the one that fit my criteria the best. That worked out nice. Even RCBS overworks the neck. Not sure why they do that.
I do have a STW FL Redding die, that had a bent decapper and would pull the neck way out too. You can roll it and watch it wobble.
But who wants to spend 100 dollars on a set of Redding comp dies. They are very nice however.
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I've also recently discovered retrofitting Redding dies with carbide sizing buttons, and I plan on buying more Redding diesin the future just for that option.
I haven't heard about that. I will have to check that out.
Redding dies with carbide sizing buttons, and I plan on buying more Redding diesin the future just for that option. Not having to lube/clean case necks or yank on the press to extract cases is kinda nice.
Goodness I hate Lee pacesetters
