I have been reading a couple of old threads here and some reviews elsewhere on these. I get that they are made by Lee to be just a little tighter when sizing the cases. Personally, from reading the various reviews, I feel like some people are buying them for the wrong reasons. .40SW cases have the bad rap for getting the “Glock Smile” or any other name that has been hyped for cases that are loaded to higher pressures and used in barrels that don’t have quite enough support. These cases are then sized down for reloading but sue to the chamfered opening at the mouth of the die, the bulged area doesn’t get fully sized out uniform again. I guess roll sizing will fix this, but that’s a machine most of us don’t have. Then I don’t know who came first, either the Redding G-Rx die or the Lee Bulge Buster. I bought the G-Rx (I still laugh at the name since it feels like “G” for “Glock” and “Rx” as in the abbreviation for prescription… ). I guess I should have bought the Lee Bulge Buster since I have most of my pistol dies from Lee with their Carbide FCD’s already and that die doesn’t require lube while the Redding does. I guess Redding has seen the light and is now selling a carbide version of the G-Rx die. I will add that the bottle adapter works really well with the G-Rx, but isn’t really needed. It makes a great “nice to have” item though. I’m rambling on about push through sizing dies since I think some people are buying the EGW U dies thinking they will get the same use out of them as a push through die. I don’t subscribe to this theory, nor do I enjoy the thought of milling down the edge of an existing sizing die. My thought on the EGW U die is that since it does size the case walls down that extra .001” then it will have that much more neck tension to hold your bullets to prevent bullet setback a little more. And with a cartridge like the .40SW that is already high pressure, a little bit of insurance in assisting in the reduction of the chance of causing a pressure spike isn’t really a bad thing. I use a Lee six cavity mold to cast 175gr SWC’s that I tumble lube and size at .401”. So while the bullet is already a hair bigger, it’s also a lubed bullet and a fairly heavy one at that. I forget how much HP-38/Win 231 or Power Pistol I use under them, but I’m not loading them hot. They don’t lead the barrel of my Sigma one bit, but the alox does get a little smoky if I overdo it. I set my taper crimp with the Lee Carbide FCD and they drop right into the Sigma’s chamber. The post sizing ring always just kisses the case wall and never swages down the bullets. If I do feel real resistance then that one gets culled for inspection and usually becomes kinetic hammer fodder. Since I both enjoy this load already in my Sigma, and .40SW cases have become so cheap that they cost less than 9mm cases in many places… I’m thinking more and more that the .40SW is creeping up on my enjoyment meter enough to maybe buy something else interesting in that caliber. So if I really want to start loading big time on my LNL AP and use my cast bullets… Would it be a smart idea to invest in this die or is this more of the idea of “a solution in search of a problem” kind of equipment??? To buy or not to buy… That is the question… I can never tell if it’s a good tool or just continuing my amass equipment obsession.
