Cowboy Dies? RCBS . Gimmick?

[GSP7]

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1011720846?pid=436077

RCBS Cowboy Carbide 3-Die Set

Built to slightly different dimensions than the regular RCBS dies to allow optimum sizing, expanding, seating and crimping needed to load great lead bullet ammo. Heat treated for a more authentic appearance. Handsome brass lock rings and period style packaging complement these premium dies.

Are these a Gimmick?

Im shopping for some .44 special dies so I dont have to mess with my .44 mag dies

I hear the only thing different is the case mouth expander

.

[Daver7]

I've always wondered if these were just a gimmick also.
I'll be watching to see what others say.

[JimB..]

I have them in a handful of calibers and I believe that the only functional difference is the expander.

Not sure what they mean by period packaging, mine came in green plastic boxes.

[mdi]

I don't think so. I have a set in 45 Colt and besides the "authentic finish" they come with two expanders, one larger for cast bullrts. My set is finished nicely and I am using the larger expander which work quite well for over size cast bullets (can't remember exact diameter right off hand)...

[bedbugbilly]

I have owned 3 different sets - still own two - 30-30, 45 Colt and 32-20, Yes they are attractive dies - nice contrast with the brass lock rings, etc. I have a number of different brands of dies and for some cartridges, I like RCBS. Why did I butty the "Cowboy dies"? Simply because I had the opportunity to buy them at a very cheap price - all purchased from individuals - two sets were NIB. They are hy-ed as being good for lead. O.K.

BUT

To be truthful, I probably wouldn[t buy them again. With the exception of 223, all I load is cast. For me, I can load the 30-30 and he 45 Colt with regular dies just fine - in fact both of those cartridges i use a combination of mismatched dies and I have no issues loading lead with those dies. Once in a while I might pull one of the Cowboy dies out of there box when I'm batch loading but other than that, they stay in the box.

I'm not knocking RCBS or their Cowboy Dies - just saying what my personal experience has been with the ones I have. With my regular hodgepodge of regular 45 Colt dies I have I can load .454 boolits just fine - with my hodge lodge mixture or regular 30-30, I can also load .311 just fine. Personally, I wouldn't buy them again for what I load - others may have different experiences with them and find that they work better for what they load.

I should add that I bought a set of the 32-20 cowboy dies only because I got them REALLY dirt cheap at a sale. I was going to get a 32-20 Cattleman revolver - at the time, Uberti had very few coming in and most were sold before they got to the U.S. so I abandoned that quest and moved on. I did load some dummy rounds - IIRC, I had the cowboy dies and someone had given me a set of Lee dies - both sets loaded dummy rounds just fine. I ended up selling all the 32-20 reloading items that I had accumulated and the cowboy dies left the herd, hopefully to be put to use by whoever bought them.

[djryan13]

I have a set in 45 colt, 44-70 and 44-40. I don’t like the expanders so I went with M die. I like how Hornady seaters work with the centering mechanism so I bought some of those.

I still use sizers I guess. Pretty die until holy black dulls things up a little.

[GSP7]

Some one told me:

The expander plug sizes the case larger in addition to flaring the mouth. If it didn’t expand the case it would swage down the size of the soft cast bullets.

Maybe it does more than flare the case mouth better.... I use soft lead bullets not hard cast... Think Ill call RCBS

[djryan13]

Please report back.

[JeffG]

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1011720846?pid=436077

RCBS Cowboy Carbide 3-Die Set



Are these a Gimmick?

Im shopping for some .44 special dies so I dont have to mess with my .44 mag dies

I hear the only thing different is the case mouth expander

.

No, i don’t think they are a gimmick. I have several sets. The 45 Colt set has 2 expander plugs, one for modern .451 and the other for earlier .454. More than one seater plug too. I think they are generally designed for cast bullets which are slightly different dimensions than jwords. My 2 cents.

[375supermag]

Hi...
I bought a set of RCBS Cowboy dies in .44Spl several years ago when I bought my Lipsey's Blackhawk flat top in.44Spl.
They have performed quite well having loaded many thousands of rounds of hard cast lead bullets with no issues whatsoever.
They work just as well as any other carbide RCBS dies...which means they work extremely well.

[Walks]

Yes and no.

Before Cowboy dies RCBS offered 2 different die sets for the .44-40 Cartridge.
One for Jacketed and another for Cast.

I bought the one for Jacketed in 1983, My Dad had given me a stash of 1,000+ Remington & Winchester Jacketed .425/.426 bullets. I used them in a 1st Gen Colt that I had just got.

I used an old Lyman All-American die set from the early 1960's for Lead Alloy loads.
It's the set I still use today. Which is why I have so few problems loading the .44-40WCF.

So to make a long story short, according to the RCBS Rep that I met at End of Trail 20yrs ago. The expander die is more like the Lyman M-die. The seat/crimp dies are cut shorter to crimp the shorter cases such as .44Russian & .45S&W.
The .38-40 & .44-40 were supposed to reduce the case bodies, so as to create a shoulder inside the case to prevent the bullet from being forced down into the case bodies caused by spring pressure in a tubular magazine.
This really shortens case life. You get cracks in the case body after 4-5 loadings.
They also have an excellent Roll Crimp.

So they have advantages. And disadvantages.

What works best is a Steel Sizer, an M-die, a good seater and a Redding Roll Crimp die.

You should not post from a tablet while watching TV.

[smithnframe]

I'm thinking about buying a set in 45/70.

[cwlongshot]

No, i don’t think they are a gimmick. I have several sets. The 45 Colt set has 2 expander plugs, one for modern .451 and the other for earlier .454. More than one seater plug too. I think they are generally designed for cast bullets which are slightly different dimensions than jwords. My 2 cents.

I only have a couple & this is why I did. They where “better” for cast bullets. But I haven’t measured anything but expanders.

CW

[vagrantviking]

I bought a set for 38-55 because the Lee set were too tight to seat soft cast .380" bullets. They would get hung up on the crimping ring in the seating die.

I haven't used the Lyman M die but the expander in the cowboy dies work well.

[metricmonkeywrench]

In working with cast I ended up getting the full set (4 I think) of RCBS expanding plugs for .38/357. as stated above other than the color of the dies the expander is about the only difference being longer and fatter for the cast bullets especially deep seated full wadcutters. The new profile is similar to the Lyman M die with the seating "step" added at the case mouth.

[Baltimoreed]

Mine are still in the box, I continue to use my old standard rcbs carbide dies. They are pretty.

[GSP7]

I might get another set of standard carbide .44 dies and the seperate .430 expander that comes with the cowboy set....

[EDG]

You need to be more specific.
People are often only pistol shooters or only rifle shooters.

For rifle caliber RCBS Cowboy dies in .40-65, 38-55 and a few others the expander is about .001 to .002 larger. The seater die is also larger on the interior to accommodate a larger bullet in the die body when seated in the case. I have no idea what the pistol dies are like since i do not shoot hand guns.