RCBS Die issue?

[GoodOlBoy]

So the setup I have been using for years is a OLD RCBS single stage press mounted on a LEE Press Mounting kit on my work bench. I have loaded thousands of rounds on this thing. Yesterday I got in some RCBS 30 Rem Dies that I had hotfooted over so I could get some rounds loaded for a local old fella who needs to feed an old Remington slide action rifle. I did all the normal die prep in the instructions. When I went to resize (Hornady Unique Case Lube as always) the first piece of brass wouldn't even BEGIN to resize. Thinking it was a fluke I ran another piece into the press. It went about 1/16 up on the expander decapper and LOCKED in place. I finally managed to lower the arm and thought I must not be using enough case lube (same amount I always use) OR for some reason the die just doesn't like the hornady lube. So I grabbed the lee resizing lube and tried a third case. 1/16 up the torque on a different piece of brass is so heavy that it cracks the wood mounting block on the press kit. I have NEVER had this happen with ANY die I used. The expander-decapper compares with the same 30 caliber one in my 30-30 die set. I even tried swaping them. No dice.

Any ideas? This is just the strangest thing I have run across in my years of reloading.

Thanks

GoodOlBoy

[slughammer]

Take the expander/decapper out and try resizing a case. (If you get it stuck this stuff won't be in your way and you can punch it out with a regular rod.)

Once you get 1 case resized, get your calipers and a case dwg and start checking some dimensions.

If every thing checks out, my guess is that the expander is too high and needs to be threaded down further away from the neck of the die.

[GoodOlBoy]

Sounds like a winner I will give that a shot (no pun intended) ASAP and let you know what the results are!

thanks

GoodOlBoy

[Bayou52]

Sounds like a winner I will give that a shot (no pun intended) ASAP and let you know what the results are!

thanks

GoodOlBoy

Just FYI -

I once had a RCBS SB 30-06 die that actually expanded the case. I sent the die back to RCBS thinking it was surely out of spec. The RCBS technician said the problem was an overly sized neck expander- the die had a 32 cal expanding rod and neck sizing button. He replaced it with the correct 30 cal decapping rod and neck sizing button. Now works perfectly.

Might be an idea in there for you....

[Wayne Smith]

I'm assuming this is his brass. He might have an oversized chamber in his rifle. Taking out the expander button and attempting to resize the brass will show you the difference. I have a couple of sizing lubes I have picked up over the years, one a red lube supposed to be for reforming cases. It works so far.

[EDG]

What brass are you using? You are not trying to use .35 Rem or .308 brass are you?

[GoodOlBoy]

Nope EDG it is all very old stock mixed headstamp 30 Rem brass. I haven't been able to get back to my bench to try the advice on the issues yet.

GoodOlBoy

[texassako]

It doesn't sound like the cases are sizing yet before hanging up on the expander. I would definitely check the expander size and condition. I would also measure the necks of the brass, just in case. .30 Rem was around a lot longer than .25 Rem, and maybe someone converted some cases? If you went through my stuff, you would find 3 different neck sizes(.25, .30, and .32) on brass with a .30 Rem headstamp. One last suggestion, be sure those are not .30 Rem AR dies.