RCBS Cowboy dies in 38-55

[Bodean98]

I have a set of the highly praised Cowboy dies in 38-55 from RCBS. I noticed when I was adjusting my seating depth the boolit stayed in the die. Stuck pretty tight but I got it out. It had been resized to .376 from .381! I thought and had read these dies were not supposed to do that. It appears the hole the seater plug fits into is too small for my boolits and when it is inserted into the hole for alignment it gets resized. Anyone else have this problem with the dies and if so what to do about it? I thought maybe get out the dowel and sandpaper and give it a good reaming but these dies are fairly expensive. I have a set of inexpensive Lee dies I could do that to.
Any thoughts or experiences would be greatly appreciated.

[r1kk1]

Search the recent threads. EDG just did a summation of dies in this cartridge.

take care

r1kk1

[Bodean98]

According to his summation the RCBS will accept a .381 boolit. Mine will not.

[ph4570]

My set works fine with 0.380 boolits. Maybe back out the die and screw in the seater? Are you trying to crimp as well as seat with the die? That never works well for me. I always use a separate crimp die.

[Bodean98]

Yes, I'm trying to seat and crimp in one operation.
I could do that and then crimp with my Lee die that I just opened up to take he .381 boolits.
Thanks for the tip.

[EDG]

Take your die out of the press and remove the seater punch.

Clean it out and look through it. See if your bullet will go through the die when pushed by hand. If your bullet fits
I cannot understand what is squashing your bullet down to .376 unless it is the crimp shoulder.

The dimensions below were found by using a set of .001 increment gauge pins. You simply find the largest pin that fits.
It is somewhat difficult to make a mistake when measuring in that fashion.






















































































.
.
RCBS
.
Die
.
Sizer
.
Sizer Inside
.
Seater Bullet




Die Set
.
Date Code
.
Brand
.
Type
.
Diameter
.
Guide Diameter




.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.




.375 Win JS
.
78
.
RCBS
.
FL
.
.3890
.
.378




.375 Win EG
.
79
.
RCBS
.
FL
.
.3900
.
.380




.38-55 Win
.
UNK
.
RCBS CBY
.
FL
.
.3870
.
.381




.38-55 Win/Ballard
.
84
.
RCBS
.
FL
.
.3850
.
.380




.38-55
.
UNK
.
LEE
.
FL
.
.383/.385
.
.376




.38-55


G 56


RCBS


TRIM


.3940


NA

[Bodean98]

EDG,
I did just that and the boolit does not fit at all. In essence, yes it would be the crimp shoulder and the boolit alignment bore that the seater plug fits in that is swaging the boolit down to .376. The boolit will not enter the bore from either end.
I checked to make sure it was indeed a 38-55 die and not a .375 win. and it is labeled 38-55. When it is adjusted properly for seating depth, everything in front of the crimp groove gets sized down to .376. I do not have pin gauges to measure with. I measured the swaged boolit with a micrometer.

[EDG]

It sounds like your die is not correct.

My .38-55 Cowboy seater permits a .381 steel gauge pin to go all the way through the die and it is a snug fit in the bullet guide part of the die. The section of the die below the crimp shoulder is .398 diameter.

There is nothing in my die that is .376. It is not possible to squeeze anything smaller than .381.

Try a fired .223 case. If the .223 (~.375) is a snug fit the die is too small

A sized .38 Special or .357 magnum case (~.380) should drop mouth first into the top of the bullet guide section with the seating punch removed.

[Bodean98]

A .223 case JUST fits through the boolit guide.
My first suspicion was that I had a set of dies that was made for the .375 win.
I guess my options are as stated above. Either ream it out to the proper size or adjust it up for seating and use another die to crimp.

[EDG]

It does sound like you have a .375 die.
If it does not accept a .38 special or .357 magnum case your die is undersize.

I would call RCBS and ask them. If they made a bad batch they will know and they would appreciate getting the bad die out of circulation. Most likely they will send you another and ask you to trash can the bad die.



A .223 case JUST fits through the boolit guide.
My first suspicion was that I had a set of dies that was made for the .375 win.
I guess my options are as stated above. Either ream it out to the proper size or adjust it up for seating and use another die to crimp.

[Bodean98]

Unfortunately 38 spec. or 357 mag. are calibers I do not posess. I wasn't able to try one of them.
I'll try calling RCBS and see if they can shed any light on this.