lightman
07-26-2015, 03:39 PM
I just received a couple sets of new dies, a 2 die FL set for a bottle neck rifle cartridge and a 3 die Carbide set for a straight wall pistol cartridge. RCBS has been my favorite since the late sixties or early 70's, but I got away from them several years ago when I started shooting long range. My long range choices were Redding bushing neck dies, Wilson seating dies with an arbor press and Sinclair case prep tools.
The first thing I do with a new die set is to disassemble them and give them a good cleaning. Both of these sets were very clean, more so than in the past. No metal chips or polishing compound, just a light coat of oil. The machining work looks good. The knurl is a little courser than Redding uses and the threads actually look to be better quality. The labels were crooked on both boxes, for some crazy reason! The die rings and jam nuts are different than my older sets. The Carbide sizer has a more generous radius on the mouth of the die than older sets do.
I have seen some bashing against RCBS in recent years, so I just wanted to post my latest observations. They look like the same good quality that I always expected from RCBS. I cannot find anyplace on the box, dies or in the instructions stating where they are made. I believe they are still 'Made In America'. I'm looking forward to loading some ammo with these.
The first thing I do with a new die set is to disassemble them and give them a good cleaning. Both of these sets were very clean, more so than in the past. No metal chips or polishing compound, just a light coat of oil. The machining work looks good. The knurl is a little courser than Redding uses and the threads actually look to be better quality. The labels were crooked on both boxes, for some crazy reason! The die rings and jam nuts are different than my older sets. The Carbide sizer has a more generous radius on the mouth of the die than older sets do.
I have seen some bashing against RCBS in recent years, so I just wanted to post my latest observations. They look like the same good quality that I always expected from RCBS. I cannot find anyplace on the box, dies or in the instructions stating where they are made. I believe they are still 'Made In America'. I'm looking forward to loading some ammo with these.