Cracked die

[K22]

Wow, hard to imagine an RCBS die cracking. Been using the same RCBS dies since the early 70's. However never used small base dies.

The "cam over" post raised an interesting point. My press is so old that it has a lot of play in the linkages, and I have to cam over to even obtain zero bump. Yet the dies have never cracked. I'll be following this one to see the outcome. I have F/L sized thousands of 243 and 308 and never had a problem or stuck case using Imperial Sizing Wax.

Regarding RCBS customer service, it has always been outstanding in my 50+ years of dealing with them. But nothing lasts forever and that would one change I would hate to see happen, not so much for me since I am in the winter of my shooting vocation, but new shooters entering the sport.

Let us know the results.

 

[M-61]

I'll be following this one to see the outcome.

Me too. Actually I’d really like to see the die but Don’t have high hopes. Even a picture would help but I think that’s doubtful, but I’ve been wrong before.

 

[Jim G]

To answer some questions, My Redding Big Boss press is 2 years old. Cam over is what is built into the press. Not much cam over. One of the first pieces of brass that I went to resize, required a little more effort than usual. Brass is Lapua 308 win Palma brass fired 4 times. I suspect it was fired in a fellow competitors rifle when he ran short of ammo at a match. Subsequent pieces of brass seemed to not size like i expected. I was not sure why, thinking maybe the brass was at the end of its life. After completing the 100 piece box, I removed the die and cleaned as I normally do. That is when I found it cracked. This was my favorite 308 win die. It would bump the shoulder back and size the base of the brass so that i would not have any clickers. Last year i bought another RCBS small base die, and it would bump the shoulder back properly, but it left a raised ring at the base of my brass. I went through RCBS's warranty service online, and it was not the best experience.