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RCBS new bullet seater -- aiming low

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I'm confused about the Match Master product which is essentially a rebadged gold-metal match seater. They'll be discontinuing the standard comp seater and GMM seater dies, and no longer market the interchangeable stem and collar for the comp seater die.

The main feature of these dies is the window for dropping bullets in from the top. The difference between the standard comp die and the Gold Metal Match (and Match Master) is the floating stem that allows for better alignment, however, interchangeable guts are not available for the GMM (MM) dies and therefore you cannot switch the guts like with the regular comp seater die.

**I reload about 20 cartridges, I have two RCBS Comp seater die bodies and about 12 sets of "guts" to switch calibers. By my count, that comes out to about $500 I've paid to RCBS. If they were to offer the Match seater with interchangeable guts, I would gladly pay another $600 or so to upgrade. It would cost about $2,000 to buy all the match seater dies separately though, even accounting for cartridges that could use the same die.

Reloading is a market of people that don't want to get nickel and dimed... we want synergy and value. Any $30 seater will load ammo as good as the match RCBS seating die. We use the RCBS product because we like the window. What they should be doing is selling interchangeable guts for the match level dies so that people would invest in their new seating dies entirely instead of not-at-all.

I like, in fact LOVE, the RCBS Comp seater dies. The entire idea of Vickers-Style dies is convenience and price and they are throwing both of those out the window! Sell the parts and they will grow this segment exponentially!

I sent RCBS an email asking if the MM die is engineered in a way where interchangeable parts are not possible or is this purely a management decision to not want to sell a lot of these (obviously).
Offer the parts and I buy it tomorrow RCBS. Compartmentalize this product and no one buys it.

** Just in case RCBS chimes in, I did redo my math after sending them an email.
rcbsdie1901.jpg
 
Ive never known anybody to use these dies. Whidden has interchangable sleeves but not the window. Ive never once thought i needed a window to put a bullet thru and sure never knew they actually made it. Rcbs stuff is about low cost- why wouldnt they cheapen it up some? Its like match grade factory ammo
 
My first set of dies in .223 (and I am still .223) were RCBS Competition.

As above, a lot of run out observed after I got a tool for run out. Next purchase was a set of Redding dies. Who knows what the future will bring, but the only RCBS product I still use is the lube and lube pad, sometimes. I learned my lesson. Is the window convenient? Yes. Does it make it a better way to do things? Yes, If and only if, you have a tendency to leave your fingers in the path of danger when operating the ram.
 
If and only if, you have a tendency to leave your fingers in the path of danger when operating the ram.
Oh yea, I done that good one time, almost seated my finger instead of a bullet. Didn't bleed to much:eek::eek::eek: a lot of bad words though.
 
I know it's marketed as a "Match Seater" but this seating die has given me the worst run-out numbers of any seating die I've ever used.
Mine are very inconsistent I’ve had them for 338 Lapua and 6.5 x 2 84 Norma I have since gone to Redding and seen a drastic improvement
 
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I know it's marketed as a "Match Seater" but this seating die has given me the worst run-out numbers of any seating die I've ever used.
Mine all run .003 max. All components must be QC’d. They absolutely are capable of being good but “you have to do your part” in the setup.
 
I had a couple GMM seating dies, a 223 and 7 saum. It looks like these new ones on the same order, one size fits all. On long cases like 300 win mag, the seating stem is farther up in and supported more, on small cases it hangs down and dangles. I needed an extended shellholder to run the 223 in a standard press, more costs.
The only usefulness I thought it had(223) was I liked it on a progressive press where a separate crimp die was ran, eliminated the need to get your fingers back in there with a bullet to seat, just pop it in the hole.

To the op, buy yourself a decent seating die, their competition die was not a seller, neither the GMM, this looks like an even cheaper version.
 
Yeah, if you rotate it 180 degrees it has a window.If you rotate it another 180 degrees...shazam, the window disappears...MAGIC! :D

Beat me to it! I bet Dusty didn’t need the dies and just bought them to help the kiddies. Probably never opened the box!;)
 
To tell you the truth I just sent them, had to dump them off on somebody, what are friends for. Of course, he could have sent me a box of crayons.

Be careful at some point they wise up and pay you back, as in two OLD western gunfighter leather gun belts, I did offer to take a pic of myself wearing them, Have yet to receive any more crap !
 

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