RCBS X-Die ?

[AR Shooter]

Anyone using one for competition reloading? What do you think? Work as advertised or should I stick with the tried and true bushing dies from Redding, etc. Thanks.

 

[stubbicatt]

I have three in different calibers. I use them for my blasting ammo, and if you follow instructions about cutting the necks short to start with, you will get ammo that lasts a long time without trimming, but I would not use them for ammunition I wanted to be accurate and here's why:

For grins I took some 308 cases and trimmed to the nominal length, 2.005", and experimented with the X die as far as setting it up. I didn't want the necks to grow past the nominal measurement, so I threaded the die insert in until the 2.005" necks started to be set back, and found where it needed to be set. In the process several necks were made short, and the material displaced from the necks created a donut at the shoulder/neck junction.

I don't know how many firings one will get on his short trimmed brass, but just know at some point you will get the donut. Heck, a 100 count lot of short trimmed brass will grow at inconsistent rates, and that inconsistency will affect accuracy until they reach nominal length. When they reach nominal cartridge length, the neck setback in the die seems to create a donut, which will also affect accuracy.

 

[AR Shooter]

Pretty much what I was thinking. The hunt for the elusive magic bullet continues.
Thanks.

 

[Milo 2.0]

Ar,
I buy them too, but don't use the feature, for RCBS sizing dies, they're nice, no rod.
But when a guy thinks about, when the brass comes in contact with that mandrel, it has to go somewhere.

 

[bdale]

I tried them also had pressure problems due to doughnut in neck shoulder junction :-\

 

[masterblaster1]

I use them the way the instructions say, have had no probs over 4 cycles through the brass, I trimmed them to 1.950 first time around. I use them for my AR and M1A brass. I recently got the case length measurement device so I will measure all my throats and see what the max case length should be.

For the record I still run the cases through the WFT trimmer just to make sure, no trimming takes place so far.

 

[Beau]

They mash your mouth chamfers flat. So, if you trim & chamfer in one operation like I do, you have to trim anyway. Nothing saved.