Are Redding dies alot better than rcbs

[dgr416]

I have been reloading about 20 years and some calibers give me trouble like my favorite ,338-378 weatherby .I was wondering if it will make a difference switching to 338-378'Redding dies instead of rcbs dies .I.form.alot of my brass from 378 weatherby and 416 weatherby brass .I neck the 416 to 378 then down to 338-378 .I buy once fired 338-378 brass also but some of it will not fit my.rifle after it's been resized.Then some of my.New brass won't fit after I.seat the bullet .I load on dillion 550 and there was play in it but not now .Hopefully I.can get this straightened out .I.have messed up some brass trying.to mAke it size .I swear it's the dies not sizing far enough or something .I.need some help on this that brass is way too high to mess up ! I have heard nothing.but good things about Redding dies !

 

[el matador]

I like Redding dies. I also load for 338-378 and use Redding. Hard to say if it will make a difference in your accuracy or not, but I'm sure it wouldn't hurt.

The chamber on my Weatherby is pretty tight. When I size the brass it doesn't shrink much, and I have to adjust the die down pretty far in order to bump the shoulder. To me this is a good thing. I have heard that the shell plates on 550 presses are sometimes a little bit thicker than a standard single-stage shell holder. You might be able to measure this. A thick shell plate would prevent the die from fully sizing the brass, so you'll need to shorten the die if that's the case. Its not terribly hard to remove some material from the bottom of the die. It can be done on a lathe, or you can use fine sandpaper. Put the sandpaper on a hard, flat surface and move the die back and forth to remove a few thousandths at a time until your brass will chamber.

If your loaded rounds won't fit you might have too much brass in the neck area. When sizing down .416 or .378 brass you're going to have more neck thickness than a .338 case would have. You might need to neck turn the brass to achieve proper neck thickness. If you have a fired case from your rifle, measure the diameter of the neck. Then measure a loaded round. You want your loaded round to be at least .004" smaller. Anywhere from .004" to .006" is ideal for a hunting round, and more than .010" would be excessive. Less than .003" clearance could cause dangerously high pressure.

You might also check the length of your brass to see if they need trimming.

Good luck and let us know what you find out.

 

[MagnumManiac]

It sounds to me you have a short chamber.
Try this simple fix until you can doctor up a shell holder.
When you size, if the case is in the die, there will be a gap between the die bottom and shell holder top, this is the play in the press and the case resisting the sizing.
After touching the shell holder, screw the die IN 1/8 of a turn, size a case, clean it, chamber it. Repeat until a case chambers.

If you are already at this point, you can place a feeler gauge between the case head and shell holder, the amount the case will enter the die further is governed by the thickness of the gauge.
I would start at .003", then go up until a case chambers easily, but do not go more than .010".
Once you determine how many thou the case requires further into the die, buy another shell holder (they're cheap) and turn that amount off the TOP of the shell holder.

I have a few chambers that are like this, having a specific shell holder for that rifle/die set is far easier than altering dies etc, etc.

Good luck with it, I hope all this works out for you.

Cheers.
gun)

 

[dgr416]

I have three 338-378 weatherby accumarks two made in.Maine by seco and this last one made in.Maine .I can chamber the brass I.made from.the 416 weatherby good but.sometimes after I.seat a bullet it will not fit .I.tried coattails and they worked fine .They didn't work.and buckled the brass with flat base nosler partitions my.favorite for this gun.I bought once fired brass 338-378 weatherby and it won't fit my gun.I resized it Still won't fit .It's either the chamber or the dies .I have rcbs dies I am fixing.to buy Redding dies ..I.sometimes put a spark plug feeler gauge under the bottom of the brass to raise it up.on my dillion I hope I can figure this out in live these guns used them.in Alaska 12 years but found a bunch of the ammo my.cousin loaded on a single stage rcbs Press wouldn't.fit after the bullet was seated .I checked every case to make sure it fit before we put the powder and bullets in fit fine .I.have also bought a bunch of boattail bullets they never have a problem.I.sure do appreciate help on this I have called dillion and rcbs a ton of times same bad results.I.want.to try the Redding dies just don't trust these rcbs dies messing.up brass any.more .I.Hope I.can get this once fired to size I.have a ton of it .I.got the 416 weatherby brass as a bargain in loaded ammo so I.deloaded 1600 rounds of it by.hand with rcbs reloader hammer no fun but I did it and used bullets in my 416 rem mag.The 338-378 weatherby is awesome if I learn.all the tricks if loading it I want a 30 or 31 inch barrel to really get the most of this cartridge .thanks Mike .

 

[gohring3006]

I have heard of guys using once fired 338 Lapua brass, that's been fired in some other chamber, sizing it then let it sit for 24 hours or so, letting it spring back a little, then sizing again. It seemed to help.
Worth a try....

 

[philipbrousseau]

DRG are you sure your seater die is set up properly and not distorting your cases with the crimping feature built into the die.

 

[J E Custom]

RCBS dies are very good basic dies. There are better dies to be found that have more accuracy features that can help load better more consistent ammo at a price. you can also go to competition dies that have many good features that can also help improve your ammo "BUT" you first have to know exactly what dimensions your chamber has in order to set up your/any dies.

I would recommend completely measuring a fired case that will chamber. check the trim length and trim it to .010 to .020 shorter than SAMME specifications. then load another round and do a through comparison using the fired case that meets the requirements of your chamber.

If the loaded round does not want to chamber you should be able to find the problem with the chamber or the die setting comparing it to the fired round. When/if you find a difference, post the differences and the membership can help you solve the problem through adjustment of the dies
or case preparation. if different brand or type of dies are needed recommendations will follow.

I have and use most all brands of dies and find that some chambers don't need any special dies but others do because of there chamber dimensions and need a die that will adjust to those dimensions.
also Proper case preparation is paramount to good loading and should be a priority.

Hope this help.

J E CUSTOM

 

[el matador]

The Dillon 550 is a progressive press and uses shell plates. These cannot be easily shortened. Somebody on the Weatherby forum had this exact same problem with his Dillon 550. His dies worked fine on a single-stage press but not on the 550. He sent the dies in to RCBS, they shortened the sizing die, and now his setup works fine. If you cannot chamber the once-fired 338-378 brass after sizing its most likely because your die is not adjusted down far enough. If you have already adjusted it as far as it will go, and you have a hard cam-over with no case in the die, you will need to shorten the die.

I just took some measurements from my 338-378 Accumark. Fired brass measures .370" at the neck, and loaded rounds are .366". This is a surprisingly tight neck for a factory gun.

According to the above measurements my brass is .014" thick at the neck. If you are necking down .416 cases, its likely that your brass is now around .017" thick at the neck. You can measure a loaded round, but I'm guessing they are going to be around .372". No wonder it won't chamber. If your chamber is the same size as mine you will need to neck turn the brass.

 

[eshorebwhntr]

The few things I gathered from you latest post were...

1. Boat tail bullets seem to work fine with the 416 resized brass you've made.

2. Flat based Nosler partition bullets will not chamber with the 416 resized brass you've made.

3. 338-378 1x fired brass will not go in your chamber before or after resizing.

If number 1 & 2 are correct it sounds like you are either seating the partitions out too far and engaging the rifling lands very early or you are buckling the neck of the brass with the bullet during the seating process and causing a bulge in the neck. Because you are sizing down from 416 brass to 338 the necks are on the thick side to begin with and buckling them is causing the issue. Maybe a heavy chamfer would help in brass prep but neck turning is probably the best solution there. If thats the problem....

If #3 is true...most dies, regardless of manufacturer, will not resize all the way down to the belt. If the 1x fired stuff you bought will not chamber get a set of calipers and measure the base of a case close to the belt that will chamber in your gun vs one that will not. See where the difference is. The 1x 338 stuff may also be too long for your chamber and needs to be trimmed for length if you haven't already done that. Again, measuring with the calipers against a piece that will chamber will tell you the answer to this.

What combo of brass (that you did with your cousin...) and bullet were you using that the brass would chamber but the loaded round would not?

You have so much going on here that it is hard to nail down what exactly the problem, or problems, might be.

My guess is that your dies may be fine and that there are other issues going on. The first 2 things I would do would be to buy a Hornady L-N-L COAL measuring set up and maybe a chamber casting kit. Being able to measure your chamber with the 2 tools mentioned above will go a long way. That might be the cheapest and easiest way to start figuring out some of these problems you're having.

Hope this helps.

 

[dgr416]

I have a neck reamer that I got with a set of 338-378 KT dies should work,It is probally two thick of brass necking down from 416 weatherby.I might have to get a set of redding dies also.I will see if the once fired cases are too long.Two of my 338-378 Weatherrbys were made in Maine by Seco the other one made in Mn so the chambers may be different also.I will try everything above.I bought a bunch of nosler accubonds so the will slide in bertter.I chambered each one before I loaded them so its the neck thickness on the new 416 brass.I hope the once fired brass works too.This brass is way to high to mess up ! I am going at this slowly I have not loaded for it in years.I discovered the hard way in Alaska when my rounds wouldn't fit my gun!

 

[Deleted member 46119]

Several of the replies have hit on what I think is the issue as well.

Necking down 416 brass is making the neck to thick. I can measure my brass later but I'm pretty sure going past .015 is the problem.

I prefer outside neck turning to reaming but I think your solution is to reduce the neck thickness to closer to .014 .015.

 

[dgr416]

I.have an inside .338 reamer but don't.have a 338-378 reamer die .I do have a 338-378 KT reamer die which is close .I am going to try to use it .I hope it works reamer dies are $100 !I have a bunch of 416 weatherby brass so I guess it's worth it .I talked to.rcbs today .Hopefully I can.get brass problems straightened out and get this rifle shooting.again !