New RCBS AR Series Reloading Dies

[chuckmaster]

Has anyone been using the new 223 Rem/5.56x45 small base dies? I occasionally have an issue with some of my brass not chanbering and from what I have read so far this die helps eliminate some of these problems.

I am shoting a DPMS lo-pro classic and hate it when a cartridge doesn't chamber correctly.

Any infor is greatly appreciated.

Jim

 

[Kevin Thomas]

Jim,

Haven't tried the new RCBS series, but there's rarely a need to resort to Small Base dies, at least with most die makers. Redding tends to run theirs on the tight side anyway, and it's rare that an AR won't cycle and function just fine with brass sized in them. Had pretty much the same experience with the other RCBS dies I've used in ARs; run them all the way down until the brass gages correctly, and you should be good to go.

I don't know what, if anything, RCBS did differently in this series, but I'd guess there ay be some marketing hype to the package. Normal dies should do just fine. I'll give them a call next week or so and see what they have to say about what makes these dies "different."

 

[captacademy]

I also was thinking about trying those new dies.

 

[chuckmaster]

Kevin,

Thanks for the response and offering to call RCBS on these. I haev a really old FL die set that was made by Pacific and have questioned the quality since I started reloading this calibur last summer. I bought a bunch of once fired brass, full length sized all of the brass, then trimmed all of them. I have numberous cases that would feed, but not fire and them have to pull with a tremendous amount of effort to get them to eject.

I set this die up the same way that I have for any of my centerfires which includes a few wildcats. Maybe just changing to RCBS of Redding FL dies would cure this, but being so new to an AR style gun I didn't know if there was something that I was missing.

Jim

 

[BigSkyGP]

In 223/5.56, I've been using the RCBS SB die for a couple of years, I've never had a failure ro chamber, in ARs.

 

[Kevin Thomas]

Jim,

Difficulty in ejecting a chambered but unfired round usually indicates a body the wasn't adequately sized. If you're headpasce is good, and you're bumping the shoulders back by .003"-.005" and still getting this, then I'd probably be looking a trying another die. Hard to say without seeing it, but that's my suspicion. The should chamber every bit as easily as factory, unfired rounds, and come right back out the same way. No sticking, to fighting the charging handle, no resistance.

See if you can size some up in a buddy's 223 F/L die, and see if that resolves the problem. If so, there's the culprit and you know the solution.

Hope that helps.

 

[MrMarty51]

Not a AR15 but a M1A in the .308 caliber and when I purchased the rifle I asked My sales/dealer about reloading dies,He told Me to go with only small base dies so I had Him order the dies,I have not had a problem one with cycling/ejection of the spent brass,I also own an AR10 and have not had any problems with that rifle either.
Small Base dies only for reloading the auto/semiauto Military style rifles.
That is My 02 worth.

 

[hol37748]

Chuckmaster,

I just had to reply when I read your description of the cases being hard to eject and some rounds not firing. I just had the same exact issue on my Dtech 25 wssm, ar-15 upper. Most rounds would not go off though the primer was dented. As it turns out I had set the shoulders back too far on the cases. They were going too deep in the chamber and the ejector could not engage properly on the case head. For some reason the charging handle was very hard to pull back to eject the case just like what you wrote. I immediately trashed those cases when I figure out what the issue was.

Once I set-up my full length sizing die to only bump the shoulder, the problem went away entirely and I now have complete reliability.

I had never had this issue before so it took me awhile to figure out what was going on. Hope this helps.

 

[chuckmaster]

hol37748

Unfortunately I don't have any of the suspect cartridges left to measure, but I don't understand why this problem was sparatic. I bought 500 rds of once fired brass, resized them all, trimmed them all, and then reloaded them. That is when I found the problem of not being able to shoot or eject some of the rounds.

I have since bought the new RCBS small base dies and have had zero problems. I had suspected that the old Pacific FL die was the issue, but didn't understand as to how or why. It seemed it would have been all or nothing, not every so often.

Thanks for the advise on the shoulder and I will sometime take some spent brass and run it through the Pacific die and check the for the shoulder being pushed too far.

Jim