Can't get my rcbs 30-06 die to crimp - just keeps pushing the bullet farther into the neck no matter how far I back off the stem, this with 190 grain boolets. Couldn't even come close when I tried to seat my Lee soup can 113 grainers. I reckon it's the design. I know my Lee 8mm die works great so was just wondering if I'm gonna hafta buy a new Lee die or what?, thanx...Gary D. aka Fuzzy Sights

Gary, the problem is the hole in the top of the die the boolit passes through to reach the seating stem. The hole's too small, it's made for condom bullets.

My solution on my Lee seating dies is to open up the hole about a thou with some sandpaper on a stick in my cordless drill. Be careful though, the metal there is pretty thin, and it sands away quickly. You also might want to mark the die -- if you use it later for FLGC bullets, it could allow the bullet to cant slightly and enter the caseneck at a slight angle.

I totally concurr with Dr. Grumble's diagnosis
The RCBS die is steel, and will take some considerable sanding to enlarge. Or, at least a lot more than a regular Lee seater die. Then too, it will no longer be able to crimp with jacketed bullets. I would either get a Lee crimp die, or acquire an extra seater from a bud, or gun show, to "adjust". You will be out a lot less money/trouble in the long haul.>>>....Bug.

Kinda hada hunch that was the case. My Lee 30-30 and 8mm dies work great with cast, didn't hafta open them up at all. I'll take your advice and get another die to play with. Thanx gents...Gary D.

If you are going to be buying a new die, make it a Lee factory crimp die. You will save yourself the aggravation of modification and get a better, more consistent crimp to boot.

I agree with the suggestion to use a Lee Factory Crimp Die (FCD), but it needs to be in addition to, not instead of, another seating die. The FCD doesn't seat a boolit, it only crimps the caseneck.

And, the reason some dies work with our cast boolits and others won't, is not because of the dies, but rather because of the oversize diameter of the boolits we use. For the most part, seating dies are cut to SAAMI specs, as are most commercially made FLGC bullets. When we make our boolits bigger, they no longer fit the seating dies.

Seems to me he already has a seating die that seats, he just can't get it to crimp...

Ima, what's seating his boolits is the crimp portion of the die, not the seating stem. Since the boolit isn't going on up into the top of the die to contact the seating stem, there's nothing to properly align the boolit with the caseneck. Only the nose of the boolit is contacting the die constriction.

Yep, that makes sense.

Imashooter, yep that's exactly what I have and Grumble's right about the die. My rcbs 06 dies were made in 65 and served my Dad well and I've been using em for years with nary a hitch, that is up until I tried these cast in em. So what brand dies do you all use for .310 sized bullets in 30-06? Do Lee dies have larger bores that RCBS dies? Thanx, gents...Gary D.

Gary D
Another thing you can do if you have a variety of dies is use the next larger caliber die. I've had some fat bullets for my 7.65 Argentine and 7.7 Jap so I used my 8mm Mauser die to seat the bullets. You could probably seat your 06 bullets with you 8mm seaters.

Joe

GaryD...RCBS being quality dies has that problem. I've had to open a set of 458 Win Mags and a set of 45/70s as I was using bigger diameter cast bullets. Then, they work fine.

You'll need a good machinist if you want to open them as it's ticklish opening and leaving the crimping shoulder intact.

I wouldn't attempt a home lap job./beagle

I still think the easiest and least expensive solution is to just buy a cheap set of Lee dies, and open up the seating die as mentioned above. Don't worry too much about the crip shoulder, just spring $10 for a Factory Crimp Die and be done with it. You won't be sorry you got the FCD, it's a really handy tool.

I'll do that Grumble, sounds like the easiest way to go. I don't have the patience for machining something. Tried being a machinist once years a go - I lasted about 3 months, just knew that wasn't for me. Thanx guys...Gary D.