Any one out there use the RCBS X dies? Was wondering if it works as well as advertised for keeping trimming down to a minimun.

I'm sure you will get a number of answers, but I use them for my service rifles, producing practice ammo in 3006 and 7.62, to supplement bought ammo.

Starting with new military pulldown brass and trimming to the minimal/same length as per instructions, the brass grew a bit under the maximum trim length and stabilized there.

After 10 reloads, I routinely discarded the brass, which I processed in lots of 100, as the brass usually won't size down enough as per my case/headspace gauges.

During the life of the brass, I never had to trim the cases, length stayed right under the max.

I typically load 3500+ rounds a season of practice ammo and I find they do work.

hth

WELL guess the x die did what it was suposed to! Thanks

I reciently purchased a set in 8 MM Mauser. But it's too early to report. I loaded 500 new cases with them. They seemed to work well. I'll find out after a few fireings. billt

Ditto what iamgene said. I also have to tell you that I've broken a few decapping pins. They work, but you must set that die, never change it, and always use it, or all is lost.

I don't use the decapping pins on the dies to remove the primer. I always remove the primers from the cases with a lee decapper as the first thing I do in case preperation. I remove the pins from RCBS dies as I am not going to use them anyway.

quote:

Originally posted by buckshot:
Ditto what iamgene said. I also have to tell you that I've broken a few decapping pins. They work, but you must set that die, never change it, and always use it, or all is lost.

Or you can keep a sample, resized case and use it to reset the mandrel if it becomes necessary to take the die apart (like to replace or tighten a decapping pin).

To answer the original question, I use them in 260 Remington and 223 Remington (the two calibers I shoot in competition) and they do work as advertised. Once you do the initial trim, you can skip that step (and chamfering and deburring) for the life of the case.

I sure do like them as I hate to trim brass..they work..I decap with my dies, never been a problem..