Time to replace the RCBS dies w/ something a little better, I hope....Anybody have anything to say, good or bad about this 2 die set up...Wanting to control the runout demon too...

Question.....Bought a 3 die Redding set, neck sizer, FL sizer and seating die from a shop today for my 300RUM, for $35.00 out the door...Will these dies outperform my ol' RCBS standard dies???
Will these dies, the Reddings, eliminte or cut down on runout??? Yeah ,yeah, I need to buy a runout gauge.....sakofan...

Sakofan,
Standard Redding Dies are probabely the finest made, however, when you get into the arena of the competition seater and full length resizer Forster is very hard to beat. I own ten sets of Forster Dies with 4 being bench rest and 6 being Ultras. For $44 you cannot beat the Forster Benchrest Die Set. They are a step ahead of anyone's standard die. Inorder to get similar performance from Redding Dies you have to spend roughly twice as much.

I use Forster's on good rifles and Redding Competition on Great Rifles... The Redding is finished better, however, I can't discern any difference in performance. YMMV.

Regards, Matt.

Thanks Matt, so the standard Redding's that I bought today, for my 300RUM are going to control the runout issue???
The other dies are for my 300Win Mag...my FL sizing die,RCBS is really scarring up the cases latley.
Might go w/ the Forster Benchrest....sakofan..

Howdy,

Sakofan, Matt is giving you good advice. He is exactly in sync with my experience. I do think that the Redding dies you have purchased will lessen your run out, but I doubt that they will eliminate it. I have found that two or three technique changes with non-Forster dies have helped the situation.

1. Always run cases up into the sizer WITHOUT the expander first.

2. Use a second step to run the case up into the sizer over a LOOSE expander.

3. When expanding, always use a GOOD lube inside the neck.

4. Clean the inside of the neck with some solvent....I use paint thinner.

5. When seating bullets, just barely bump the bullet into the neck, then rotate the case 90 degrees or so and bump it again, then rotate again, and seat.

6. Buy a run out guage!

Hope this helps, and best to you. Oh, I probably should have mentioned to always check the expander ball or button. I have seen a dozen or so that were out of round or miss-drilled or miss-threaded or some such thing.

Bext to you.

Coach

Ok, even though i am goign to show my ignorance, what is Runout? is that the same as the brass getting stretched and the case needing to be trimmed as a result? Thanks for the enlightenment.

Red

Run out is how out of round something is.
If something is slowly turned while a dial indicator is touching it, the change on the dial is the runout.

Sinclair's book says to measure the mid neck of the case with reference to the body.

I like to measure the ogive of the bullet in loaded ammo with reference to the body.

When I say, "with reference to", I mean that is the part that acts as the bearing surface on which the case turns.

The importance of runout is that if a bullet enters the bore out of alignment, then the center of mass is off center of the bore. That center of mass is spun by the rifling and when the bullet exits, the bullet moves in the direction of the center of mass. The faster the twist, the more error.

Supposedly, according to an old NRA article, .004" runout causes about 1" error at 100 yards. The same article claims that the data tracks the prediction.

Of course there are so many other variables, that there are posters here that don't believe in it, and others who do.

I tried for 10 years to get a 1" group. I got a Sinclair Concentricity gauge for $76 shipped, and with in weeks, I was getting lots of 1" groups. But I did 20 other new things, so you pay your money and take your choice.

Clark, thats the best explanation of runout I ever heard.
Do you work for NASA??? LOL.......sakofan......