Lock out dies, do you trust them?

[Peter M. Eick]

Just curious mostly, I am interested in your thoughts.

I posted this because of my thread on Trail boss. Yes I am using an RCBS lock-out die on any powder/caliber combination that a double charge will not spill out of the case.

My logic is like this. A missed charge is irritating but not critical since I slow fire and paper punch so this is not a problem. A double charge is critical to catch since that will destroy the gun.

In roughly 175,000 rnds out of my pro2000, I have not done either, but then again, prior to titegroup I would eyeball check every charge. Since titegroup came along, I found that even in the 38 special, I could not see the charge, so I got a powder check die to verify the load. The powder check die, changed the bullet seating to position 5 so now I can see the powder (barely).

The sacrafice for the powder check die is no Redding profile crimp or Lee FCD as the last stage. Hence I am trying out trail boss to get around this problem.

 

[Peter M. Eick]

By the way, I should add that since I started using the lock out die. It has never caught any doubles or missed charges. To date, I have not shot any double or missed charges either, so one could argue that either it works or it is lucky.

Also, whenever I load up a new powder combination, I do run a check that it will "lock out" on an empty case and a double charge.

 

[Guy B. Meredith]

Yes, I do trust the RCBS lockout die. It has saved my bacon on several occasions.

 

[m0ntels]

Cant you do a little test run of loads that should activate the die, such as purposely half-cranking the press handle or throwing too light or no charge? If all you want to do is see if it actually works I'd think that'd do it. I'm still just a single stage guy though, so I dont know all the ins and outs of a prog press.

Randy