Problem resizing .380 brass with RCBS die

[slowr1der]

I bought a set of RCBS carbide dies for .380 off of a forum that were supposed to be NIB. I have no reason to doubt his as they look new. Anyway, I hadn't used them until tonight and I tried to use them. It just doesn't seem to be resizing the case mouth as it's still out of round after running it through the die. I set it like I normally set my dies. I screwed it in until it touches the shell holder. This is also what the manual says to do.

Any advice on this? What can I be doing wrong? I took it apart and it looks like all the parts are there from what I see in the instruction book. It's the decapping rod, and the decapping pin. I don't see any obvious issues. Any idea's what I'm doing wrong?

 

[Certaindeaf]

Did you use the expander? Expand it as little as possible.

 

[gamestalker]

It should be a 3 die set, right? You should have the resizing die, which is identifiable by the decapping pin sticking out of it about 3/8" I've been reloading for a long time, but I recently tried to FL size some bottle neck brass using a neck die. So just make sure your not inadvertantly using the wrong die. RCBS pistol dies also look slightly different than Lee pistol dies, so it is possible to briefly mistake another die for the resizing die, yes?

 

[cfullgraf]

Sorry to ask the obvious, the sizer die should have 380 ACP stamped in it.

 

[saitek]

bent case

some time's the case mouth's get bent pretty good and the die will not draw it out as it doe's not have a expander ball like rifle die's .
in that case i like to use a large tipped tapered punch just big enough to fit in the mouth to stretch out the dent in the mouth ,then run it through the die again .some time's you have to do it to save brass .

 

[slowr1der]

It is the 3 die set, and I'm using the resizing die, and it is stamped for .380. After playing with it some more, I'm thinking it just doesn't draw these dings out since it doesn't have an expander ball. It does seem to be resizing though. I say this, because I had a case that the bullet would fall down in, the case mouth had gotten so large. After running it through the die, it went back to normal and I could no longer push the bullet in by hand.

The only other thing that I did notice, is I ran about 100 pieces of mixed headstamp brass through the die. When I got to the expander step, I adjusted the expander die and ran it all through the expander. Some pieces you could feel that it was having to expand as it took some pressure, where others felt like it wasn't touching anything, just going in and out with super easily. Shouldn't they all have been the same size? So shouldn't all of them needed the same amount of pressure when running them through the expander die? It's like some of them were big enough they didn't need expanding, yet some of them did. I'm not sure that I'm explaining this very well, but hopefully you can tell what I'm talking about.

 

[NeuseRvrRat]

could be the varying case lengths between different headstamps.

i load FMJ in .380 and skip expanding alltogether.

 

[243winxb]

Some pieces you could feel that it was having to expand as it took some pressure, where others

This can be caused by different thickness of the case walls between brands.

 

[saitek]

i second the last comment ,the thickness of the wall and what quality of brass alloy it is made of makes a difference how it feels going through the die .
it is a small case and you can notice the difference easy . i just loaded a bunch of mixed range brass using lee die's and you could feel the different brand's as they went through the die .
i loaded lead bullet's so i belled all the cases,and it didn't take a lot on all the cases . small ding's down the case wall prob wont be removed .

 

[K-Rod]

Check your case lengths. If their not all the same, their gonna flare differently which will feel different. Also, its a go idea to back the die off the shell holder just touch with the re-sizing die. Carbide is brittle when struck or pressed against steel. There's debates that that carbide part is in the die & the shell holder doesn't make contact but I bet you'll be ticked off guy if you by fluke chance shatter your die. It won't matter backing it out just a smidgen just to be safe.

 

[loneviking]

With a 3 die RCBS set, the sizing die is only squeezing the outside of the case. The second die is a belling die (or expander) and that forms the mouth properly. And yes, some cases will feel different than others due to brass thickness, hardness,bage of brass to name a few. BTW, the case mouths don't have to be perfectly round. Just make sure a bullet will start in them and the seating/crimping die will take care of it.

 

[Robert101]

Not perfectly round? Ok, run the case through the sizer, then the expander die. If the case is not round at that point the case was either very distorted (dented) to start with or your dies are not adjusted correctly.

Full length resize and only minimal flare the case mouth. The brass will last a lot longer this way.

 

[loose noose]

I had a set of 9mm RCBS dies about 18 years ago that the resizing die was bad. (carbide) about drove me nuts until I notified RCBS in Oroville, Ca., they sent me a new resizing die and the problem was resolved.also the people at RCBS are very helpful with any problems you have with there products. They should have a 1-800 number on there info sheet.