RCBS 10MM Carbide dies #21615 ok for 40 s&W

[PSIN]

New to reloading .40 and was hoping one of you guy might be able to help me out. I got a set of rcbs dies off ebay last night. After I paid, I got a little paranoid since the dies said 10MM instead of .40 S&W / 10 MM auto like the usually do. After a little research I found out that they are not the usual 22115 set but set 21615, which there seem to be very little info on. I contacted RCBS but have not heard back yet.
Was wondering if anyone had any experience with these and if so, will they work for .40 S&W.
Thanks Much
TB

 

[Josh45]

Im not familiar with these dies but if there made for 10mm, Then you should be able to do .40 S&W. My Lee dies says I can do 10mm as well even tho they are marked .40.

Same thing with my .38 Special dies. They say .38 on them but I made sure to buy the ones that can do .357 as I had read about it and found out the .357 dies will do .38. '

So I am thinking you should be good to go.

 

[FROGO207]

The problem with the 10MM dies will be the seating plug/taper will be further up inside the seating die and might not taper crimp the 40 S&W brass enough before it hits the shellholder. If so you may need to get a shorter necked seat/crimp die or get the bottom turned to remove some metal off yours enough to work on the 40. The sizing die will work without problems.

 

[FloriDave]

Edit: my reply below was not to you frogo207. You are absolutely correct. Your post hit while I was typing.
End edit.

That's not quite how it works. If the dies are truly made for 10mm only, the 40 won't be long enough to get to the crimp portion of the seating die.

You can load both 357 and 38 special with 38 dies. But you can't load 38's in 357 only mag dies. Same with 44mag and 44 special. If you want to load both get the shorter cartridge dies, the 44 special.

When I say you "can't" do it, the crimp die will be the problem, everything else will work. You could always get a lee factory crimp die in the right caliber and make it all work.

Hope that helps

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[Josh45]

FloriDave,

Your right. That is what I was thinking about earlier when I had mentioned when researching it before buying it. Thanks for the clarification about that and sorry to PSIN for the wrong info.

 

[MachIVshooter]

The problem with the 10MM dies will be the seating plug/taper will be further up inside the seating die and might not taper crimp the 40 S&W brass enough before it hits the shellholder. If so you may need to get a shorter necked seat/crimp die or get the bottom turned to remove some metal off yours enough to work on the 40. The sizing die will work without problems.

Or just remove the decapping pin assembly from the resizing die and back it out until it gives you the taper crimp you want.

 

[FloriDave]

The resizing-decapping die is not made to crimp.
The issue has already been correctly stated that the seating die crimp is too far up in the die to be reached by the shorter case.

Using the sizing die to try to get it to do double duty and taper crimp on a round with a bullet in it MIGHT work, but not something I'd recommend to a new reloader. A lot of variables there that may or may not work.

I'd say sell the 10mm only dies, and pick up a 40s&w set. You'll KNOW you have the right equipment for the job, and can follow the written instructions with confidence and not play around with trying make something work.

That's worth something for a 'new to reloading' shooter loading for a semi auto cartridge.

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[PSIN]

Thanks for all the feedback. I'll post specifics on the die set when they show up so at the very least there will be some solid info on this set for the next guy. we're heading to the range Sunday, so I should have some info by monday on If and How they worked out.
Thanks again
TB

 

[gamestalker]

My 10mm Lee die set won't reach the mouth to crimp. But since I never bell my mouths on any brass, I don't ever need to crimp either. Just do a nice job of chamfering the mouths and you'll never need to bell or crimp the mouths. Longer case life too!

As to RCBS dies, I have no idea with regard to the 10mm die set.
GS

 

[PSIN]

*Update.

RCBS wrote this back:
"You can size with the 21615 but you cannot seat so you would need the part number 22162 - seat dies for 40/10mm. Have a great day!"

I received the 10mm dies last week and tested the rounds made from them yesterday. Both the sizer and expander dies work without error or modification, as well as the seater portion of the crimp die.

As stated in previous posts, the crimp die was too long for the case to reach. We opted to modify them as the set only cost $26 and is cheaper to replace than buying a single Lee crimp die. Consulting the Lyman 48Ed manual, found out the difference in case length from .40 S&W (.850) and 10MM (.992) was .142. Using calipers, we scribed the port on the seater die @ .142, ground this material off, then polished and slightly tapered the new inner diameter ridge with a dremel. Threw together 25 reloads and tested at the range yesterday in my sub2000. No misfires, or feeding issues and the taper is solid and even.

Thank you all again for your input!
TB

 

[FloriDave]

Nice job

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[FROGO207]

I ended up doing the same thing with my Lee 45-70 seating dies cause the Hornaday brass could not be crimped without hitting the shell plate otherwise. Only cost me 10 minutes time and a tapered stone for my drill press to bevel the die mouth that was $2.75.