Lee RGB Dies

[nashlaw]

I just wanted to share my experience with these dies. Some of you may have had outstanding luck with them, but I have not.

I have developed a love for the 30-06 and have a handful of nice rifles for the round. I bought some new brass and found some older stuff lying around my reloading area. I wanted to full-length size all of it before the first loading. To this end, I bought a set of the Lee dies because they were inexpensive and I thought how badly can you screw up a pretty basic piece of reloading equipment. I will never think that again.

I started using the FL die and was getting .008" runout on the case neck. Gee, thought I, better reread the instructions and try it again. I did my reading and "squared" the die in the press, blah, blah, blah. Still no luck.

Since I was getting nowhere fast with this die, I ordered a Redding bushing die. I would run a unsized new case in the Redding and get none to a shimmer of runout. I replaced the Redding die with the Lee and was back to .006"-.008" runout.

I have used Lee Collet dies(I know some of you hate 'em) and loaded great ammo. The RGB is a different story.

Again, this is just my experience that I am passing along.

david

 

[our gang]

Re: Lee RGB Dies

Never had any problem with any Lee dies. Document your findings and send them back, you'll get a new set.

 

[Victor N TN]

Re: Lee RGB Dies

David, I thought I told you about that.

A Volkswagon and a Cadillac will both get you to the same place. But one makes the ride a lot easier.

If you never spin your ammo, you'll never see the difference.

When are you going to marry that little girl?

 

[JLM]

Re: Lee RGB Dies

Expander balls are for the birds, one possible exception being Forester's design. I had good luck with their .308 sizer die.

I'd concur with Victor as well VW vs. Caddy. You get what you pay for most of the time

 

[oldreliable45120]

Re: Lee RGB Dies

I've used Lee dies for over 20 years, and have never had a problem. With that I only use Redding for my match ammo. Give lee a call and tell them, they should fix the problem for you.

 

[Fuzzball]

Re: Lee RGB Dies

A comparision between conventional dies (RGB) against Lee Collet and Redding bushing neck dies is much like apples to oranges to plums. They are all quite a bit different, aren't they?

Your RGB dies are NOT unique in bendng case necks. In fact, THE reason the Lee collet AND Redding's bushing type dies were developed was because conventional dies do tend to bend necks, mostly because of their brute force "drag it out" ball expanders.

A valid comparision would be between conventional FL sizers from all makers. I've done with it some 40+ sets of dies and, on average, found no statictical difference between brands.

 

[our gang]

Re: Lee RGB Dies

The one question left unanswered by the OP, is: did he ever shoot any ammo loaded with these terrible Lee dies with all that runout?
I would wager that for most purposes they would be plenty accurate enough. I believe as he stated it the EXTREME runout was .008 which means the average was between .0001 and .008, depending on the sample size. Runout like SD is a sacred cow to some reloaders and might mean something in a 1000 yd benchrest match. IMO for most of us killing a deer or banging steel at under 500, it means a lot less than the "nut behind the bolt."

 

[Victor N TN]

Re: Lee RGB Dies

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Mr. Humble</div><div class="ubbcode-body">The one question left unanswered by the OP, is: did he ever shoot any ammo loaded with these terrible Lee dies with all that runout?
I would wager that for most purposes they would be plenty accurate enough. I believe as he stated it the EXTREME runout was .008 which means the average was between .0001 and .008, depending on the sample size. Runout like SD is a sacred cow to some reloaders and might mean something in a 1000 yd benchrest match. IMO for most of us killing a deer or banging steel at under 500, it means a lot less than the "nut behind the bolt." </div></div>

I agree that if you are trying hard to shoot minute of deer at 100 yards with a lever action 45-70, every thing you stated is true.

However, knowing nashlaw, I know he won't be satisfied with that. While I an not at this time an ACTIVE competitor in benchrest. I do claim to be such. And having been around and competed against some of the best BR shooters in the world, I did pick up a few things. Maybe I'm too anal about some things. But at the Firearms Industry Super Shoot the difference between the top winner and 20th place down the list is usually less than .020" for a five aggrigate average. Out of close to 400 shooters I never FINISHED in the top 99. But I keep trying.