rcbs gold medal dies or redding competiton dies

[beenjammin]

between the two dies esp.the seater dies. has anyone had any troble out of the rcbs. I like the ide of putting the bullet in the window of the rcbs, but at the same time does that window interfere with assuring proper alignment.

Also since they are both bushings dies, are the rcbs and redding bushings interchangable by chance.

 

[jasonk]

Re: rcbs gold medal dies or redding competiton dies

Interesting, I never liked the RCBS competition dies because of the extended shellholder, but it looks like the gold medal dies might be able to be used on a progressive.

Just read this as well:
•Gold Medal Match bushing dies will accept bushings made by Hornady, Redding or Wilson in addition to RCBS bushings.

 

[ChadTRG42]

Re: rcbs gold medal dies or redding competiton dies

All of my comp die sets are Redding. I love the adjustment knobs of the Redding, plus their awesome comp seaters. I don't know if the RCBS comp dies have the screw driver adjustments, but this is what I hate about the RCBS dies. I like the Hornady dies, and prefer the Redding.

 

[308zone]

Re: rcbs gold medal dies or redding competiton dies

+1 on the Redding dies. Most of my dies are RCBS but like Chad all my comp dies are Redding.

 

[Rootshot]

Re: rcbs gold medal dies or redding competiton dies

I just borrowed a friend's .223 RCBS Small Base X Dies. I was surprised to find that even with a conventional expander ball, the neck runout on a sample I took was between .001"-.002".

I think that most companies that have invested in modern CNC machining equipment are now turning out dies that are excellent. None are standing out as obviously superior. Even non-match grade dies are turning out great ammo.

I also own Hornaday New Dimension and Redding Match / Regular dies and frankly can't tell much quality difference between them in the form of loaded ammo.

I've also found that I have no use for micrometer heads. After I find a seating depth I like for a specific bullet, I just create a dummy round and file it away as a seating depth gage. If I reset the dies, I just back out the seating stem, put the gage in and ram in the uppermost position and lower the seating stem until it hits my gage.

I do have a used die set that looks about 15+ years old and the runout on that is definitely not up to par with recently manufactured dies.

--Rootshot

p.s. I used to have an RCBS set with the bullet seating window when I first started reloading. I quickly found out that this is an unnecessary feature that really doesn't add anything except another specialized shellholder.

 

[oldreliable45120]

Re: rcbs gold medal dies or redding competiton dies

Go with the Redding My RCBS comp seater die kept putting a ring on the bullets while they were being seated. Switched to Reddding for all my comp rounds. I use the RCBS for my hunting and ball loads

 

[rwcathunter]

Re: rcbs gold medal dies or redding competiton dies

the rcbs comp seater is nice for .22 cal. dropping the bullet in the window is easier than holding those little bullets. other than that redding is the way to go. just my $.02.