RCBS X-die

[Cvarney]

Hey guys. Been away from the hide for a couple years. But recently a buddy of mine asked me to teach him how to reload and it got my interest perked. I was going through all my junk tskingniventory and I came across a 223 x-die I bought like 5 years ago and forgot about it. I never could get it set up right to work as advertised. Tried it again with no joy. Does anyone know how to properly set this up?
incase anyone doesn’t know what it’s for. It’s a sizing for that it supposed to help with having to trim so often. It is supposed to size the brass and squeeze down length down as well. No matter how I’ve tried it I either either get nothing or a pushed in neck.
many help is appreciated.

 

[m1match]

I have and use them but found that they don't do a very good job of reducing case length growth. I followed instructions, trimmed the whole batch to uniform length, then put a trimmed, lubed case in the die and then screwed the decap/expander/mandrel stem down until it contacted the case, locked it in place. Then used it on subsequent resizings and although it might somewhat reduce case length growth, it doesn't do it very well so I just gave up and use mine without setting the mandrel, I just use it as a conventional resizing die. I never had pushed in necks, but can see if you screwed the mandrel down too far that it would cause that problem.

This die is just a conventional full length sizing die body, with conventional decapper and neck expander. The difference is the stem that screws the decap stem down, the bottom of the stem is a mandrel the same diameter as the expander ball with a 90 degree shoulder that is supposed to contact the case mouth and keep the case from getting longer when sized. But like I said it doesn't work well enough to make it worth the extra trouble of adjusting and if you adjust wrong, you collapse the case neck and ruin the case.

I would recommend just using the X Die as a conventional full length sizing die, RCBS die quality is pretty good.

 

[Cvarney]

I have and use them but found that they don't do a very good job of reducing case length growth. I followed instructions, trimmed the whole batch to uniform length, then put a trimmed, lubed case in the die and then screwed the decap/expander/mandrel stem down until it contacted the case, locked it in place. Then used it on subsequent resizings and although it might somewhat reduce case length growth, it doesn't do it very well so I just gave up and use mine without setting the mandrel, I just use it as a conventional resizing die. I never had pushed in necks, but can see if you screwed the mandrel down too far that it would cause that problem.

This die is just a conventional full length sizing die body, with conventional decapper and neck expander. The difference is the stem that screws the decap stem down, the bottom of the stem is a mandrel the same diameter as the expander ball with a 90 degree shoulder that is supposed to contact the case mouth and keep the case from getting longer when sized. But like I said it doesn't work well enough to make it worth the extra trouble of adjusting and if you adjust wrong, you collapse the case neck and ruin the case.

I would recommend just using the X Die as a conventional full length sizing die, RCBS die quality is pretty good.

I’ve always wondered if it really worked as advertised, because I never saw much about it. And, in my opinion, it would be wildly popular if it kept us from trimming 223 every loading.

I’ve got a regularly full length set up that I’ve always used. I bought this some years ago before I had a decent trimmer. I was using the cheap Lee trimmer with the mandrel that control the length. It seemed that over big batches of brass the end would mushroom and the Clem length off the case would shorten and I had huge burrs that took forever to remove. I figured that then I just wasn’t getting consistent enough length then to be workable. Now I’m using a WFT and the length is far more consistent and cleaner. Found the X die and decided to try it out again with no luck. Oh well. Never hurts to have another die.
I really appreciate the reply.
Thanks again!

 

[supercorndogs]

If you don't want to trim, don't trim. Your chamber is longer than your max trim length. Measure some pieces if they are hanging around max trim length, leave them. Watch your shoulder bump and your necks will grow less.

I have a couple X-dies, I have the mandrels screwed up so it can't contact the case neck. I never found them to work well.

I like the WFT, I don't use them as much as did when I bought them.