RCBS Expanders?

[Stonecrusher]

Has RCBS changed the design on all of their expander plugs? I recently purchased a set of cowboy dies for 30-30 and noticed that the expander has a shoulder on it below the tapered flare portion just like an m-die. Of course it is still a little too samll for my .311" dia bullets but I replaced it with an extra Lyman stem and larger expander plug. They are the same thread but the RCBS stem is one piece and you can't change out the expander plug.

The dies are pretty nice and am happy with them, especially after lapping about .008" out of the neck portion of the sizer. They still size down enought to use a .308" jacketed bullet if for some reason I would ever choose to do so. Price wasn't bad at all when Midway had them on sale for just barely enough to qualify for the mail-in rebate from RCBS.

Anyway, just curious if it is just the cowboy dies or if their regular expander plugs are made that way now.

 

[Ian]

I don't know, I sure hope not. The spuds with the #10x24 threaded hole in the top are the only type I have (meant to use with the universal expander die body) but I haven't bought any in a while.

RCBS seems to be absolutely famous for making their FL dies a full caliber too damned small in the neck. I start with 60-grit on a mandrel in a drill press with lots of oil and scrub them out, then polish down to give the neck tension I need plus a thousandth or two extra to allow for thin necks and still be useful for jacketed bullets if need be....or I just break down and buy their GMM FL body/bushing neck dies, or the Redding shoulder bump/bushing neck die. I would expect the "cowboy" dies to be more suitable for cast bullets, but I guess they just include the expanding die and some fancy brass hardware and charge triple for the "theme".

 

[Stonecrusher]

This is the first I have seen with the m-die type shoulder. I was wondering if the universal type you are talking about have the shoulder now as well and not just the one piece expanders in the cowboy sets.i know there old pistol dies were one piece with the decapping pin but they were just a diameter with a taper, kind of like the universals.

It has been a long time since I have bought an RCBS expander. I usually make mine just like RCBS does on the cowboy sets. I find it to be the best of both worlds. You have the larger diameter shoulder to start the bullet straight and can add a teeny bit of flair to make things a bit easier on a progressive.