[Unclenick]

Smaugh1,

Several things are wrong here. First, if the bullet falls in you are not resized. When you said trying to run the case in further didn't work because you got too much crimp, two alarms went off. First, if you are crimping when you think you are sizing, you have the seater die body in the press and not the sizing die. Second, a sizing die is normally set up to touch down on the shell holder, so there is no further adjustment available.

Additional concern: you said you are neck sizing-only, but planning to shoot in a Mini-14. Neck sizing is not normally satisfactory for any self-loader unless you are planning to feed the rounds in by hand, one-at-a-time. To guarantee feed from a magazine, either in a bolt gun or a semi-auto, you normally need to set the case shoulders back 0.002" minimum in a full-length sizing die or they will tend to jam on their way into the chamber. Neck sizing-only may let you get away without that for one loading cycle of once-fired brass, but each time you reload the cases, they form tighter and tighter into the chamber and quickly cease to spring back the 0.002" you need after the first reloading. Then the jams and case damage start to occur. I don't know your RCBS die set by number, but if it does not have a F.L. sizing die, you will need one. The inexpensive Lee die is just fine for the purpose, so it needn't cost a lot. If you were trying to neck size in a F.L. die by not tightening the die all the way down, but got a crimp, it still seems the wrong die body is in place. Only the seater die should have a crimp ring formed into it.

As suggested, a careful read of the instructions that came with the die set would help you a lot at this point. Reading a whole book cover to cover probably seems like too much when you are anxious to start loading, but you should at least have an experienced reloader walk you through the steps if you are going to try to skip that? I would not. I would do both, if possible. The reading is a good way to get a mental picture of what you are trying to do. That helps you spot and diagnose problems like the one you are having now.

Also, it is never impossible to get a factory defect. Do look at the numbering stamped into the dies to be sure they are the right ones and than nobody slipped the wrong die into the box. You can also check the diameter of the expander on the decapping stem to be sure it is the right size and not over-widening your cases. Call RCBS factory service if you have doubts. They are very helpful and will walk you through checking all that out.