Rcbs reloading dies

[oldbear1950]

I am thinking of buying a set of RCBS 45 colt dies
On the edge paper one says group B item 19106

the other says group B item 19108

all I know for sure is they are steel dies not carbide, so would need to be lubed,
but can anyone say when they were built?

[Unclenick]

RCBS probably can.

[44caliberkid]

Hold out for a carbide sizer, lot less mess and work, or try to get the price down more because it isn’t a carbide sizing die.

[GeauxTide]

I've had excellent results with LEE dies. x2 on Carbide Sizer. You don't want to lube pistol cases.

[oldbear1950]

I started learning to reload back in the mid 1970s and I do not think they had carbide sizing dies at that time.
Seems when I reloaded back then all cases had to be lubed, and with this spray lube is not really a problem.
I have three presses, a Lee hand press, a Lee 4 hole turret press, and my Hornady lock n load progressive press.
I already have carbide dies for all my pistol reloading, just wanted these to play around with, and sometimes is nice to resize the case after priming just to be sure ,
and these sizing dies do not have the pin for depriming

[oldbear1950]

I think when I started reloading before everyone went to progressive presses, all the companies made dies like that. I have seen them from Bonanza, which is now Hornady, RCBS, CH, Bair, Lachmiller, and others

[oldbear1950]

I load for 32 H & R mag, 38/357 mag, 9mm, 45 acp, 45 colt, and will start loading for 454 casull.
I also load 45-70 rifle cartridges.

[oldbear1950]

Just wish some one made a carbide sizing die for 45-70

[Unclenick]

If you are thinking of a no-lube carbide die for 45-70, they can't make them because the taper below the bullet base on a 45-70 is too great. The no-lube carbide dies work as they do because they are just a ring of carbide that sizes the case to the same diameter all the way down, and that ring has too little area in contact with a case at any point in the resizing stroke to get stuck. They make full-length carbide dies for rifle cases, and could do that for 45-70, but those dies have full contact all down the case, same as a steel die does, so you have to lube them same as for a steel die, or a case can get stuck in them, too. I won't mention how I know that is true for a fact.

The purpose of the FL carbide dies is longer life in production, and smoother, more new-looking finish on the brass. So, these are mainly for folks doing commercial or larger club production. The price is in the hundreds of dollars for that big piece of carbide, which is another reason to leave them for the commercial volume loaders.

[Viper225]

Some OLDER RCBS Dies will have the year made on the top.
I would not pay much for a non-carbide die set.

With that said, if you are not going to load large amounts of ammunition, you can get by with the non-carbide dies. Lubing the cases, and cleaning the lube back off just takes a little more time. I do this every time that I load Rifle ammunition.

Bob R

[ligonierbill]

Old Bear: My RCBS carbide 45 ACP dies are Part #18915. I don't use them anymore. If you want 'em, PM me.

[44 AMP]

.45ACP dies will produce drastically undersize .45 Colt ammo.

The .45 Colt specs .480" at the case mouth and is a straight case.

The .45ACP specs .473" at the case mouth, tapering to .476" at the case head.

.45acp dies are not the right dies to use to load .45 Colt rounds.

[ligonierbill]

My bad. I saw the OP was loading 45 ACP and jumped to an incorrect conclusion.

[rc]

I would keep looking until you get a decent grey box carbide set which will be 90s or newer or a Redding set. I have mostly RCBS dies but have a Redding 454 Casull set that works fine. Make sure to get a roll crimp set.