The physical differences between a set of X-Dies (shown on the right) and a set of the older traditional RCBS dies is not obvious on the surface.
ject had reached its conclusion, I still didn’t have a complete and thorough grasp of exactly how the X-Dies were able to slow down the rate of the case growth, so I contacted my buddy Mi- chael Kinn, the media representative for RCBS, for a more thorough explanation. After consulting with the company’s plant engineers, he relayed to me that the X-Dies’ ability to keep the length of the cases down to a minimum is basi- cally a product of the design of the die mandrel. When a case is resized using a traditional type of resizing die it is like a cold metal draw process, which simply moves the metal around to wherever there is lack of restriction or confi nement. Sometimes this is referred to as “fl owing” the metal. It is kind of like a blacksmith pounding out a piece of metal on an anvil. This results in the metal becoming thinner in some places and thicker in others. When resizing a cartridge case using a traditional style resizing die the same thing occurs. In this situation metal is often moved from the thick web area of the neck forward, causing the neck to grow in length. The X-Dies are designed to stop that from occurring through the use of, for lack of a better term, barriers within the design of the mandrel. The company offi cials also pointed out that it is very impor- tant to initially trim all of the cases to a uniform length. The X-Dies cannot make brass of various lengths consistent. Also, introducing longer cases into the die can result in collapsing the case shoulder.
CONCLUSION The X-Dies did not entirely stop
the metal movement within the cases. As can be expected, there was still some migration of the metal, but it did hold the neck lengths down remarkably well. Even after 10 handloadings the cases still were not exceeding the recommend- ed .22-250 maximum length standard of 1.912". After 10 shots had been fi red and the cases resized, the lengths of the X-Dies cases remained 0.005" and 0.006" under the recommended maximum. I stopped the reloading of those cases only because I thought the realistic life span of those cases had been used up. While the use of the X-Dies may not totally eliminate the need to trim your brass, they certainly can be credited for reducing the number of times that the process is needed. That is too bad – it would have been my great pleasure to send all my trimming equipment into storage, but I suppose that will never happen. When using X-Dies, a handloader realistically could limit the trimming to one occurrence by carefully monitoring the case lengths from shot to shot. However, a better approach might be to establish a set program of periodic trimming at regularly sched- uled intervals in order to provide a higher degree of case consistency. The chart shows the cases can, in time, vary by a few thousandths of an inch, and to me that would be a good argument for a program of periodic retrimming. Nevertheless, I do believe using X-Dies
The X-Dies resizer (shown on the left) outwardly appeared very similar to a standard resizer, but upon closer examination slight differences were noted in the shape and design of the mandrel.
has the potential to considerably reduce the needed frequency of case trimming, which to me is a real positive point. Us- ing a set of X-Dies might even result in improving the overall quality of your cases by maintaining a more consistent metal thickness throughout the case. The jury is still out on that one, but it seems logical to me that less metal movement during resizing would result in better case consistency. Once again, however, please take my advice and carefully read and follow the instruc- tions that come with the dies in order to avoid any problems like those I initially experienced.
Contact
RCBS Operations 605 Oro Dam Blvd Oroville, CA 95965 1-800-533-5000
Web:
http://www.rcbs.com
Author’s note: I believe it is imperative that we include a standard precautionary statement concerning the use of reloading data within this article. While the loads used in these tests came from reliable published reloading manuals, and I believe that they were safe in the test rifl e, that does not necessarily mean that the same load would be safe for use in all fi rearms.
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