380 heads up

TANK78Z

This is news to me and a heads up to 380 acp loaders. I very recently got new 380 acp carbide dies direct from RCBS. Used them for the first time last week to resize . de-prime and expand 500 asst cases. All PMC , S&B , Winchester , and Remington cases were no problem to do, but , 50% 0f speer and 100% of the federals would crush a bulge half way down the case. thought I screwed up. I called RCBS and they tell me "some" manufacturers have changed case specifications . They are sending out a new expander no charge to solve this problem.If this is so , why would they did not included a proper expander in the first place ? the expander in the dies was roll marked 38...9 .

perry shooter

Die makers Can't know what brand of cases you are loading . It is a problem made buy the brand of cases not the dies I never load Remington or TZZ brass in my 45ACP because the wall thickness is MUCH thinner on these then other brands. I have loaded over 300,000 rounds of 45ACP. if you use this new expander and go with thin cases"the ones you had no problems with the first time the bullet you are loading may drop down on top of your powder charge or be pushed further down in the case when they feed into the chamber both of these actions can cause increase in pressure when fired and FTF in loading.

03lover

I ran into the same problem with some once fired Speer and Federal 380 brass. The problem is caused by a ridge or thickened ring in the brass during the manufacturing process. It is intended to prevent deep seating of the bullet during the loading cycle of the pistol. Not all of my Speer or Federal brass had this problem.

perry shooter,

I agree with you. The Remington brass in several handgun calibers including the 45 ACP, 9mm and 380 ACP are thinner than most brands. Federal tends to be thinner also. My RCBS 380 carbide die will not size my 380 brass small enough to hold a .355" diameter bullet tightly enough and the loaded rounds fail the thumb test. Bullets .356" diameter are border line, so at present I have to avoid loading 380 Auto with Remington and Federal brass.

Not all sizing dies are equal and I intend to try a couple of different brands, hoping one will size smaller.

TANK78Z

as long as you dug this old post out, an update on the replacement expander from RCBS. It works perfectly and now reloading the brass is done perfectly and I have shot and reloaded the same cases several times with excellent results. If you want to use your formerly unusable 380 brass call RCBS and get an updated expander , at no charge, Bob

dcs shooters

I've loaded about 700 pieces of 380 with my Lee die set with no problems at all. The size and fire in my Browning BDA and Kel-Tec fine.