New RCBS MatchMaster Dies

Just informational. New at RCBS.com .... RCBS is replacing both their Competition line and their Gold Medal line of dies with this new line, called MatchMaster. They've retained the drop-in window....but the design of the innards is a question mark. I do know that the sizers have titanium-coated expanders included, but they are designed for bushings. many will remove the expanders and buy and use the optional bushings sized for their rifle.

Explanation of that last statement, as per the Gold Medal die instructions: "The Decap Pin holder found in the accessory bag must replace the Expander Ball for proper use with the Neck Bushings."

I looked at Grafs and Midway USA, and so far nothing yet.....so it's pretty new.



Below is a thumbnail of the soon to be available dies by caliber.......the prices shown are manufacturer's list price I assume of the die set of two. What Grafs and Midway USA, et el will sell them for is a question mark.


At RCBS's site, they come in full length, neck, and of course the seaters. You will be able to buy them separately too.....when?....you'll have to call.

Walkalong said:

I would love to take one apart.

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Yeah, me too. I think they needed to get rid of the older competition line a long time ago, the other brands did kick them in the tail and the Gold Medal seaters were way better too...why did they need 2 lines anyway? RCBS said they took the best of the two and improved them some more. We will see. I have Gold Medal sets in .308 and .223 and love them.....so I doubt a review will come from me.....unless they send me one free to review....can you hear laughter?

Thanks for the video redrider! For the most part Gavin did a good job describing how it works. The Competition dies were made for single station presses, the Gold Medal sets were improved in several ways, but one important feature was that they didn't require special shell holders, and thus could be used on progressives.

Gavin must have forgot that the Gold Medal Dies also came with the non-expanding primer pin option. Obviously, you don't need an expander if you choose to use a bushing. One of the reasons in the video that it didn't require much friction to pull out the coated expander ball.....was that it didn't need expanded. It wasn't sized excessively in the neck as non-bushing sizers do

Walkalong said:

Some people use expanders with bushings (Slightly tighter than needed bushing with and expander just barely moving the neck back out, not a bad thing with unturned brass IMO), so a coated (Nitrided?) expander ball would be a good thing, but a carbide would be even better IMHO.

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Learn something new every day. Why expand at all if you have the right size bushing?

What I've gravitated to is sizing with a bushing in #1, and using an M die in #2. Then using a bullet feeder in #4 where the bullets drop & seat enough to handle the rotation trip to the seating die.

The beauty of this seater is that you don't really need either ... if you don't mind dropping a bullet in the seater in the open mouth above the die plate. That's not quite as convenient as a bullet feeder....but its way faster and more convenient than trying to place a bullet on top of a case when you are trying to keep a rhythm stroking a progressive.....and you don't get bit trying to retrieve your fingers in time either.

I've been using G.M. seaters in both .223 and .308. Really like them. They do a great job with concentricity.....doubt I will buy the new version.....unless they have improvements beyond the scale engraving he talked about.

Interesting! Two things I've learned new this week and it's only Thursday. The obvious question is: Does the TiNi coating rub off very soon?

Walkalong, you are right of course, but I'm loading AR's to fill magazines for S.D., plinking, and hunting in a pinch, not for single-shot long range competition....what I don't like is an expander that stretches the hell out of my LC brass and ruins it. Maybe the bushing and TiNi coating is the cat's meow for what I want.

ArchAngelCD: These dies aren't pistol sets. MatchMaster seaters, sets, and neck sizing sets are competition sets for Rifle only. Midway has none yet, but they are listing them for $110 for seaters, $160 for sets...either full or neck sizing. So these may not be in the price range for most of us......I'll be looking for a sale.....might like to add one for my .243 some day....I'm patient. My two Gold Medal seaters in .308 and .223 I got on sale for about $75 each. I have a .308 GM sizer....don't remember what I paid but it wasn't even close to $110. The set price puts each at $80....still high.

I posted a thumbnail of what calibers they are going to make in my first post......I did not realize that you can't make it full size.....so nobody could even read it. That makes thumbnails worth nothing.

Won't make that mistake again. Anyway here's the caliber list and Manuf. list price (don't bet on the part numbers....their list is the same list, same part numbers for full, necksizing and seaters) somebody screwed up with that:

ballman6711 said:

First post here, should probably say hello.

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Welcome to THR's Handloading Forum, ballman! Lot's of good information and people here.....best of the best....with the best leader too.