Lock ring on RCBS dies

[oldreloader]

That's what I do.

Any hardware store with have an Allen-head steel set screw assortment.

Just take one of your brass screws with you and match it up.

I think they are 10-32 if I remember correctly.

rc

Yes. That's the right size. I bought a bag of the steel ones and replaced all the brass ones. I hate the brass screws as bad as some hate Lee rings.

 

[Morrey]

I did call RCBS after I ordered the Hornady die locking rings. They admitted multiple failures and are sending me a couple of set screws with a brass insert to be seated between the set screw and die. Its nice to know they offer a fix for the problem albeit one that I consider a band aid instead of an engineering fix.

I will only use the RCBS dies and new Hornady lock rings on my two RCBS single stage presses I use for rifle cartridges. I use one press for sizing and the other press for bullet seating. The size (OD) of the Hornady lock ring wont pose a problem.

I also have a Dillon press (and Dillon dies) for handgun rounds, but this press has tool heads to interchange for various calibers. I haven't had to do much adjusting on these dies except the bullet seating depth for various bullets within the same caliber.

I have never been much of a Hornady man until recently. I have bought several pieces of Hornady equipment recently and I consider them very acceptable with good engineering consideration.

 

[hdwhit]

Another vote for using Hornaday lock rings. I replace the locking ring on every die I have with them.

 

[judgedelta]

For what it's worth, I copied this link from somewhere (maybe this forum) about these cup-point screws that will work with the lead shot against the die threads. I haven't tried them but they have to work better than the brass screws that come with the RCBS dies.

https://www.boltdepot.com/Set_screws_Allen_Cup_point_Stainless_steel_18-8_10-32.aspx

 

[Morrey]

Another vote for using Hornaday lock rings. I replace the locking ring on every die I have with them.

I ordered a 6 pack of Hornady rings from Amazon. They are arriving today!!

Lots of folks are concerned with runout and concentricity, and precision micrometer dies to accomplish this are expensive. So if the standard RCBS lock ring applies pressure to the die from a perpendicular angle, is this not in theory defeating the idea of concentric? I like RCBS very much, but Hornady got them beat on this aspect of loading.

 

[HEAVY METAL 1]

I absolutely hate the RCBS cheezee rings set up with the brass setscrew. They strip so easely . Sure RCBS will replace them,but with the same junk .People bitch about the Lee system, but I find that they holdrather well. I like the Hornady rings the best with Lee second and RCBS dead last. One thing I have done before I got any Lee dies (I had only RCBS dies at that time) is I went to the hardware store and bought brass screws as one can reef them down without striping unlike the setscrews. You have to dremel the the screw's head a tad so the screw head does not catch on the press body. YMMV