what is up with RCBS mould quality lately?

[J davidson]

anyone else buy any rcbs hogdon moulds say in the last year or so?i bought a .576 one back in june and when I received it noticed the hole in the sprue cutter did not line up with the hole in the blocks.you could see about 6 thousandths of the block in the sprue hole.

so i cast some bullets anyway to see how they would turn out and as i thought the nose was not shaped right.when I checked the bullets for size after cooling the bottom band toward the skirt was measuring a hair over .577. I already have a .578 hogdon for about 10 yrs and that has been perfect and every bullet cast that I ever checked was at .578

a call to RCBS cust. service and they told me to send it back,that was 1st week of july and still no replacement but i did get 2 phone calls from their head of QC.He told me his chief engineer says both of these issues are within specs for their moulds:shock: and that a replacement would be the same!not used to this from RCBS at all. anyone else ever have this experience?

[xring2245]

RCBS moulds were good when they transitioned from Ohaus moulds. Just like ev erything else today, you're either buying Chinese or Indian junk or shoddy American workmanship.

Lately, when I need a mould, I look for an older mould or go to Al "Swede" Nelson at Night Owl Enterprises in Utah or Miha at MP Moulds in Slovenia. All the moulds I have from these two mould makers are PERFECT.

James

[NJCOP]

Some of RCBS's products are outsourced as xring mentioned. Some Rockchucker presses were made in China and the quality suffered. Don't know if that's still the case. Mine is old and I'm glad I bought it when I did (A long time ago,) Not to be a schuck but those inexpensive Lee molds are still made here in the US.

[ms3635v]

I recently bought a .580 RCBS Hodgdon mold from RCBS and it functions properly and the blocks fit together nicely and it casts very consistently. The only difference I noticed between this mold and previous Hodgdon molds I have is the bottom ring. The two top rings measure exactly .580 with dial calipers, however, the bottom ring measures about .582. This is not a problem though as the bullet passes easily through a .579 sizing die.

[iron brigade]

i recently bought a rcbs mold[.576] mold works fine but minie's come out .579 and won't fit my bore. guess i will get a sizer.

[J davidson]

I received this e-mail today concerning this mould,I guess this is their final answer.i could sell this to someone who could use a .577 or a.578 bullet but with the sprue hole not aligned with the blocks the bullet tips are not concentric it is worthless.so much for the great (or should I say formerly great) RCBS cust. service. sad that this iconic brand is nothing more than outsourced junk.


Your answer to this “sizing” issue on this Hodgdon Mould and the reason why we are having difficulties is due to the fact that our mould was never intended to be sized. Yes, you can size the bullets for better accuracy, but we don’t design our moulds for that purpose. If you look at our catalog, you will notice that no size die is recommended. What you’re looking for is a ‘custom’ Bullet Mould. RCBS discontinued custom bullet moulds several years ago.

I still have your mould here, I am certain that we can credit you the amount of the mould if you decide that this will not be a mould that you can use for your purposes.



Thank you,

Steve Frediani

Quality Supervisor

ATK Security and Sporting

RCBS Operations

605 Oro Dam Blvd E.

Oroville, CA, USA 95965

(530) 538-2666

steve.frediani@atk.com

[Ron/The Old Reb]

Sounds like a lot of customer service BS to me. I never heard that a mould had to be designed to size the bullet that it dropped. If I where you I would call customer service and ask for Steve Frediani and ask him what the hole in the spure plate not lining up with the bullet has to do with whether you size the bullet or not. Of all the moulds that I have I have never read this mould was deigned so the bullet can be sized, I think RCBS needs a new costumer service rep. I have a Hodgdon mould, the hole lines up on it and I size the bullets.

[J davidson]

can anyone reading this thread tell me if they have ever bought a nose pour mould RCBS or other where the sprue plate hole did not line up with the blocks? I do not own alot of moulds like this 5 this one would make 6 but this is the only one i have ever seen that had this problem.

[Lou Lou Lou]

I have several nose pour molds and the sprue hole lines up perfectly.

The issue is that a .576 mold is throwing a .579 bullet. Without sizing it impossible to use. mr. frediani is talking through his kepi.

[RangerFrog]

Sounds like a lot of customer service BS to me. I never heard that a mould had to be designed to size the bullet that it dropped. If I where you I would call customer service and ask for Steve Frediani and ask him what the hole in the spure plate not lining up with the bullet has to do with whether you size the bullet or not. Of all the moulds that I have I have never read this mould was deigned so the bullet can be sized, I think RCBS needs a new costumer service rep. I have a Hodgdon mould, the hole lines up on it and I size the bullets.

Ron,

There are lots of moulds out there designed to be shot as cast, in fact, the mark of a good mould is that it drops a bullet that doesn't need to be sized. Ask anyone in the schuetzen game. I can see where it would be a good thing to shoot a minie bullet as cast and as a matter of fact that is exactly what I do with mine, pan lubing them in one step, then putting the unsized bullets into my tubes... no sizing required. Am I that out of step with the norm? BTW, I am using an old RCBS Hodgden designed mould that came with my used Zouave when I bought it.

Froggie