RCBS Lack of Customer Service

[Bobgun]

I recently bought a set of RCBS small base dies. When I went to seat the bullets (V-Max) all the bullet tips were distorted. I called RCBS and they told me to send them 3 bullets and $20.00 and they would send me a seating stem that would work with the V-Max bullets. I could understand them wanting to be paid if the bullet was not a common shape or some other reason. I bought a set of Redding dies and they work perfectly with the V-Max bullets. When I was decapping some range brass I wound up bending the decapping stem. I called Redding expecting to be charged, because it was my fault. Instead they sent me 3 decapping pin and a new decapping stem for free. That is good customer Service.

[stephen45-70]

well you cant honestly expect to get a seating stem that will work with everything right out of the box can you.
consider it lucky your redding dies worked as well .. if you plan on using the same bullet a lot its easy to fix without buying another stem .

just put a dab of jb weld in the stem .. put the die in the press ... then take a case with a seated bullet spray it with pam or a release agent and lightly run it up into the seating stem ... let jb weld dry remove the dummy round and viola .. a perfectly fitting seating stem

[Bobgun]

well you cant honestly expect to get a seating stem that will work with everything right out of the box can you.
consider it lucky your redding dies worked as well .. if you plan on using the same bullet a lot its easy to fix without buying another stem .

just put a dab of jb weld in the stem .. put the die in the press ... then take a case with a seated bullet spray it with pam or a release agent and lightly run it up into the seating stem ... let jb weld dry remove the dummy round and viola .. a perfectly fitting seating stem

I could see if this bullet was not a very common bullet. The V-Max is one of the very best bullets for varmint hunting. When RCBS was family owned they would have fixed the problem without a problem. It is just since they have been bought out that this type of thing goes on. It does not say in their catalog that it will not work with poly tipped bullets.

[stephen45-70]

I think you may be a bit unrealistic in your expectations here ....

[evan price]

The V-max point design is very susceptible to damage during seating if you have the wrong seating stem. There's many different designs of noses in bullets. The RCBS stem is designed around the spire point style most commonly found in hunting. V-MAX is not even a brand that RCBS' parent company produces, Hornady is a competitor.
I'm sorry to hear that you did not receive a favorable response, but RCBS has always been above and beyond in fixing problems involving their stuff in my own cases, even stuff I broke and knew better than to try.

Redding or Hornady dies would probably be your best bet, as you found out.

[BigV]

I have not had any problems seating V-Max bullets with my RCBS die set.

As far as RCBS customer service goes, they replaced the motor on my tumbler twice before shipping me a new tumbler. I would rate them as A+.

[SweetWilliam]

I've never had any problems with RCBS. If something broke all I would do is give them a call & they would send me a new one. No questions asked & no charge.
You should've tried seating the bullet then crimp it separately.
Or maybe you tried to put to heavy of a crimp on the case.

[Bobgun]

So what everyone is telling me I should spend an additional $20.00 to get the dies that seat the bullets I use. This would put the price well over $60.00 for the RCBS dies. I can get Dillons, Frosters or Redding dies for that kind of money, and all stand by their products. I have had great service from RCBS in the past, but I do not think that it is unreasonable to expect the dies to seat poly tip bullets.

[SweetWilliam]

Did you trim all your cases to the same length? Because if you have some cases that are longer then the one you used to set your die with when it starts crimping the longer case the bullet won't be seated fully & you'll either crush the tip or wrinkle the case. And sometimes the bullets aren't an accurate length(un-consistent). You wouldn't think it would matter much but it does when your crimping a small bullet with a polymer tip.
For my 308 bolt gun I don't even put a crimp on the bullet.

[Bobgun]

Yes I trim my case all to the same length, and use a very light crimp. I noticed on Midway USA after I got the RCBS dies another purchaser posted he was having the same problem, with the same response from RCBS.

[stephen45-70]

thursday night i was loading .45lc ... somehow or another i managed to bend the decapping stem on my size die ( i havent a clue how) so friday i called rcbs ... 5 minutes on hold and with a we are very sorry for the delay and bent stem i have a brand new one on the way for a set 0f steel dies that i am pretty sure are older then i am .

[mreising]

thursday night i was loading .45lc ... somehow or another i managed to bend the decapping stem on my size die ( i havent a clue how) so friday i called rcbs ... 5 minutes on hold and with a we are very sorry for the delay and bent stem i have a brand new one on the way for a set 0f steel dies that i am pretty sure are older then i am .

Give some thought to this modification that I did to my Hornady dies: Re-engineering Hornady Dies. No bent or broken spindles in the last couple thousand loads.