RCBS dies in .44 Russian for .44 Mag?

mravery

New member
Hi guys, quick question that I think I already know the answer to.

Will the RCBS cowboy dies for the 44 Russian work for 44 magnum rounds? I'm thinking that it will, just need to back the out to handle the longer case.

Has anyone loaded 44 mag rounds with this set?

Cheers
Mark
 
Diametrically it should work. Same case OD's for the sizing ring. However, if they made the sizing die shorter than the 44 Special and Magnum, you may have an issue with running into the end of the die before you have fully resized the magnum.

This is one of those situations where the best approach is to get the answer from the horse's mouth. Call RCBS and ask if the sizing die is any different from the Special and Magnum one. 800-379-1732.
 
.44 Russian is considerably shorter. .970" vs the Mag's 1.285". (Special is 1.160"). You will not resize the whole Mag case in a Russian die. The RCBS dies are sold as Russian/Special dies too.
However, like Unclenick says, RCBS very likely used the same die body. Despite the Mag/Special die and the Russian/Special die having different part numbers. Ditto for the sizer die alone. It'd be best to call 'em, but don't get your hopes up.
 
Thanks guys,

I have the 44 Russian cowboy dies and it doesn't state one way or the other if they support mag cases.

I can call RCBS.. or just play with a mag case and see :)

I was more concerned about the seating/crimping die if it would be deep enough.
 
Your seating/crimping die will absolutely work; the issue there is totally different than with the resizing die. Your seating die stops when the case mouth touches the crimping shelf in the die, so no case can be too long for it. Too short, yes, but never too long.
 
Right. As long as the die bodies don't have to be backed out to the point enough threads are not engaged by the die in the press, you are good to go. To test this, take a resized 44 mag case and put it in the shell holder and run it to the top of the stroke. While it sits there, turn the die in until you feel the crimp shoulder meet the mouth of the resized case. Look at how many turns of the press threads are engaged. If you are missing a turn, that's not really a problem. If you are hanging on by just one turn, it will be hard to seat straight. This is a judgement call.

If you shoot the magnum with heavy loads in a revolver, I recommend investing in one of the Redding Profile Crimp dies for that chambering anyway. It lets you make a heavy crimp without allowing the sides of the case to bulge outward, which is a common problem that limits how hard you can crimp in a conventional die.

On the sizing die, you can probably just measure a 44 case and lock your caliper to that length and then see if the back end of the beam can touch the sizing ring before the depth stem runs into the end of the interior space.
 
Thanks everyone..... and the answer is.. Yes, the RCBS cowboy dies for 44 Russian will work just fine for 44 magnum.

I reloaded 25 rounds this morning. The sizing, expanding and seating/crimping dies worked just fine.
 
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