Cotton Eye Joe Posted September 25 Share Posted September 25 A sad day! I heard RCBS Cowboy dies were being discontinued. I asked RCBS if that was true, and they confirmed. I know they're kinda gimmicky, but I really like my stack of brown die-set boxes that I've collected. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colorado Coffinmaker Posted September 25 Share Posted September 25 The "market" has shrunk to the point of being non-profitable. Notice how many Bullet Casters have disappeared?? Clothing vendors?? Etc.??? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cotton Eye Joe Posted September 25 Author Share Posted September 25 Yep. Wasn't really asking why. Just telling folks if they were planning on buying some in the future, the window is closing. And lamenting their discontinuance! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H. K. Uriah, SASS #74619 Posted September 25 Share Posted September 25 I never understood the point of "Cowboy" dies. Other than the color of the box, how were they different from their regular dies in the same caliber? 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cotton Eye Joe Posted September 25 Author Share Posted September 25 1 minute ago, H. K. Uriah, SASS #74619 said: I never understood the point of "Cowboy" dies. Other than the color of the box, how were they different from their regular dies in the same caliber? They never had a very clear advantage for their slightly higher price, in my opinion. Mostly a gimmick, as I said. But that stuff works on me sometimes haha. Often it's said they (cowboy dies) have a slightly larger expander plug in the belling die. But I have never had the same cartridge dies in brown-box vs green box or grey box. So I can't measure both to confirm. I think that's often repeated without verification. I can say for sure that on the sizing die of the cowboy series, it doesn't have a sizing plug on the decapping stem. It's just a skinny decapper stem. That can actually be a negative, because that sizing plug is very helpful when re-forming brass. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larsen E. Pettifogger, SASS #32933 Posted September 25 Share Posted September 25 You guys are missing the whole point. The RCBS COWBOY dies were pretty and said COWBOY on them. The regular dies were ugly and did NOT say Cowboy on them. Thus the Cowboy dies were demonstrably superior. 6 1 11 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cholla Posted September 25 Share Posted September 25 Hodgdon has purchased RCBS so I’m guessing they are looking for ways to become more profitable. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jackson Haller Posted September 25 Share Posted September 25 I expect there will be more changes/discontinued products from RCBS now that they have a new owner... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitey James Posted September 25 Share Posted September 25 I have the 45 Colt/Schofield set. Hodgdon buying up everything! Spend less time buying companies and make some dang Trail Boss! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trailrider #896 Posted September 25 Share Posted September 25 Never used the RCBS Cowboy dies. Regular .44-40 with an expander plug from a .44 Mangle-em set served the purpose very well. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rip Snorter Posted September 25 Share Posted September 25 Goes to show, someone will pimp out anything! Dies! Whoda thought! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cotton Eye Joe Posted September 25 Author Share Posted September 25 Tough crowd! Thought some cowboy shooters would commiserate! Maybe RCBS is well rid of them lol 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rye Miles #13621 Posted September 26 Share Posted September 26 I had a set of .44/40 Cowboy dies that were on sale . Not ever shooting that caliber again so I sold them along with .44-40 brass and some bullets. Never saw an advantage to them specifically. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colorado Coffinmaker Posted September 26 Share Posted September 26 PLUS ONE for Larsen E. Pettifogger you betcha!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frontier Lone Rider Posted September 26 Share Posted September 26 I have several sets of RCBS Cowboy Dies in various calibers. The advantage is, the Cowboy Dies are made to accommodate the shape of our CAS Ammo. I was loading 44-40 with a set of Lyman Dies and some would not load sticking out 1/16th of an inch. I started looking to buy another set Cowboys Dies in this caliber to give them a try. I could not find any in stock. However, I found a brand set on my shelves that I had purchased and forgot about. I ran the 44-40 bullets back through the RCBS cowboy Dies and they now fit perfectly into the cylinder. The Cowboy Dies are a fine set of dies made for us cowboys. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texas Jack Black Posted September 26 Share Posted September 26 Loaded 44/40 32/20 ,38/40 .45 colt and never needed cowboy dies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
watab kid Posted September 26 Share Posted September 26 8 hours ago, Larsen E. Pettifogger, SASS #32933 said: You guys are missing the whole point. The RCBS COWBOY dies were pretty and said COWBOY on them. The regular dies were ugly and did NOT say Cowboy on them. Thus the Cowboy dies were demonstrably superior. i missed that , got all the rest , but boy now that you point it out they were good ;looking and said COWBOY too , thats really cool , Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abilene Slim SASS 81783 Posted September 26 Share Posted September 26 (edited) 2 hours ago, Frontier Lone Rider said: I was loading 44-40 with a set of Lyman Dies and some would not load sticking out 1/16th of an inch. I started looking to buy another set Cowboys Dies in this caliber to give them a try. I could not find any in stock. However, I found a brand set on my shelves that I had purchased and forgot about. I ran the 44-40 bullets back through the RCBS cowboy Dies and they now fit perfectly into the cylinder. The Cowboy Dies are a fine set of dies made for us cowboys. I had the same experience with Lyman dies and .44-40. Someone on this forum recommended RCBS Cowboy dies. My problems went away after switching. I noticed the neck of the case looked different than the Lyman sized cases. My recollection is the shoulder is a whisker lower with the Cowboy dies. I’ve no idea if the regular RCBS would be any different than the RCBS Cowboy die, but it sure is better than the Lyman for our game. I load a lot of different calibers and that Cowboy die set is the only one I own. The others are a mix of Lee, Hornady and RCBS. Edited September 26 by Abilene Slim SASS 81783 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edward R S Canby, SASS#59971 Posted September 26 Share Posted September 26 (edited) 17 hours ago, Whitey James said: I have the 45 Colt/Schofield set. Hodgdon buying up everything! Spend less time buying companies and make some dang Trail Boss! They don't manufacture Trail Bross, they import it. We are fortunate that Hodgdon is still supplying the reloading community while the powder Alliant sells goes to military contracts. Regarding RCBS Cowboy dies: I started reloading with a used set of Lee dies. The expander die worked OK for .357s but not 38s. I purchased a single Cowboy die to replace the Lee die. It works very well for cast bullets for both 357 and 38 Special brass. The other two Lee dies do their job well. Edited September 26 by Edward R S Canby, SASS#59971 more info Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abilene, SASS # 27489 Posted September 26 Share Posted September 26 36 minutes ago, Edward R S Canby, SASS#59971 said: ...I started reloading with a used set of Lee dies. The expander die worked OK for .357s but not 38s. ... That seems odd. Expander die maybe not long enough? My Lee dies (bought new in '99) always did both calibers fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edward R S Canby, SASS#59971 Posted September 26 Share Posted September 26 Just now, Abilene, SASS # 27489 said: That seems odd. Expander die maybe not long enough? My Lee dies (bought new in '99) always did both calibers fine. That was exactly the problem. I have no idea the age of the dies. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erasmus Posted September 27 Share Posted September 27 In my experience the seating plug on the cowboy dies is usually shaped for the typical RNFP bullets in our game compared to other seating plugs which have in the past left a ring on my bullets. Other than that, who knows? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Von Dutch, SASS # 7995 Posted September 27 Share Posted September 27 No big deal on the RCBS cowboy dies! The real tragedy was when Redding stopped making the Dual Ring dies! got all the calibers I wanted except 40 S&W! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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