The UK's Finest Independent Forum for Shooters and Gun Owners. Est 2010.

I have bought a bench top swaging tool from RCBS;



Its my second experience of RCBS products and once again I am not impressed. While they are made to a more highly polished standard than Lee stuff, at least Lee always supply you with everything you need to use the tool they've sold you (and quite often spares)!

The tool has two large allen head bolts with it for fixing it to your bench or whatever but they don't actually supply any nuts!? Naturally with it being American the bloody things are an imperial thread and finding the nuts in any shop near me proved impossible. I therefore had to turn to the internet. The first lot that came had the wrong thread pitch and the second lot where Nyloc nuts. I plan on mounting the tool to one of the spare hardwood wedges that come with the Lee bench plate (Note; ONE of the SPARES) and needed to countersink the holes in the wood so that it can slip into the bench plate mount. Upon offering up the Nyloc nut to the bolt and slightly tightening it down I found that it became stuck fast



I've tried all sorts to free it but there is no way its coming off. I'm now on my THIRD internet order for nuts, and a replacement bolt.

Gah. You've got to make this stuff idiot proof, for idiots like me RCBS!!

Wouldn't it have been easier to simply change the bolts for metric ones of similar size if you couldn't easily source the nuts you wanted from a local industrial fastenings supplier?

Those bolts are not missing their nuts, they come with the swager for screwing it into the RCBS tool mount which is threaded for them.

I wouldn't use them if fixing to a bench I'd just buy a couple of suitable nuts and bolts. to bolt it down with.

Chapuis wrote:Wouldn't it have been easier to simply change the bolts for metric ones of similar size if you couldn't easily source the nuts you wanted from a local industrial fastenings supplier?

Finding allen head bolts which have the correct width head to fit the recess and of correct length was yet another part of the mission I was willing to embark on, although if the next lot of components don't match up then i'll have to concede to doing it, providing I don't just crush the bloody thing in my vice! aaarggh

dromia wrote:Those bolts are not missing their nuts, they come with the swager for screwing it into the RCBS tool mount which is threaded for them.

I wouldn't use them if fixing to a bench I'd just buy a couple of suitable nuts and bolts. to bolt it down with.

The bench plate wood is drilled and countersunk for them now so that's what's being used!!

Mark, I have loads of stainless fixings, let me know what size you need and I will bung them in the post, if the heads need machining I can do that at the same time.

EDIT - Mine are all metric however I suspect you will need wither M6 or M8

from the look of the thread on the screw, it doesn't look like its a 3/8 unc nut

RCBS equipment can be a bit too sophisticated for some people.

Obviously for knuckle dragging men like me!

Thanks for the offer Dave, i'll see what the stuff I've ordered is like before continuing this saga. I wouldn't care, I've only got about 20 cases left to swage! I just thought it would be a handy addition to my reloading set up