In the custom-die area, boxes of reamers for hundreds of calibers are available to fill special orders.

The seating die has a "bullet loading window" through which the bullet is inserted. A sliding guide aligns it with the case mouth as the bullet is seated, resulting in more concentric alignment, and the seater also has a micrometer thimble on top for precise bullet seating in .001-inch increments. The Competition Dies are also unique. The resizing die has a raised expander ball for easier neck expansion, and the seating die is similar to the Gold Medal series.

In addition to the standard production dies, RCBS also makes a bewildering array of custom dies. In a nostalgic corner of the facility, I saw die reamers (and their spec sheets) in row after row of neat brown cardboard boxes marked by caliber. Some I recognized, but most I'd never heard of. There are roughly 650 of these. About 350 case-forming sets are also available, plus another 1,000 or so various dies that can be ordered. In other words, if they don't have it or can't make it, you probably don't need it.

It was a real treat to watch Fred Therman craft a set of custom dies as he patiently answered my questions. These dies are truly hand-made custom items, specially made for the cartridge at hand. They are carefully bored with reamers that have been coveted for years like a secret Swiss chocolate recipe. Fred said that he doesn't mark the dies he makes with his initials because when he makes a set of custom dies, "I'm making them personally just for you." (This guy should go into marketing.) RCBS also makes much of their own tooling. I watched as a Walter CNC grinder, presided over by Thomas Church, made a reamer for the new .17 Remington Fireball that will produce dies in that caliber.

Ever notice how precisely positioned the die box label is? This is not done by machine. These are the skilled hands of Alice Paul (she showed the author the trick but swore him to secrecy).

Several other precision reloading tools caught my eye. The new Precision Mike allows you to set your sizer to your rifle's chamber and to set the seater to produce the bullet jump you want. It has a micrometer thimble on top graduated in thousands of an inch. I also liked the new Hand Case Neck Turner, which neatly shaves a thin layer of brass from the outside of the case neck to promote bullet-neck-chamber concentricity. It has a Quick Change Case Holder that is finger-operated. The new Vernier Ball Micrometer measures the turned case necks to .0001 inch.

Die bodies exit the heat-treating oven in a blaze of flame, easily the "coolest" part of the operation.

The boys from Oroville are really excited about their new Rapid Acquisition Shooting System (R.A.S.S. for short), and for good reason. This sturdy, portable shooting bench weighs about 60 pounds., sets up in minutes and is adjustable in several ways. The shooting cradle rapidly shifts up or down 20 degrees, and the entire gizmo--bench, seat and shooter--rotates as a unit 360 degree, so a prairie dog isn't safe in any direction. We gave the R.A.S.S. a whirl at a local range, and it worked like a charm. Switching from targets near to far was done by adjusting the cant and swiveling the rest right or left. This is easy and makes shooting even more fun.

Then there's the new RCBS.LOAD computer program, and it's a ballistic blizzard. It has just about every feature you can think of in a combined data manager for shooters, including data on almost all factory loads as well as your own reload data. Significantly, it contains complete loading data from many old, out-of-print loading manuals. There are 34,874 loads for 215 cartridges in all. Plus there's trajectory graphing, cartridge design, sorting capabilities, you name it.

All in all, the tour was extremely informative. Several new products were forwarded for testing and evaluation, and G&A will provide detailed reports on them in due course.

For information, contact RCBS, 800/533-5000, www.rcbs.com.