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Posted: 5/25/2026 9:00:36 PM EDT
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I’ve been thinking about a .458 Socom for a while now. Seems Tromix is the easy button. Will be going with his builds, 16”, use will be short range woods rifle. There’s an economy blem upper available on his site on sale…would I be giving up anything going that route vs ordering an assembled upper with the higher quality receiver? Money saved is always good, but if it’s a step down in function/accuracy I would rather go with the recommended options. Thanks. |
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Any time that I have bought a blemished receiver from a reputable source the blemish was cosmetic only and was never a factor in function, reliability, or accuracy. If you plan to paint or otherwise coat the receiver, the money saved can go towards that cost. I cannot imagine that Tromix would have a different standard for their blems, but a quick call to them should confirm. However, if you're looking at their Econo line of uppers vs. their standard line here is the difference in the two types of aluminum that are used. Attached File |
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Originally Posted By NorthForkHunter: Thanks for the replies. Cosmetics are last on my list of concerns, so no worries there. Haven’t done a ton of research or have much experience with the bigger bore side of the AR world, but seems Tromix is held in high regard. I recommend sticking with TROMIX in the 458 SOCOM world. There are a few idiosyncrasies with these builds that will cause problems if not done correctly. Tony Rumore is a guy who knows what he is doing and anything he pushes out of his door is good to go. I have two and they both cycle with no issues. |
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In addition to what the others have said, I have a ton of stuff from TROMIX. More than a few items are blems. If it is anything more serious than a SLIGHT discoloration on the receiver it will be noted. At one time Tony had a heck of a deal on barrels that had the engraving slightly off from the 6:00 position, something like at 5:50 position. Purely cosmetic but it was not perfect, so Tony let them go at an incredible price. Another time his billet uppers had a less than perfect finish on them. They had a HUGE discount and a quick spray with Duracoat and they looked like 100% first run uppers. And the difference between 6061 and 7075 aluminum uppers? Not an issue. You'll never know the difference and neither will anyone else looking at it. If you feel somehow inferior using a 6061 upper, just tell the snobs that it's 7075. They'd never know. Not that I condone lying normally, but feeling you have an inferior part with a 6061 upper is purely in the mind of the beholder, not in the real 458 SOCOM world. Short story, ANYTHING you buy from TROMIX will have you apologizing to noone about anything. |
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Few things in life suck worse than a new build that acts up. I was headed in your direction until I ran into a TROMIX built 458 SOCOM upper/ammo/brass/bullets package I couldn't refuse. The previous owner put a Ruger branded forearm and I've been good with it so I left it as is. The completed rifle: It functions 100% with everything I've fired... accuracy is way beyond my expectations, see pic below.   It's not that much more money in the long run to just buy a completed upper. |
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Originally Posted By NorthForkHunter: There’s an economy blem upper available on his site on sale…would I be giving up anything going that route vs ordering an assembled upper with the higher quality receiver? The 6061 receiver will work just fine. It's simply a standard M4 type receiver that we re-machine the ejection port to Tromix 458 SOCOM specs. It will still have the old M4 feed ramp cuts in it (left and right), then we add one large center feeding ramp cut in the middle. If we use the Tromix 7075 billet receiver, there are no M4 ramp cuts, just a single center feed ramp cut in the middle. The Economy uppers still retain the same barrel and bolt as our premium uppers and that's really where the juice is at. The only thing I would consider changing after purchase, would be the cheap charging handle. I've considered upgrading it as a standard item, but that would entail raising the price as well, and I really don't want to do that. Tony Rumore Tromix |
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Originally Posted By TonyRumore: The 6061 receiver will work just fine. It's simply a standard M4 type receiver that we re-machine the ejection port to Tromix 458 SOCOM specs. It will still have the old M4 feed ramp cuts in it (left and right), then we add one large center feeding ramp cut in the middle. If we use the Tromix 7075 billet receiver, there are no M4 ramp cuts, just a single center feed ramp cut in the middle. The Economy uppers still retain the same barrel and bolt as our premium uppers and that's really where the juice is at. The only thing I would consider changing after purchase, would be the cheap charging handle. I've considered upgrading it as a standard item, but that would entail raising the price as well, and I really don't want to do that. Tony Rumore Tromix Originally Posted By TonyRumore: Originally Posted By NorthForkHunter: There’s an economy blem upper available on his site on sale…would I be giving up anything going that route vs ordering an assembled upper with the higher quality receiver? The 6061 receiver will work just fine. It's simply a standard M4 type receiver that we re-machine the ejection port to Tromix 458 SOCOM specs. It will still have the old M4 feed ramp cuts in it (left and right), then we add one large center feeding ramp cut in the middle. If we use the Tromix 7075 billet receiver, there are no M4 ramp cuts, just a single center feed ramp cut in the middle. The Economy uppers still retain the same barrel and bolt as our premium uppers and that's really where the juice is at. The only thing I would consider changing after purchase, would be the cheap charging handle. I've considered upgrading it as a standard item, but that would entail raising the price as well, and I really don't want to do that. Tony Rumore Tromix Standard, cheap charging handle is the right way to sell them. It works just fine, and guys that want to upgrade want one of a hundred different options, they can buy one themselves. |
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Originally Posted By NorthForkHunter: Thanks for the replies all, got it on the way. Should be a fun one! You went with 16" you said? Nice choice. Here's me shooting a Tromix 458, 12" suppressed with a forced reset trigger. https://imgur.com/Gek7i3Y |
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Originally Posted By TonyRumore: Make sure to size that new brass before loading in order to get the head space correct. If you load them as-is, you'll be mortaring them out of your gun. Tony Originally Posted By TonyRumore: Originally Posted By NorthForkHunter: Dies and brass on the way. Make sure to size that new brass before loading in order to get the head space correct. If you load them as-is, you'll be mortaring them out of your gun. Tony I learned that on my 338 ARC build that I did this winter. 
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Originally Posted By mercersfinest4: Why fight it?? Well, because I’m not that crazy about them on field/hunting rifles. The extra length and weight are usually not worth it (to me) on something like that. I got into suppressors for the wife and kid. Had no interest for myself besides rimfires or a very few subsonic “toys”. I hate playing musical suppressors on a lot of different rifles. And you all know how it is…once you “try” a rifle suppressed it usually stays that way. Upper came in, looks good. Lighter than I expected, which is a good thing! |
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Upper is great. Perfect weight for me, hand guard feels good. Been fighting Redding dies, stuck several cases. Sent back, came back with instructions and how to set expander very low. Can get them sized now, but it takes a ton of lube and I still don’t know how it’s not tearing rims off. Fighting seater as well, having a heck of a time seating 300 gr Sierras without severely deforming the exposed lead. Out of probably 75 die sets I’ve used, never fought any like this. A buddy ordered a Tromix upper as well, he’s going to try Hornady dies. Looking forward to comparing the two. No real range report, but even shooting the deformed bullets with all the run out, I’m still happy with results. 1.25”ish at 50, 2” or so at 100. Just loaded in the mid to low range of 296, to check feed/function. I bet with straight ammo, and non damaged bullets it will shoot. Impressive fireball for sure. Also was really surprised at the lack of recoil, I was expecting a whole lot more. More to follow. |
| If you are having that much trouble sizing the cases then you are doing something very wrong. First of all, remove the expander from the sizing die. Get an M die from either Lyman or CH4D and expand the neck in a separate step. And don’t forget to trim to the proper length. Use Imperial Sizing wax and you will have no trouble at all sizing the cases nor will you be in danger of ripping off the rims or crushing the cases ever again. Then use the neck expand in a separate step and you won’t have any problems. Then the next thing is when you’re seating, just seat the bullet, don’t try to crimp. Use a Lee factory crimp die to do the crimp in a separate step. Trying to do more than one step on the 458 SOCOM case is an exercise in futility as you are finding out. Break down each step one at a time and you won’t have any more trouble. Plus, if you use a factory crimp die, you are in no danger of applying too much crimp which causes the neck to swell or buckle. One last thing, get a TROMIX case gauge. If the loaded round fits the case gauge, you are golden. If not, you have a problem. |
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I have the gauge from Tromix, wish all gauges were made like this… Cases stick with the expander plug assembly removed. I always size this way, and expand with a mandrel unless I’m loading blasting ammo or using a Dillon. I’m almost positive the die is out of spec, but Redding says otherwise. I am Able to size with a ridiculous amount of lube and considerably more force than should be necessary. Now this one is a new one on me, and I still don’t understand it. Would love for someone to explain. The ONLY way I’m able to size a case without getting stuck is with the expander assembly IN the die, just raised enough so it won’t bottom out in the case. If I remove it, NO cases are able to be resized. I know that sounds ridiculous and you’re probably shaking your head too, but that’s how it is. I’ve ruined over a dozen pieces of brass trying to sort this out. I’m not crimping at all. I prefer not to, unless needed. If so, i always crimp separate from seating. Agree with you on an M die, that was the original plan, but I can’t even get that far. So yea, im 100% with you that something is very wrong here. But, if it’s me, I have no clue what I’m doing wrong. I’m still leaning on dies out of spec. Will know soon when my friend gets his set in. Had 2 guys I’ve shot and loaded with for years look at it as well. Just to make sure I wasn’t missing something. Both say bad does. Redding said bad adjustment and wrong lube, even though I’ve used imperial for 20+ years. All brand new out of the package Starline brass btw. Any thoughts or suggestions, I’m all ears! |
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The cut in the die, where the shoulder is, is either too rough wrong angle. It’s really squeezing the case. Once you use enough force to get past that, there is no way you’re removing the case. Hard to get a pic, but maybe you can see on this one. Case will drop right in, until the mouth hits the shoulder cut in the die right there. Push it in, and it’s probably not coming out. Holding off on sending the back to Redding a 2nd time, until I can try other sizing die.   |
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One thing I just thought of that SORT of maybe might be causing an issue. I used a Redding sizing die for over a decade without issue with thousands and thousands of cases sized through it. Suddenly the cases were not being sized right, sticking in the camber, failing to chamber at all, and not fitting in the case gauge. I was going nuts trying to figure it out when while I was sizing a case, a saw a line of sizing wax come out of the die right above the lock ring on the die body. There was a crack from the die bottom all the way up to about a quarter-inch above the threads. I could not see the crack at all when not sizing a case but try sizing a case and the crack would open up. Of course Redding replaced the die and it solved my problem, but after reloading for over 40 years at that time, I had never heard of such a thing. Not associated with the above problem, I have been using Hornady dies almost exclusively for the last 15 years. They make custom dies at less than half the price of Redding or CH4D and the wait time is usually just four or five weeks. Plus, I really like the Hornady seat die with the micro adjust seat stem and precision alignment bullet guide so the bullet always starts straight, and I find the sizing die more than adequate but still use the Lyman M die for neck expansion and use a custom made Lee Factory Crimp die to remove any case mouth bell or crimp if I choose. Odd situation but we ran across a guy with your problem a few years ago. He was not lubing every case, just every fourth or fifth. Lubing every case solved the sticking. I bring this up just to cover all bases. Has Redding actually looked at your die? I wonder if the inside is rough of if there is some sticky preservative still inside the die that did not come out when you cleaned the die from the factory. But even if some was left in, that should have resolved itself in a hundred cases or so. You did completely remove the neck expanding ball and stem, right, not just back it off? Again, just covering all bases. |
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Thanks for the replies. Yea, I sent die back Redding. It was returned saying : “Properly adjusted die. Recommend using Imperial Sizing Wax.” Should be able to try other dies soon. Will go from there. Will also go through all suggestions and make sure I didn’t miss anything. 43 sets of dies here, this is only the 3rd I’ve ever had with issues. First was a Lee set, which they replaced. Second was a Redding 7mm WSM FL sizing die. Similar issue with cases sticking. Same response, improper adjustment. Just tossed it and ordered a new one which has been working fine now 15+ years. Edit to add: dies are brand new, cleaned/degreased same as I’ve always done. |
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Update… Dies sorted out. Sizes fine with Hornady. Good call on the M/LFC dies too. Ran out of Sierras, loaded some Nosler 300 gr straight wall bullets over 296. 4 just a hair over 1” at 100. Average 1642 fps. I’m still not used to shooting groups with that Athlon reticle, with a smaller center dot I’d bet the group would be smaller. Bumped the Harrells 2 clicks and will get a couple 10 round groups tomorrow. Not sure if the DA Primal will stay or not yet, Credo 3-9 will go on as soon as mounts arrive. Overall tickled to death with this one. Pretty nice when you can mount an optic, bolt upper to lower and be done in less than 10 rounds. Unless this is a fluke, Tony’s uppers seem like the easy button.   Appreciate all the info from you guys. |
| No fluke at all. When you get a TROMIX upper, you get not only the best made .458 S upper at any price but also the best customer service anywhere. I’m thrilled you got the problem sorted but also quite disappointed in Redding’s response. Your experience only reinforces my faith in Hornady’s products. |
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