[rjohnson4405]

Okay, we've been working on new 308 with Hornady Match Grade dies. No matter what we do when we seat bullets the bottom side of the shoulder (towards the primer) bells out. We have followed instructions the letter and still cannot get it to seat them right. Also, sizing them is unbelievably hard and jerky, if that has anything to do with it.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. We load .223 and .357 and .22 Hornet and have never had this problem. :banghead: :cuss:

Thanks!

[Mark whiz]

I used to have one of those dies in .308 and never had a problem with it (Until my Lee Handpress broken in my hands, sticking a case in the die).

Just on the surface, it sounds like either the mouth resizer is a tad too small and not opeing the mouth wide enough and/or you are not lubing the cases well enough before you resize them. It think these dies do tend to be tight to meet the Match spec, so a little extra lube on the shoulder and on the inside of the case mouth may well help.

[Grandpa Shooter]

I agree with the previous post. If you are not doing it right you will have trouble. I use a disposable foil tray, lay out flat as many of the cases as you will be doing in one session. Use a good case lube (I use Dillon) to lightly spritz the cases, roll them back and forth in the tray until they are well coated. Then using a cotton swab, lightly coat the inside of the case mouth. Use light pressure at the start of the bullet seating stroke while supporting the bullet with your fingers. (if you pinch them you are going too fast)

Should be good to go from there.

[rcmodel]

1. Clean and very lightly lube the insides of the case necks using a brass bore brush.
2. Chamfer the insides of the mouths slightly.
3. You are not using enough sizing lube, or the wrong kind.

4. Most likely cause = You have your seating die screwed in so far it is trying to crimp the cases before the bullet is fully seated.
That will collapse the shoulders every time.

Back the seating die out a turn, then readjust the seating depth, and see if your problem goes away.

http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j219/rcmodel/KTOG/1224.gif
rcmodel

[rjohnson4405]

Thanks for the help so far guys, I will work on it tonight. Any more ideas that come up let me know!

[dmftoy1]

Just a wild-assed shot in the dark. You don't by any chance have the Hornady Match Neck Sizing dies do you? They require you to purchase a bushing for sizing the necks and it's not in the standard package. (don't ask me how I know this. :) )

Have a good one,
Dave

[Bad Flynch]

Since, in your original post, you state that your problem is with seating bullets, then I will ask about the adjustment of the seating die body. It really sounds that the body of your seating die is screwed in far enough to crimp and, that possibly, you are doing that while seating a bullet with no crimping cannelure; it'll do it every time.

Try backing our the body of the seating die one full turn off the shell holder when the ram is at the top of the stroke. That will give you about 0.070" of clearance and should alleviate any bind induced by the crimping shouloder.

[rjohnson4405]

And the winner is!

RC Model's number four. We backed out the seating die, which we found was screwed in way too far, and it took less than ten minutes to fix it after two days of this :banghead:

And yes we knew we had to have the seperate neck bushing for the match grades, and we found out the same way.

Thanks everyone!