Bullets sticking in seater die!

[sam700]

So I picked up a 30-06 die the other day. For some reason, when I started seating bullets, the second or third one got stuck in the seater die. I had to remove the seater plug. The bullet was stuck so badly in the plug, that I couldn’t get it out even with two sets of pliers. I ended up having to put the bullet in a vice and pull as hard as I could with both hands on a pliers on the seater plug to separate them. I loaded a few more. I noticed that every once in a while, the bullets would seat ¼ inch long. By working the handle slowly, I could feel how after seating, the bullet, they were getting stuck in the seater die and pulling nearly out of the casings. After 4 or 5 more, I had another one get stuck in the die! After 5 or so stuck bullets, I swapped the seater plug with one from my 300 win die and had no more issues loading.

Afterwards, I inspected the seater plug. I noticed that if I pressed a bullet in by hand, it would tend to lightly stick while it would fall right out of the seater from my good die. Seems like the seater plug may be slightly larger than spec causing the bullets to stick. I’ll have to call RCBS to get a replacement.

Anybody else had this issue?

 

[Randy1911]

What brand of bullet are you using? It sounds like the shape of the bullet is not matching the seater and getting stuck because of it. Call the die maker and see if they have a different seater they can send you. Or you can change the brand of bullet. Some die makers like RCBS will make you a specific seater if you send them a few bullets and a small fee.

 

[noylj]

Lee

Lee will make custom seater stems for their dies for $12 and couple of bullets.
There is a real problem with that seater stem or those bullets.
A picture would be nice.

 

[Walkalong]

Yea, sounds like the internals on the seater plug are really rough. Rounding the entrance slightly and polishing the entire inside may fix the problem, but a new plug might be the best bet since it is that rough or poorly formed.

 

[sam700]

They are 150 ttsxs. I'll have to try some different bullets. Still the problem went away when I swapped the stem with the one on my 300 win die.

 

[rcmodel]

Polish it with a fine Cratex bullet tip on a Dremel tool.

rc

 

[Sport45]

I ended up having to put the bullet in a vice and pull as hard as I could with both hands on a pliers on the seater plug to separate them.

Still got that bullet? You can probably chuck it in a drill, coat it with valve lapping compound and smooth up and reshape the bearing surface of your seating plug.