inconsistant seating depth

[remmag]

hey everyone
i have had this issue on other loads, just reloaded this batch with my new rcbs rockcrusher press so i dont think the press is the issue
reloading 7 mm rem mag, speer 160 grain boat tail bullets,
after trimming cases ,priming and charging i seat my first bullet to 2.80 , loaded the rest of a 10 batch and the coal is anywhere from 2.72 to 2.82

i went by the instrctions to a t for the lee dies. i am at starting load so i (hope) this will not be a safety issue, but the big thing is i cant figure out why

any help would be appreciated,

i have noticed that the lee die seats the bullet from the tip , is there any thought to a die that seats from the ogive, would that produce more consistant results

thanks again

 

[jwr_747]

seating on the ogive is the best way. I chucked my seater in a lathe and bored it out to fit the bullet I was using...jwr

 

[grubbylabs]

I have the same problem with my 45 and 308 dies and they are RCBS. I think I even have the same problem with some Hornady dies that I have and they are 44 mag.

 

[y5e06]

i had inconsistent seating on a set of Lee 8mm Mauser die. turns out the seating insert had a big ol' nick in it. the disturbed metal resulted in the inconsistency. I still have yet to send it back for replacement....

 

[Canuck-IL]

Randomly pick out and measure 10 bullets - you'll likely be shocked at how much they vary in length. The nose is the culprit - most will be very consistent from base to ogive. As noted above, an ogive measurement is preferred - the Hornady (nee Stoney Point) comparator tool is good.

/Bryan

 

[918v]

Sort your bullets by length and by ogjive and your OAL variance will go away.

 

[Mike Kerr]

Safety should not be an issue at the start load but I would not leave them that way. Even if they seat on the tip I am surprised by a 2.72 to 2.82 variation. There can be a difference even in the same box of components but I use lee dies frequently and do not have much noticeable variation. Its not the press itself usually its an uneven stroke or something in setup.

Regards,

 

[JimKirk]

jwr has the right idea ... clean up you seating stem with some emory cloth. Put it in a drill and spin it to clean the bullet cavity up, you may have to bore a hole a little larger than the bullet tip in the stem so that the ogive is the contact point rather than the tip, if that is what is happening. Mark a bullet all over with a Magic Marker to see what is being contacted. Then fix the problem.

Jimmy K

 

[918v]

And how's that gonna help if each bullet has a different nose?

 

[remmag]

thanks guys
you have given me alot to work with and check

 

[noylj]

Unless you are loading for extreme accuracy, you are worrying about very little. However...
Your seating stem must seat on the ogive and you must measure COL from the ogive. Your seating variation, from all of my reloading, is quite common if you are measuring off the bullet nose.
Next, you need to have the press VERY firmly mounted to the bench and the bench firmly mounted to you wall and floor.
Then, you need to use dead-length seating where you take all the play out of your press and, if progressive, your shellplate. This, however, can put a large strain on your press and the shellplate.
see: http://www.leeprecision.com/html/HelpVideos/videos/Rifle/dead length bs die-1.wmv

 

[Ol` Joe]

jwr has the right idea ... clean up you seating stem with some emory cloth. Put it in a drill and spin it to clean the bullet cavity up, you may have to bore a hole a little larger than the bullet tip in the stem so that the ogive is the contact point rather than the tip, if that is what is happening. Mark a bullet all over with a Magic Marker to see what is being contacted. Then fix the problem.

Jimmy K

Yep, slightly deepen and clean up the seating cup.
I`ve had this problem in the past, usually with "tipped" bullets like the Ballistic Tips or A-Max and a touch of a small drill bit and some polishing of the inner edge of the cup (just enough to break it) has fixed it every time.
I can seat the same bullets that gave me trouble before to within a +/-0.001" depth with no problem.
The dies I`ve played with were RCBS and Redding. The Foster or Hornadies so far have not shown any tendency to "bottom out" on the bullet tip.

 

[remmag]

are all dies designed to seat off the ogive

thanks guys

 

[rcmodel]

Pretty much for rifle calibers.
Seating off the ogive centers the bullet with the case neck.

Seating off the tip would not center the bullet in the die, and would also deform the lead tip on SP Spitzers.

There are seating stems for revolver wad-cutter bullets that are flat and seat off the end of the wad-cutter bullet. I even have an old Herters 45-70 die set that has a flat seating stem for flat-point rifle bullets.

rc