Multiple seating dies?

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Tux

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Jun 11, 2012
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I now have many of my dies now setup for the various calibers I have. The resizing and flaring dies were a piece of cake to setup.

The seating die took a few tries of trial and error to get to the right depth and OAL.

So my question is now lets assume I switch my .45 die from round nose to hollow point. Obviously the first two dies will not need adjustment, but the seating die will need to be readjusted due to the change in OAL.

Do you guys really putz around with relocking the die down to new specs? It is seeming like a good idea to just get a new seating die and plug for the round nose.

What do you experienced gents do?

Thanks
 
The die body of the seating die should not need to be readjusted. Only the seating stem needs to be readjusted.

You can make a dummy round with each bullet shape and reset the seating stem to the dummy round when you change. You may need to tweak the adjustment a little once you start seating bullets.

You could buy another seater die for each bullet and leave it set up.

You could get a die with a micrometer seating stem and recored the setting for each bullet shape.

I have done all three. Each has advantages and disadvantages.
 
"What do you experienced gents do?"

Well, for some 47 years now I've been readjusting my dies as I wish; it's neither difficult nor time consuming.

Don't know exactly what you mean about getting the "right OAL" but I can assure you most new folks agonise over trying to duplicate book data far more than it's worth. Book OAL is simply what the testers used to develop their data, it's no more a 'law' for the rest of us than their powder charges are. And changing the OAL on any .45 load by +/- 10 thou will be meaningless, ditto most others.
 
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