Open tip bullet seating

[mongoose87]

Hey guys

I am new to both reloading and this forum. I am reloading 223 Sierra open tip 69gr. I am having trouble when it comes to bullet seating. I have an RCBS die and I had it set pretty high and then worked it down gradually to set it to the correct bullet depth. I have it at the right height now but my bullets are coming out with a ring around them. I’ve heard this is really common, but a bigger deal to me is the open tip is chewed up. What could be causing this? It doesn’t look liked it’s hitting a flat surface, looks more like it’s contacting a sharp point. I’ve made sure it’s going in straight and I’ve made sure nothing is in the die. Has anyone else seen this?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Load Master]

I don't know if this is your issue, but if you have the seating die set too low the case can come into contact with the crimping area of the die before the bullet is fully seated.

The answer to fixing this is to raise the seating die and readjust for the bullet depth, using the bullet seating depth adjustment keeping the case away from the crimp area too soon. In most the time this only takes a half to full turn of the seating die up higher.

 

[edwardware]

The ring is normal, the crushed tip is not. Disassemble the die, and look inside the seating stem; the bullet has to be touching something that it shouldn't be.

 

[mongoose87]

The ring is normal, the crushed tip is not. Disassemble the die, and look inside the seating stem; the bullet has to be touching something that it shouldn't be.

Okay I will try that. I didn’t even know you could disassemble it!

 

[edwardware]

Okay I will try that. I didn’t even know you could disassemble it!

The bullet seating stem will probably need to screw down into the die instead of up out, but it will come apart easily.

 

[Walkalong]

After you get the seater stem out (Remove nut, screw stem down through die), chuck it up in a drill and run it while pushing some folded over 600 grit sandpaper up into it. That will polish and ever so slightly round that leading edge that is leaving the ring. SOP for me and seater stems.

Looks like something is up in the seater stem, or you will need to take a drill bit about 25%/50% larger than the bullet tip and make it deeper in the seater stem so the tip has somewhere to go unmolested.

Or RCBS will fix you up.

Welcome to THR

 

[Blue68f100]

Walkalong beat me to it.

Remove the seating stem and polish the contact surface. Can be done using a hand drill. I do this to every new die set i get.

 

[mongoose87]

Thanks for all the helpful responses. I was able to easily remove the stem. I will try polishing the inside of it

 

[mongoose87]

I figured out the problem and I wish I had considered to investigate this sooner. The bullets I bought all have uneven and even jagged tips. I have left a message with Sierra to see if this is normal or if I bought a bad batch.

 

[Blue68f100]

The seating die should not be contacting the tip of the bullet. Normally it's down about 5/16" on 69gr MK.

 

[243winxb]

bullets I bought all have uneven and even jagged tips.

I have had some in 243 , 85 gr hpbt.

Can be fixed with a Meplat Trimmer or uniforming tool.

Or take a file and fix them, its what i do. Not a common problem.



The Sierra Factory outlet, does sell seconds.

 

[Ifishsum]

I shoot a lot of Sierra MKs in Highpower, the slightly uneven/jagged tips do not affect anything to a measurable degree as far as accuracy but they will make it seem like your OAL is all over the place. But that doesn't really matter either because the die is seating from the ogive of the bullet and not the tip (as witnessed by the ring). I do polish my seating stems just enough to break the edge that contacts the bullet because I don't like the ring either. But I also suspect it really doesn't matter except to my eye.

 

[Walkalong]

I figured out the problem and I wish I had considered to investigate this sooner. The bullets I bought all have uneven and even jagged tips. I have left a message with Sierra to see if this is normal or if I bought a bad batch.

They won't be nice and perfect, but unless you are shooting very long distance at a very high level of competition, you'll never see the difference on target.

 

[Load Master]

I figured out the problem and I wish I had considered to investigate this sooner. The bullets I bought all have uneven and even jagged tips. I have left a message with Sierra to see if this is normal or if I bought a bad batch.

What you are seeing is typical for HPBT. These are Hornady. As others have stated, you can file, use a trimmer, or nothing. The tip doesn't seem to affect performance under 500 yards.

 

[mongoose87]

Yep I called Sierra and they said exactly what y’all are saying. I proceeded to continue my first batch of handloads. The recommendation for the powder I used (Varget) was 25.3 grains. I purposefully loaded slightly under since I am new at this and the results were about one and a half MOA shooting at 100 yards. Probably could have been under one MOA if you had a better shooter. Pretty happy with the results. I will start a new batch soon and this time I will go with the recommended powder measure of 25.3 grains.