Problem with FA Universal Seating Die - Resolution on the Way

[markr6754]

I've been using the Frankford Arsenal Universal Seating Die for a while...300 BLK, 223 Rem, and 224 Valkyrie have been a breeze to load. Last night was my first attempt at 6mm ARC after receiving 4 boxes of Hornady 87gr VMax bullets yesterday afternoon. Setting this die up couldn't be easier, merely swapping out the .308 alignment sleeve with the .243 sleeve.

Stuck the first bullet and shaved a nice notch just below the polymer tip. Somehow, the bullet completely missed the seating stem, which then cut the beautiful sliver into the bullet. I supposed that I'd gotten something misaligned on reassembly...but alas, no. The alignment sleeve just refused to align these bullets. It was not much fun seating the 20 rounds I assembled, fiddling and fumbling to get that polymer tip to align in the seating stem.

A quick phone call today to Frankford Arsenal Customer Support, a brief explanation of the problem, and a new .243 alignment sleeve will be arriving soon. This industry has awesome customer service. None of this, "Where did you buy it? When did you buy it? Did you turn it off and back on again?" The only questions asked were "Have you used any other sleeves, and did they work? Are you having trouble with any others? Are you the Mark at....address?

 

[jmorris]

The bar is set pretty high in the reloading game as far as trying to keep folks happy. You loose them pretty quick and it’s harder to get them back than to keep them happy in the first place.

Is it a defect in the manufacturing of the single part you have or a design issue?

Curious because I have the set but haven’t used it for anything yet.

 

[markr6754]

I'm guessing a minor defect in this particular alignment sleeve. I've loaded hundreds of rounds in 300 BLK (.308 sleeve) and 223REM and 224 Valkyrie (.224 sleeve).

I'm using this die for all of my rifle loads. It works really well for my loading...with zero issues or hangups until trying 6mm ARC for the first time. There's not much that can go wrong...but the bullet must enter the alignment sleeve squarely. The whole idea is to stabilize the bullet, centered in the sleeve, so that it enters the seating stem without additional manual effort.

I haven't done any further research to investigate what the alignment sleeve isn't doing. It works perfectly once I've manually maneuvered the bullet tip into the seating stem. If I had to guess, the retention spring pin in the bottom of the sleeve may be a bit tight, but that's purely a guess. That's the only moving part in the sleeve. The dimensions are accurate or the bullet would seat cockeyed.