Seater Die for 40S&W on Hornady LNL AP

[Parks2055]

Hey Guys,
Wondering if anyone has had good sucess with a specific seating die for the most consistant AOL on 40S&W.
Using Berry's 180gr FP with a Lee seater and find it varies +/- .009 from 1.120 to 1.129 when targeting 1.125.
Might be the seater stem with the Berry's bullet?
Anyone tried the Hornady with the Micro adjuster?
Is it worth the money for the Redding version of that seater die with adjuster?
Any feed back would be great!

 

[Walkalong]

The variance is more a fit of the bullet to the seater plug and flex in the press. I would expect to be able to get a spread of no more than .005 instead of .009.

I have a couple of Redding Competition seaters, and a couple of the Hornady seaters with micrometer tops on them. I also have Hornadys with no micrometer top. They all do a good job. I will get anywhere from a .002 spread to a .005 spread, depending on the bullet fit to the stem.

With a flat point bullet, if you use a flat seater stem, the variance will be almost nothing.

Welcome to THR

 

[777TRUTH]

I use Lee dies for everything except the seater. I replaced all the Lee seating dies with the Hornady minus the micrometer.

I have heard very good things on the Redding competition seating die and may one day give it a try.

 

[Blue68f100]

Seater stem fit to bullet is what governs the OAL consistency. I normally run 0.002"-0.005" on my LNL-AP with Hornady dies. You might try the flattop seater if your die set included one. Bullet alignment to brass can be a problem with flat tops. The reason I like the drop down alignment sleeve Hornady uses.

 

[Parks2055]

Thanks for the info.
Sounds like Hornady seater may be the way to go for reasonable price.
Can they be bought with a seating stem for Flat Point or are they purchased separate?

 

[rfwobbly]

Mr Park -

Well, at least with the Hornady seating dies I believe you'll get a choice of seating anvils. Hornady usually ships 1 RN and 1 FN anvil with their seaters. I tend to try new bullets all the time and find that being able to change out the anvils helps in bringing the length variations way down.

If you are new at this, practice going slow and steady. A steady, consistent op handle movement will cut your current variations in half. Watch this video from time 4:45 on to see the correct op speed.

...it varies +/- .009 from 1.120 to 1.129 when targeting 1.125

BTW, just for your own education my friend.... Your tolerance is +.004/-.005 for a total tolerance zone of .009". If you truly did have +/-.009 from 1.125", then the results would vary between 1.116 to 1.134". Follow ?

Hope this helps!

 

[sugarmaker]

Any die that is a seater only can be adjusted to contact the shell plate with a fully loaded press. This will give you a dead length chamber, and your OAL won't vary as a function of how many shells are on the plate, it's very, very good. Crimp in the next station.

 

[777TRUTH]

Mr Park -

Well, at least with the Hornady seating dies I believe you'll get a choice of seating anvils. Hornady usually ships 1 RN and 1 FN anvil with their seaters.

Quote:
...it varies +/- .009 from 1.120 to 1.129 when targeting 1.125
BTW, just for your own education my friend.... Your tolerance is +.004/-.005 for a total tolerance zone of .009". If you truly did have +/-.009 from 1.125", then the results would vary between 1.116 to 1.134". Follow ?

+1 on rfwobbly

 

[cfullgraf]

Anyone tried the Hornady with the Micro adjuster?

The micro adjuster, in itself, will not reduce the variability of the die. The design of the die will do that with or without a micro seater.

The micro adjuster makes adjusting the seating depth of the die easier and allows one to record the setting for quick return to that setting at a later date.

Of course, the dies that are supposed to seat bullets more consistently generally have micrometer adjusters, aka competition dies.

That said, I like my seater dies to have the micrometer adjuster where I know I will be changing bullets frequently.