Bullet seating ?

[reachinOUT]

Got a few newb question. Ill probably have a few more of these in the near future.

Equip. Lee challenger and lee dies

1. After seating bullet, my die sticks slightly to the bullet on the upstroke and makes a ring around the bullet. Is this normal?

2. I seat my bullet to far down and had to pull it with a kinetic puller. Do I have to re size again or just re seat at the correct depth?

Thanks for any help you are willing to offer, Jason.

 

[BigSkyGP]

+1 to #1? Infact I know my RCBS, and Dillon 223 dies do the same thing. It P's me O. I just notched it up to soft lead/thin guilding on the nose. I've been thinking about trying to find bullet seating stem/plugs to fit the ogive better. Don't know where to start.

I guess it depends on what you are doing with that case/bullet you pulled. If you put them back together at your desired depth, it will shoot, and will not be unsafe. Accurate, I can't say. I would think your neck tension would be off, either way. If you resize it again, it will work harden a little more=diff tension. You already resized and seated a bullet, your going to seat the bullet again, I would think less workng of the brass, but still not the same as the rest of the batch. I say, put the bullet back in it and save it for the range/fouling shot, etc. where it won't make much difference either way.

 

[Kevin Thomas]

No, it's not normal. Something's wrong there, and my guess would be too much neck tension. WWithout knowing what you're sizing the necks down to, I can't say for sure, but it sounds like it's just taking too much pressure to force the bullet into the case, leaving a ring on the ogive as it (the bullet) swages the neck open. May also related to the shape of your seating plug, and its not being compatible with the profile of the bullet you're using. Common for several manufacturer's dies to leave these marks, and most offer the service of profiling the seater plug to the bullet you're using, or alternate seating plugs already so profiled. You need to take a look at the whole system, step by step, and see just when the marks are becoming a problem. If there's any way you can reduce the neck tension, I'd take a look at doing so, and see if that helps. A mandrel die like those from Sinclair should do the trick.

 

[BigSkyGP]

Mandrel die? For the neck or the bullets?

 

[Kevin Thomas]

It's a tapered mandrel, useful for rounding out case necks and uniforming IDs, either for seating or for neck turning. Sinclair's sells a die specifically for this, as well as a selection of mandreals in all common bore sizes. Actually, they sell two; one for sizing and one for neck turning (same mandrel is ised on their turning tools), with the turning mandrels being .001" smaller than the expanders.

They're great for rounding out case necks digned by ejection (especially prevelant in gas guns) and even the minor dings we get in new brass from shipping. Everyone should have these on their bench, and they should be used a lot more than they are. I'd take a look at these as a start, but I think that'll likely cure the marking problem.

 

[ken snyder]

Are you talking about the seater itself marking your bullets. It is common, along with smashing the tips of bullets. There are too many tip profiles for a seater to work on all of them. Polish the edge that isn't agreeing with your bullets profile, an electric drill motor works very nicely.

 

[reachinOUT]

Update:

I goofed up and was reading the instructions for the lee press and they said screw die down till you touch shell holder and back out a 1/2 turn for no crimp. Come to find out the lee deluxe dies have different instructions that state screw die down and touch shell holder and turn in a 1/4 turn with no crimp. I did this and did not really notice it grabbing like before but I only pressed the one bullet that I had to pull because of seating it to far the first time. I will know for sure later when I load the rest of my prepped brass.

 

[reachinOUT]

I loaded the last of my prepped brass and the bullet ring mark around the tip from the seater is still their but it is less pronounced since I do the turn in instead of turning out the die.. Its something I can live with and If I get sick of looking at it I will pull out the buffer and turtle wax.

 

[ken snyder]

It's easy to do. put the seater in a drill motor. coat the inside of the cup with dye or felt pen. stick a bullet in the cup and spin. the part where the marker wears off is the evil doer. spindle a piece of fine sand paper and make the clean spot fit your bullet. very very light sanding will correct the problem. If it is opened up too much then the center of the cup might need to be made deeper to keep the bullet tip from deforming.

 

[reachinOUT]

It's easy to do. put the seater in a drill motor. coat the inside of the cup with dye or felt pen. stick a bullet in the cup and spin. the part where the marker wears off is the evil doer. spindle a piece of fine sand paper and make the clean spot fit your bullet. very very light sanding will correct the problem. If it is opened up too much then the center of the cup might need to be made deeper to keep the bullet tip from deforming.

Thanks Ken, I will look into doing that.

 

[BigSkyGP]

Size and trim a case.
Place the case in the shell holder run the ram up.
Screw down the seating die until it just touches the mouth of the neck.
If you want to crimp, screw in the die 1/2turn or so for the desired amount of crimp (I don't that's for my ARs as well).
Or back off the die 1/2 or so turn from the mouth of the case, if you don't want a crimp.

 

[lever-hed]

what types of bullets you using?
The seater cup sometimes sticks a little, but from my experience has not left any marks on my bullets, would lead me to agree with Kevin. In some cases you get match type bullets that have a lengthy ogive so to speak and will not square up in the seater cup, you can talke to the die mfr and possible get a new cup to your tastes, or simply clean up your existing seater cup and see. As far as teh neck pressure /neck tension, thats baffled me, you should not have to seat so hard that you would get a mark on the bullet.

 

[reachinOUT]

what types of bullets you using?
The seater cup sometimes sticks a little, but from my experience has not left any marks on my bullets, would lead me to agree with Kevin. In some cases you get match type bullets that have a lengthy ogive so to speak and will not square up in the seater cup, you can talke to the die mfr and possible get a new cup to your tastes, or simply clean up your existing seater cup and see. As far as teh neck pressure /neck tension, thats baffled me, you should not have to seat so hard that you would get a mark on the bullet.

The marks were showing up on sierra 135 MK's and sierra 130 GK's in norma brass. After adjusting the die in 1/4 turn, the marks were hardly noticeable with these bullets. I also loaded Nosler 130 BT's and Barnes TTSX 130 and didnt have the marks. The brass was full sized and necks read .303 before and .304 after seating.

 

[lever-hed]

with Lees FL sizer, you should lube inside the necks, just wanted to say in case you're not doin it, it makes a difference. I'm amazed some people dont do it..
.001" difference after seating sounds like your die adjustment fixed it.. probly take apart the seater and eyeball the seating cup and clean it up. Clean up the inside of FL die too with solvent, keep your equipment in good working order, always. safe shooting..