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Rifles, Reloading, Optics, Equipment
Reloading
Do I need to adjust the seating die to seat each bullet to the same depth?
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<blockquote data-quote="PowellSixO" data-source="post: 1217830" data-attributes="member: 66495"><p>I know this is a little bit older thread, but NO you can't just set the die and be ok. Or at least not always. Different bullet lots can and will have variances. I personally had a very close call with this recently. I had a lot of bullets that when measured to the ogive using a bullet comparator, you would see as much as .015" difference from one to the other. I set my seating die correctly and measured the first few rounds to make sure things were staying consistent, and then went about pressing the last 45 or so bullets. At the range I shot a 3 shot group, and all was well. My 4th round seemed a bit tight when chambering. I should have stopped right there, but I didn't. The shot went off as normal until I lifted the bolt. It was stiff, and the case didn't eject as it should. I dug the case out of the bolt head, and the primer fell out. ***! I looked closer and discovered massive signs of over pressure, and a collapsed ejector spring. I quit for the day and went home. I couldn't figure out for the life of me what went wrong. So I started measuring the rounds one by one. I load all of my 7mm rounds .001" off the lands. As I went through the 46 rounds I had left in the box, I found half of them to measure .010-.015" longer (still using a comparator) than the rest of the rounds which measured perfect. So .010-.015" longer than the good rounds meant I jammed the one round .009-.014" into the lands!!!! This created a considerable pressure increase, to my already hot load (1 gr off max load). I took all of the rounds apart and measured the powder, the brass, and measured all of the bullets (again using a comparator). Everything was good, except for the bullets. Half of them measured .010-.015" longer to the ogive than the others. So long story short, you can set your seating die and run through you rounds, but you need to measure them one by one as you seat them to make sure you aren't too long. Especially if you load close to the lands. This can lead to a very unsafe situation. Here are a couple of pictures. </p><p></p><p>Just for information's sake, using my comparator, I measure exactly 2.7275" from the base of the case to the ogive with 168gr berger vlds, in my 7mm rem mag. So anything longer than this is jammed into the lands.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Base of the case with obvious signs of over pressure. </p><p><a href="http://s284.photobucket.com/user/XC-SquareBush/media/Rifle%20Savage%207mm/20160712_204422_001_zpsfofn5gdp.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll39/XC-SquareBush/Rifle%20Savage%207mm/20160712_204422_001_zpsfofn5gdp.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></a></p><p></p><p></p><p>To the lands.</p><p><a href="http://s284.photobucket.com/user/XC-SquareBush/media/Rifle%20Savage%207mm/20160712_202632_zpsxkkqor9s.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll39/XC-SquareBush/Rifle%20Savage%207mm/20160712_202632_zpsxkkqor9s.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></a></p><p></p><p><a href="http://s284.photobucket.com/user/XC-SquareBush/media/Rifle%20Savage%207mm/20160712_202654_zps5edvncyt.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll39/XC-SquareBush/Rifle%20Savage%207mm/20160712_202654_zps5edvncyt.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></a></p><p></p><p></p><p>Colapsed Ejector spring, and markings on the bolt head.</p><p><a href="http://s284.photobucket.com/user/XC-SquareBush/media/Rifle%20Savage%207mm/20160712_204319_zpskzjfqwue.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll39/XC-SquareBush/Rifle%20Savage%207mm/20160712_204319_zpskzjfqwue.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></a></p><p></p><p></p><p>Round too long. Jammed .004" into lands. </p><p><a href="http://s284.photobucket.com/user/XC-SquareBush/media/Rifle%20Savage%207mm/20160712_203045_zpslnuy5zzj.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll39/XC-SquareBush/Rifle%20Savage%207mm/20160712_203045_zpslnuy5zzj.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></a></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="PowellSixO, post: 1217830, member: 66495"] I know this is a little bit older thread, but NO you can't just set the die and be ok. Or at least not always. Different bullet lots can and will have variances. I personally had a very close call with this recently. I had a lot of bullets that when measured to the ogive using a bullet comparator, you would see as much as .015" difference from one to the other. I set my seating die correctly and measured the first few rounds to make sure things were staying consistent, and then went about pressing the last 45 or so bullets. At the range I shot a 3 shot group, and all was well. My 4th round seemed a bit tight when chambering. I should have stopped right there, but I didn't. The shot went off as normal until I lifted the bolt. It was stiff, and the case didn't eject as it should. I dug the case out of the bolt head, and the primer fell out. ***! I looked closer and discovered massive signs of over pressure, and a collapsed ejector spring. I quit for the day and went home. I couldn't figure out for the life of me what went wrong. So I started measuring the rounds one by one. I load all of my 7mm rounds .001" off the lands. As I went through the 46 rounds I had left in the box, I found half of them to measure .010-.015" longer (still using a comparator) than the rest of the rounds which measured perfect. So .010-.015" longer than the good rounds meant I jammed the one round .009-.014" into the lands!!!! This created a considerable pressure increase, to my already hot load (1 gr off max load). I took all of the rounds apart and measured the powder, the brass, and measured all of the bullets (again using a comparator). Everything was good, except for the bullets. Half of them measured .010-.015" longer to the ogive than the others. So long story short, you can set your seating die and run through you rounds, but you need to measure them one by one as you seat them to make sure you aren't too long. Especially if you load close to the lands. This can lead to a very unsafe situation. Here are a couple of pictures. Just for information's sake, using my comparator, I measure exactly 2.7275" from the base of the case to the ogive with 168gr berger vlds, in my 7mm rem mag. So anything longer than this is jammed into the lands. Base of the case with obvious signs of over pressure. [URL=http://s284.photobucket.com/user/XC-SquareBush/media/Rifle%20Savage%207mm/20160712_204422_001_zpsfofn5gdp.jpg.html][IMG]http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll39/XC-SquareBush/Rifle%20Savage%207mm/20160712_204422_001_zpsfofn5gdp.jpg[/IMG][/URL] To the lands. [URL=http://s284.photobucket.com/user/XC-SquareBush/media/Rifle%20Savage%207mm/20160712_202632_zpsxkkqor9s.jpg.html][IMG]http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll39/XC-SquareBush/Rifle%20Savage%207mm/20160712_202632_zpsxkkqor9s.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [URL=http://s284.photobucket.com/user/XC-SquareBush/media/Rifle%20Savage%207mm/20160712_202654_zps5edvncyt.jpg.html][IMG]http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll39/XC-SquareBush/Rifle%20Savage%207mm/20160712_202654_zps5edvncyt.jpg[/IMG][/URL] Colapsed Ejector spring, and markings on the bolt head. [URL=http://s284.photobucket.com/user/XC-SquareBush/media/Rifle%20Savage%207mm/20160712_204319_zpskzjfqwue.jpg.html][IMG]http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll39/XC-SquareBush/Rifle%20Savage%207mm/20160712_204319_zpskzjfqwue.jpg[/IMG][/URL] Round too long. Jammed .004" into lands. [URL=http://s284.photobucket.com/user/XC-SquareBush/media/Rifle%20Savage%207mm/20160712_203045_zpslnuy5zzj.jpg.html][IMG]http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll39/XC-SquareBush/Rifle%20Savage%207mm/20160712_203045_zpslnuy5zzj.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [/QUOTE]
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Do I need to adjust the seating die to seat each bullet to the same depth?
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