338 Seating Ring Question??

[Kevin R]

Hello,

I'm loading my 338WM with 225gr Hornady Interbonds for a elk hunt.

Upon seating I am getting that seating ring on the bullet from seating preasure, and yes I have taken the die apart and sanded and polished the seating stem (Hornady Die). 73.5gr of IMR 4831. It's a very accurate load for me, but my question and concern is.

Will that ring or impression on the bullet affect the performance of the bullet? IE, expantion or weight retension after hitting the animal?

I have attatched a pic if you can make it out, that seems to be about the wrost one.

Thanks for any imput.

Kevin.

 

[J E Custom]

It doesen,t hurt anything but it can be cured by getting a different bullet seater that fits the ojive
better.

This is a common problem with the different shapes of the bullet ojive.

Talk to Hornady and tell what bullet you are using and they can recomend the best one.

J E CUSTOM

 

[Nimrodmar10]

My thought is, if the bullet is tight enough in the case neck that the seating stem makes that kind of ring on your bullet, might your case necks be a little too tight? Are you using a bushing die to size your cases or just a regular die?

 

[Kevin R]

My thought is, if the bullet is tight enough in the case neck that the seating stem makes that kind of ring on your bullet, might your case necks be a little too tight? Are you using a bushing die to size your cases or just a regular die?

Just a regular seating die. They seem to seat very nice until they start to compress the powder.

 

[J E Custom]

Just a regular seating die. They seem to seat very nice until they start to compress the powder.

That would make a difference !!!

I would suggest using a drop tube for your load. This will help to reduce the compression of the powder.

I like and use one that is 30 to 36" long.

J E CUSTOM

 

[varmintH8R]

I think you would have to score that bullet pretty severely with your seater to see a difference in on-game performance. Imagine what that bullet looks like after traveling down your rifling at 2800fps or so . . .

 

[Nimrodmar10]

Just a regular seating die. They seem to seat very nice until they start to compress the powder.

I meant what type sizing die are you using. The resized neck of your brass must be very tight on the bullet when you seat it to make a ring like that. With a bushing type sizing die you can buy the correct bushing to put the correct pressure on the bullet when it's seated.

 

[varmintH8R]

I meant what type sizing die are you using. The resized neck of your brass must be very tight on the bullet when you seat it to make a ring like that. With a bushing type sizing die you can buy the correct bushing to put the correct pressure on the bullet when it's seated.

I use Redding bushing dies for all my bolt guns and they are fantastic. For my autos and levers, I use standard FL dies. The way mine work (Hornady and Redding) is that they over compress the neck, but then a sizing button on the decap pin re-expands them to bullet diameter minus about 2 thou on the upstroke. This prevents seating into an overly compressed neck like you are talking about. I kind of assumed they were all this way??

Unless he is seating a 338 pill into a 300WM case

 

[Nimrodmar10]

I use Redding bushing dies for all my bolt guns and they are fantastic. For my autos and levers, I use standard FL dies. The way mine work (Hornady and Redding) is that they over compress the neck, but then a sizing button on the decap pin re-expands them to bullet diameter minus about 2 thou on the upstroke. This prevents seating into an overly compressed neck like you are talking about. I kind of assumed they were all this way??

Well you know what they say about assume. If they all worked that way we wouldn't be paying $250 for Redding bushing dies. My bushing dies are sized like yours, .002" under loaded ammo diameter. Works great in a bolt gun, but try that in an auto-loader and you could end up with problems because the bullet pushed back into the brass when it slammed into the feed ramp on the way into the chamber. That's why military rounds have crimped bullets.

Check some of your regular full length dies. I've seen some that leave the neck .005"-.008" smaller than bullet diameter, even with the expander ball in the die. That's also why we use VLD case neck reamers, to make the bullets easier to seat without deforming the bullet or case neck.

 

[Kevin R]

That would make a difference !!!

I would suggest using a drop tube for your load. This will help to reduce the compression of the powder.

I like and use one that is 30 to 36" long.

J E CUSTOM

Thanks I will try that, that might be all it will take to reduce some of the seating presure


KR