Bullet seater die

[SidecarFlip]

Don't forget the press threading & shell holder.
Wilson inline removes these.

I need to get around and give my Wilsons a window like a Vickerman

Watch that, that's a PT and Gage design, widely copied.....lol

I run a torque wrench on my press (snap-on clicker) for repeatability in seating pressure. Repeatability in seating pressure is everyrting....

I like the RCBS front load micrometer seaters like Bart but I machine my own seater stems, but I have that capability just like die bushings, I machine and ream my own... however RCBS sells anything you want in stems on their website...

 

[red dawg]

Do u think I have any concerns since none of any bullets bottom out or touch the bottom of the bullet holder?

 

[sp6x6]

I dont think you do and dont know if you have a good concentric gauge gauge to check ammo but ive seen basic dies turn out low run out and accurate.

 

[SidecarFlip]

One thing I like about Pacific Gage and RCBS seaters is the floating bullet guide but then the guide must be changed (as well as the seater) for different pill diameters.

 

[SidecarFlip]

far as I'm concerned for consistent seating with any press, a good repeatable torque wrench in place of the actuator handle is hard to beat. It allows you to achieve repeatability with consistent pressure.

That does entail machining a mount and attaching it to your press however.

 

[65WSM]

Bart B

Maybe all of your dies seat the bullet straight, but seating depth determined by a bullet contact at the tip is not uniform. Maybe you sort all of your bullets for length. I have a friend, we built 6.5 WSM rifles together, ordering barrels from Bartlein at the same time, who sorts all of his 130 Accubonds to the ogive, not the tip, to length. He used a Sinclair tool expressly designed for sorting bullets this way and found that his 300 yard groups shrank to under an inch. He is hunting with his 6.5 WSM and has two deer to date taken at over 500 yards. This is not the easy way. I do not know anyone else who sorts his bullets to ogive length. I avoid the extra step but avoid the 130 Accubonds. Both of us use Wilson seaters that were made with the chamber reamer from blanks.

The Wilson seating die and some others with aftermarket VLD stems will seat bullets much more uniformly in depth in the case (and just as straight as your RCBS wonders).

When I attend 600 yard benchrest matches at my club, I always ask others about how they are preping brass and loading. I see a lot of Berger VLDs in use. I do not recall any RCBS miracle seating dies in use. That goes for the RCBS "Competition" sleeved die as well. I know a shooter at the club who has abandon the RCBS "Competition" die after use in several calibers.

I am using the Montour County Metplat tool, to uniform the tips on 6.5 Berger Hunting VLDS but I still would rather seat by the ogive then by the tip.

What Long Range hunting bullets do you find seat so straight in you dies and how do you sort and prep them?

 

[Bart B]

By "seating depth," I take that to mean cartridge case head to some point on the bullet outside the case. Not how deep the bullet's seated in the case mouth.

I don't sort nor prep bullets in any way. It's a waste of time for me and my objectives with the results I get.

Only heavy, high BC hunting bullet I've ever seated was a 30 caliber Sierra 200 grain SBT for a .300 Win Mag. Shot MOA at 1000 with .002" bullet runout, zero spread in base to ogive contact point with the rifling but still had a few thousandths spread in jump to the rifling in full length sized cases. I've no problem with a few thousandth spread in the distance bullets jump to the rifling. Besides, that distance grows .001" for every 5 to 50 shots depending on how much overbore your cartridge is as the throat erodes away from burning powder at high temperatures.

Virtually all bottleneck cases headspacing on their shoulders will have a few thousandths spread in bullet jump to the rifling if they're all seated to the same head to ogive rifling contact point. The case head is not the rear reference in determining bullet jump to the rifling; it doesn't touch the bolt face in properly resized cases. If you know how such bottleneck cases position themselves in the chamber when fired, you'll know why.

 

[65WSM]

Bart
I hope it is clear to you that your advice does not cover VLD bullets like the Berger series of hunting bullets. I am just now working with the new 142 Accubond Long Range (Nosler claims a .715 BC). Hornady also has a new series called Extremely Low Drag Expanding bullets. These bullets in cartridges like the Nosler 26 and Weatherby 6.5 are the future of long range hunting.

I shot the 200 gr Sierra years ago in a .300 H&H Model 70 Supergrade that was rechambered to .300 Weatherby at 3030fps. I found they would reach the 1.75 inch level at 100 yards (fixed 6X Redfield TV tube scope). I did not think of that outfit as a long range weapon. Shooting it did not lead me to expound on how to load long range ammunition.

I have owned Model 70 .300 WSM rifles with factory and custom barrels, a 1885 Winchester Highwall in .300 Win Mag, a Montana 1999 in .300 Ultra Mag. I think there are better choices for long range hunting than the 200 gr Sierra BT. I like the 200 Accubond. A young friend used this combination to take long range shots at both elk and moose. Now it is not likely I will get the rifle back from him. He has his own set of Wilson seating die, Forster and Redding bushing size dies and ancient Bonanza Co-Ax Press. The 210 Accubond in .308 offers a .730 BC and it is probably even better.

 

[Bart B]

Bart
I hope it is clear to you that your advice does not cover VLD bullets like the Berger series of hunting bullets.

It covers Sierra's 30 caliber 220-gr. match bullets seated in 30 caliber cartridges from .308 Win. to .300 Win Mag and getting minimal bullet runout max with a standard RCBS seating die. Any hunting bullet with the same profile would do the same.

I borrowed some Sierra 30 caliber 250-gr. HPMk's to see how straight they seated in different cartridges with RCBS and other seating dies. Worked great.

If my observations are different than others, such is life.