Need help with consistent seating depth using seating die

[Bigeclipse]

All,

I am not sure what is going on but when seating 120 grain Nosler Ballistic tips in my 7mm08 using my Forster competition seating die, I am not getting consistent seating depths to ogive when measuring with a Hornady comparator. My guess is the seating stem in the die is pushing on the bullet in a different spot than the Hornady gauge but the odd thing is it only happens on every few bullets. So for example out of 5 seated bullets I will get these ogive measurements:
2.235, 2.238, 2.233, and then a random 2.220 and a 2.224. Target depth is 2.235. These are not the actual measurements im getting just an example of what I have seen. Should I simply seat them all a bit long and then slowly bump them to depth?

 

[GLTaylor]

Have you checked/sorted your bullets by ogive to base? Your batch of bullets is the first thing to check. Also the coal of several rounds to see how consistent that is.

 

[Ol' Red]

Tagging in to watch this thread.

 

[Bigeclipse]

Have you checked/sorted your bullets by ogive to base? Your batch of bullets is the first thing to check. Also the coal of several rounds to see how consistent that is.

maybe that is the issue. Inconsistent bullet batch. I have never checked that on accubonds or hammer bullets and they have always seated fine.

I never measure coal because the plastic tips always seem to be very inconsistent.

 

[Blacktailer]

Any chance your bullets are slightly sticking in the seater? That usually results in random loads being longer because the seater pulls the bullets out slightly before releasing and can be cured by a little bit of polishing of the seater or a very slight amount of lube in the seater.

 

[Bigeclipse]

Any chance your bullets are slightly sticking in the seater? That usually results in random loads being longer because the seater pulls the bullets out slightly before releasing and can be cured by a little bit of polishing of the seater or a very slight amount of lube in the seater.

I don't think so as it appears the random few that are different are actually seated deeper and not further out.

 

[Savage 12BVSS]

Do you have your forster seater die adjusted to the instructions that came with it? You will have a problem with seating depth consistancy if the sleeve (sliding die chamber) is at or near bottoming out. All explained in the fine tuning die directions and if you have done it correct disregard post, just leaving no possibility unchecked

 

[GLTaylor]

maybe that is the issue. Inconsistent bullet batch. I have never checked that on accubonds or hammer bullets and they have always seated fine.

I never measure coal because the plastic tips always seem to be very inconsistent.

Hammers are Very consistent (cnc turned to .0000) cup and core bullets can vary. That's why competitive shooters sort bullets into batches based upon OTB of the bullets. Even "match" Burgers, Sierras, etc.

 

[jdyoung]

Sort your bullets. This is something I do during down time, bad weather days etc. It is up to you on which you place the most emphasis : length to ogive or bullet weight. In this case of course it would be length to ogive. Demand often over reaches supply, especially now days when the demand is over the top. I have found that when this happens, the supplier/mfg sometimes hurries up production to meet demand. You can't blame them too much. But, inconsistencies do occur.

Also, make sure you have the right seating stem for the bullets you intend to use.

 

[GLTaylor]

Hornady sells different stems for vld and other bullets. Also, you can polish the inside of your seater stem or "bed" the seater stem (per @ButterBean")

 

[243winxb]

The press linkage has slop. A seating die must make contact with the shell holder.
Redding has this on their website for the Competition Bullet Seater . Link

If your loading press is worn, the ram may not stop in exactly the same spot each time you raise it. Obviously, this will cause variations in bullet seating depth. Although our instructions warn against it, raise the shellholder and adjust the outer, threaded die body to make light contact with the shellholder. (Make sure you keep the contact light, so you don't damage the die.) This creates a "dead length" seating chamber that is unaffected by where the shellholder stops. The only disadvantage to using the die adjusted this way, is that it may be awkward to read the micrometer if it ends up on the back side of the die.

Lee makes a Dead Length Bullet seater that is made to make contact also.

If its not a bullet problem.

 

[martinakl]

Is it a compressed load? I've had this issue when when I'm crunching powder.

as someone else mentioned, VLD bullets sometimes need a special stem, so you're not seating off the point of the bullet (not sure if the 120gr bullet would count as VLD??).

It's also really easy to get different measurements with the hornady comp tool, with just the slightest change in angle or pressure.

 

[misterc01]

By any chance do you use a dry neck lube? When I started using it, I had less problems like you describe.

 

[epoletna]

I have the same problem, so I'll be following to see what the consensus is.