Seating Die for 7mm with 168gr VLD Hunter

[pburton]

Do I need a special seating die for Berger bullets? I have a 7mm rem mag and am planning to load 168gr Berger VLD Hunter bullets. I have heard that you need a special seating die to load these. Currently I use RCBS standard dies. For those of you that load these bullets any help would be greatly appreciated.

Paul

 

[MudRunner2005]

According to what I've read, and my experiences using alot of RCBS dies, the newer dies are fine to use with the VLD bullets.

 

[pburton]

Thank you. That is what I was hoping. From what I could see I could not see why I would need separate dies. But thought that I would ask.

 

[MudRunner2005]

You should always check first, by removing the seating stem and making sure the bullet touches the sides of the ogive of the bullet, instead of letting the meplat (tip) of the bullet touch the top of the stem, and not touch the sides.

 

[LaHunter]

Check out the Redding Competition Seating Die. It is more $$ but it is worth it IMO.

 

[Screwey1]

Do I need a special seating die for Berger bullets? I have a 7mm rem mag and am planning to load 168gr Berger VLD Hunter bullets. I have heard that you need a special seating die to load these. Currently I use RCBS standard dies. For those of you that load these bullets any help would be greatly appreciated.

Paul

I am loading that exact set-up, same dies , same bullet, same cartridge. I am using the RCBS standard dies without problem. I don't know what is meant by " new " dies as mine are probably over 15 years old and seat the bullet by pushing on the ogive of the bullet. I've only been hand-loading for 25 years and all the RCBS I've bought in this time frame were the same. I call that old, but maybe there are ancient ones out there that were different...........

 

[pburton]

Thanks for the reply. My RCBS dies are about 5 years old. So sounds like there should not be any issues. I am waiting for my rifle to get back from the smith, which should be this coming week. Then the loading will begin.

 

[MudRunner2005]

I am loading that exact set-up, same dies , same bullet, same cartridge. I am using the RCBS standard dies without problem. I don't know what is meant by " new " dies as mine are probably over 15 years old and seat the bullet by pushing on the ogive of the bullet. I've only been hand-loading for 25 years and all the RCBS I've bought in this time frame were the same. I call that old, but maybe there are ancient ones out there that were different...........

Seeing that VLD style bullets haven't been out for as long as most reloading die companies, on rare occasion you will run into an issue with a really old seating die that the stem isn't deep enough to allow the bullet to be seated on the ogive.

This is what I was told by RCBS several years back.