Seating bullets

[Guest GLW]

Hi , Im new to reloading and am having trouble seating bullets. Am using 55gr spsx Hornady .224, neck sizing once fired cases and trying to seat with a lee bullet seater? Any advice appreciated

 

cheers

 

GLW.

[craigyboy]

what do you mean by trouble? Too tight, too loose etc?

[Guest GLW]

what do you mean by trouble? Too tight, too loose etc?

 

seating them then can push some into the case. trying with no powder and caps till I sort it.

[craigyboy]

so the necks are too loose? If so your neck sizer must not be sizing them the correct dia, it should be sizing them anywhere from 0.002-0.004 tighter than the diameter of the bullet, without having any experience of the lee dies and how they work I cant really say, if they are using a standard expander type setup then the expander must be oversized, take this out of the die and measure its dia it should be .220-.222 and no bigger, if that is whats wrong check the diameter of if the expander in your full length die and see if it will do. As I say I have no experience with lee dies so dont know if they use an expander type set-up, hopefully someone else will come along soon that knows the score.

[Guest GLW]

so the necks are too loose? If so your neck sizer must not be sizing them the correct dia, it should be sizing them anywhere from 0.002-0.004 tighter than the diameter of the bullet, without having any experience of the lee dies and how they work I cant really say, if they are using a standard expander type setup then the expander must be oversized, take this out of the die and measure its dia it should be .220-.222 and no bigger, if that is whats wrong check the diameter of if the expander in your full length die and see if it will do. As I say I have no experience with lee dies so dont know if they use an expander type set-up, hopefully someone else will come along soon that knows the score.

 

Been re checking the position of the neck sizing die and it may have been wound too far down not letting the die work to its best. Will try a dummy case in its new position. Unless someone know's different.

 

GLW.

[Guest GLW]

Been re checking the position of the neck sizing die and it may have been wound too far down not letting the die work to its best. Will try a dummy case in its new position. Unless someone know's different.

 

GLW.

 

Sorted, die was wound down to much. Any one use the Lee bullet seating die? if so how do you keep track of seat depth?

 

cheers

 

GLW.

[Oly]

Any one use the Lee bullet seating die? if so how do you keep track of seat depth?

 

Not sure you can with that one mate, that's why I went for the Redding Competition Seating Die, as then you can alter the seating depth easily by set amounts and note the depth accordingly. http://www.sinclairintl.com/cgi-bin/catego...&type=store

[Guest varmartin]

The only safe way to keep track of your bullet seating depth or..COL ( cartridge overall length) is to measure the loaded round with a vernier ( or `very near` as they are known. )

 

It is not wise practice to trust your dies to be repeatable every time you remove them from the press.

 

When I used LEE dies, I found they produced very good ammo, so I made a `Datum mark on the die body and the adjusting piece also. I found this helped to return to a close point of adjustment, but was not spot on as different temperatures and the O ring in the underside of the locker nut kept it inconsistent unless a spanner was used to lock it down...(spanners and reloading just dont feel right to me)

 

Hope this helps.

 

Martin

[Streeker59]

I own a couple of sets of Lee Collet dies in .223 & .243 and i find them to be rubbish at consistent neck tension. Most of the time the bullet can be pushed back into the case with a light push of the finger. tried running cases through the die twice after a 180deg turn as described in the instructions but still lousy neck tension. I gave up on them and now only use Redding competition or Forster dies. Pricey but you only buy them once and will last a lifetime.

[Guest GLW]

The only safe way to keep track of your bullet seating depth or..COL ( cartridge overall length) is to measure the loaded round with a vernier ( or `very near` as they are known. )

 

It is not wise practice to trust your dies to be repeatable every time you remove them from the press.

 

When I used LEE dies, I found they produced very good ammo, so I made a `Datum mark on the die body and the adjusting piece also. I found this helped to return to a close point of adjustment, but was not spot on as different temperatures and the O ring in the underside of the locker nut kept it inconsistent unless a spanner was used to lock it down...(spanners and reloading just dont feel right to me)

 

Hope this helps.

 

Martin

 

Once youve seated the bullet can you push it down further if to long?

 

 

GLW

[col48]

Once youve seated the bullet can you push it down further if to long?

 

 

GLW

 

yes -

 

just pop her back in the Shell holder and set the die up again and re seat the bullet to the correct depth.

 

ATB

Colin