Lee press seating consistency

[T3_tinker]

I've got a lee breech lock challenger press that I use with the redding comp seating die and I just dont seem to be able to seat bullets consistently with it? With cases all uniformly trimmed, I get the first bullet to desired depth with the micro meter then the very next one can be .10 off? Would I get better consistency with a new press or is there something I'm missing?

[miki]

Should be solid really and consistent. To be 100 thou off does indicate that something is loose. With a die in the press and the handle fully down is the shell holder snug against the dies without movement, is the locking nut on the die tightso the die isn't moving relative to the press head ? Is the pin on the bottom of the ram tight (ie it doesn't rattle about) ?

If you hold the handle half way down does the ram and the two side arms feel tight (ie they don't rattle about either) and you can't waggle the handle sis to side ?. You may need to tighten these bolts up a bit to solidify everything.

After you have seated the bullet how are you measuring ?

[cooter]

What bullets are you using?

My lee press is very old and worn, and the handle falls off, but the bullets (even PPU SP) all seat to the same depth when measured to the ogive using a comparator.

[gruntus]

Most important question. Where are you measuring and with what?

Typically you should be using a comparator to measure off the ogive on the bullet and the base of the case. If your measuring the tip of the meplat and base of the case these will most definitely give you varying sizes!!!

All the best 

G

[Re-Pete]

I'll second that......I have an old Lee Classic, and it works fine. I also measure to the ogive as I've found discrepancies with every make of bullet that I've tried when measuring to the meplat.

A decent vernier seater is also well worth the money........I use Redding.

Pete

[T3_tinker]

Could well be because I was measuring coal instead of cbto. Was only measuring a small batch for seating depth testing so with my next batch I'll measure using a comparator. 25-06 100gr nosler BT by the way