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Seating depth inconsistency

Asumner

I am getting inconsistent seating depth ranging sometimes 5 to 6 thou out. The powder charge is the same but they do sometimes feel more compressed. I assume this is causing my bullet to have different seats. I get them all to the same length but it is annoying. All of the brass has been prepped exactly the same way as well. I am using Hornady brass but I am considering using alpha or Peterson brass thinking it may fix the issue but as I am new to reloading I do not want to be hasty.

My groups have been fine it seems but I have noticed every once in a while I get a spiked velo round. I marked every single bullet that I had a seat issue to see if that shot spiked in velocity and will find that out today.
 
My overall thinking was the brass itself was internally inconsistent which brings fill higher on others. I have not done any h2o testing because I just started loading the same load after testing.
 
Can you change to a faster burning powder so as to not have the powder column so high in the neck?
Or is your load shooting in the .1's or .2's ?? and you don't wish to change it?
if you have "high" neck tension....this will cause seating depth to vary as the shoulder will compress
then spring back.
If you are annealing aready then turn your necks thinner if you feel you have high neck tension still.
---also are you seating your bullet base down to the neck shoulder junction and possibly have donuts?
 
Asumner said:
I have never tried this but i assume it’s to stack the powder equally?
Click to expand...
Def try a long drop tube as Urbanrifleman mentioned.
Poor powder in slowly so it will settle itself more densly
I will tilt the whole assy at a slight angle then dribble it in from the side when doing this.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Or one other thing I do, when dropping without a long tube
Tap the side of the funnel with the powder pan to settle powder down slightly, this may be just enough
 
ELR LVR said:
Can you change to a faster burning powder so as to not have the powder column so high in the neck?
Or is your load shooting in the .1's or .2's ?? and you don't wish to change it?
if you have "high" neck tension....this will cause seating depth to vary as the shoulder will compress
then spring back.
If you are annealing aready then turn your necks thinner if you feel you have high neck tension still.
---also are you seating your bullet base down to the neck shoulder junction and possibly have donuts?
Click to expand...
So this thing is shooting groups as small as .071 to .296 at 138 yards …. I know weird distance but I shoot off my welding rig and can’t move target or truck any closer lol. I as far as neck tension it all feels good until I get a crunch some way more than others which made me think about the internal dimensions of my brass. I just ordered the area 419 kit with a 3 inch drop tube for now to see how that works. I am currently using a Hornady universal and was planning on buying a better set up anyway so might as well get a modular one that I can increase tube size if needed

I due tend to check every seat I make as I load at night before I go to bed and I rarely do over 50 at a time. I do not compete but practice and shoot like I do. My kids play a lot of sports so maybe one day I will have the time to compete.
 
Asumner said:
So this thing is shooting groups as small as .071 to .296 at 138 yards …. I know weird distance but I shoot off my welding rig and can’t move target or truck any closer lol. I as far as neck tension it all feels good until I get a crunch some way more than others which made me think about the internal dimensions of my brass. I just ordered the area 419 kit with a 3 inch drop tube for now to see how that works. I am currently using a Hornady universal and was planning on buying a better set up anyway so might as well get a modular one that I can increase tube size if needed

I due tend to check every seat I make as I load at night before I go to bed and I rarely do over 50 at a time. I do not compete but practice and shoot like I do. My kids play a lot of sports so maybe one day I will have the time to compete.
Click to expand...
I don't know what powder you're using but if it's something bulky like Varget
Maybe switch to some smaller kernel powder or ball like CFE-223, W-748, BLC-2, 2520, Benchmark etc
 
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