20 Practical Seater

[DiRTY DOG]

20 Practical, my 15 yr old 223 Rem RCBS Competition seating die with the bullet window/sleeve sticks. It seats fine, but on the down stroke as the cartridge is lowered out of the die, the sleeve catches on something. It requires a jarring yank to allow the cartridge to fully exit the die. No visible marks on the case or bullet. I can't figure out what's happening, but shouldn't any 223 seater work for 20P?

RCBS doesn't sell replacement bullet sleeves to swap from 223 to 204.

The bullet window is really nice for small bullets. Be a shame to have to drop $120 for the new Matchmaster seater...

 

[Tucker65]

I would have to guess that the taper of bullet is getting stuck in the seating sleeve. You could put some lapping compound on the bullet and try to spin it or the seating stem with a drill to make a better fit to see if that helps. If that doesn't work you can also bed the bullet to the seating stem with some sort of epoxy. Getting the bullet straight to the seating stem would be required though.

 

[L.Sherm]

I've bedded a couple stems that were 223 converted to 20 cal
First I made sure the round was as straight as possible then I drilled some of the inside of the stem out for JB weld put release agent on a bullet of the round.
I measured how far the stem stuck out the top of the die as a 223 stem when it just barely touch the 20 cal bullet and thats were I final adjusted it to bed the stem.
I measured before I drilled out some of the inside of the stem.

 

[L.Sherm]

If you end up buying another seating die i would swap over to a inline die it would be a simple case of 223 with a 20 cal stem or bed a 223 stem to 20 cal.
Small bullets are easy to seat pull the seating stem out drop a bullet down the hole put stem in seat done deal.

 

[Mark M.]

If you end up buying another seating die i would swap over to a inline die it would be a simple case of 223 with a 20 cal stem or bed a 223 stem to 20 cal.
Small bullets are easy to seat pull the seating stem out drop a bullet down the hole put stem in seat done deal.

When you said swap over to an inline, do you mean like to a Wilson die?

 

[L.Sherm]

Yes sir.

 

[chuckshooter]

A friend asked me if I could make him a 17AH seating die just like the RCBS custom die you have for a 223, because RCBS doesn't seem to be making custom stuff anymore. I looked around and found this. Frankford arsenal universal bullet seating die which only goes down to .223. So I made a couple of seating bushings and stems for both .17 and .20 cal. he loves the one for .17 and for me and my small .20's, it has almost doubled my speed in seating bullets. while making the stems, I did have to play around with the stem seating angle to avoid bullet lock up which Tucker has already mentioned above.

 

[searcher]

I have a .223 RCBS die as you have - though it would have been around ten years ago that I got it. As I recall, there were two parts to replace when I converted it to a .20 caliber for my .20 Practical. The main part was called the "plug", which holds the bullet into position vertically and guides the bullet as it moves down into the case. I never tried seating a bullet as it was set up for .223, though I don't think you would get as good of results, even if it did. I believe the plug was part #38150. I have seen on RCBS website that they do offer to make custom plugs for dies, so perhaps you can have them make one up if they no longer stock them. As to the "sticking", I'd disassemble the die and check the O-ring on the plug. If it is degrading, it could be hanging up inside the die.

 

[chuckshooter]

I suppose the case could be getting stuck in the bushing. One way to test that would be to back the die off out of the press some, and then increase the seating stem to achieve the same seating depth. The case goes into the bushing with the neck in it's resized condition. The bullet is seated and is now bigger and is stuck in the bushing. Maybe ?

 

[Coyotefurharvester]

I have used a standard Rcbs 223 die to seat 20p cases. And have used my competition 204R seating die for 20p, could you just get a 204 stem and swap out for the 223? So no parts are available for the comp dies?

 

[DiRTY DOG]

I have used a standard Rcbs 223 die to seat 20p cases. And have used my competition 204R seating die for 20p, could you just get a 204 stem and swap out for the 223? So no parts are available for the comp dies?

I tried, they don't offer replacement parts anymore because that die has been discontinued.

 

[DiRTY DOG]

I suppose the case could be getting stuck in the bushing. One way to test that would be to back the die off out of the press some, and then increase the seating stem to achieve the same seating depth. The case goes into the bushing with the neck in it's resized condition. The bullet is seated and is now bigger and is stuck in the bushing. Maybe ?

There's no problems with sticking when seating .224 bullets. It only sticks with 20 cal bullets on the first seat, meaning if I seat long it sticks, but if I then adjust the die to seat deeper it does not stick the second time. Puzzling.

 

[Majday]

I just use a rcbs 204 seating die. I haven't had any issues going about it that way nor noticed any accuracy issues.

 

[wkndwarrior]

A friend asked me if I could make him a 17AH seating die just like the RCBS custom die you have for a 223, because RCBS doesn't seem to be making custom stuff anymore. I looked around and found this. Frankford arsenal universal bullet seating die which only goes down to .223. So I made a couple of seating bushings and stems for both .17 and .20 cal. he loves the one for .17 and for me and my small .20's, it has almost doubled my speed in seating bullets. while making the stems, I did have to play around with the stem seating angle to avoid bullet lock up which Tucker has already mentioned above.
View attachment 1613824

If you are interested in making more conversions please let me know.

I have a handful of these dies that I keep set up for different bullet diameters and they are extremely repeatable in my coax. For example, I have one with the .224 insert that I can dial the micrometer for 223, 22-250, 5.6x50 and 220 swift. I just keep notes on the die setting for each cartridge/bullet combo.