Best seating depth toolIs

[memilanuk]

My older Wilson dies seemed to work pretty well, up until I started getting into the newer hybrid ogive bullets, then they started going all over the place, even when I replaced the stem with a VLD one. My .308 die is still sitting @ Wilson.

My Forster Ultra BR is pretty consistent, whether its used in my Co-Ax or in the 550 (admit, I was a little surprised).

The newest gem is the 21st Century seater... its a bit of a fussy tool, mainly because its made to *such* tight tolerances. You send in three sized dummy rounds, and they cut the die to fit that brass, and the seater stem to fit that bullet. And when I say tight... I mean tight. As in a slight buildup of case lube will start making them stick in the die. DAMHIKT. That said... the contact band between the stem and the bullet is impressive... at least 1/4" wide, and pretty much right at where the bullet contacts the rifling, versus up on the nose like on most others.

 

[jsthntn247]

My older Wilson dies seemed to work pretty well, up until I started getting into the newer hybrid ogive bullets, then they started going all over the place, even when I replaced the stem with a VLD one. My .308 die is still sitting @ Wilson.

My Forster Ultra BR is pretty consistent, whether its used in my Co-Ax or in the 550 (admit, I was a little surprised).

The newest gem is the 21st Century seater... its a bit of a fussy tool, mainly because its made to *such* tight tolerances. You send in three sized dummy rounds, and they cut the die to fit that brass, and the seater stem to fit that bullet. And when I say tight... I mean tight. As in a slight buildup of case lube will start making them stick in the die. DAMHIKT. That said... the contact band between the stem and the bullet is impressive... at least 1/4" wide, and pretty much right at where the bullet contacts the rifling, versus up on the nose like on most others.

Never understood why all seating stems don't seat off the ogive? If they would, you could measure bto and be good to go.

 

[Rustystud]

I have found since I started checking mass produced bullets. Difference in over all length, bearing surface length, and even bearing surface ODs. This does not consider, core lengths, diameters, weights, and air pockets position within the jacket. Non of which is openly visable.

 

[T-shooter]

Never understood why all seating stems don't seat off the ogive? If they would, you could measure bto and be good to go.

It may be because of the very small angle. Towards the tip the angle of the bullet is much more tapered allowing the seating stem to make a firm contact without trying to slip over and/or deforming the copper on the bullet. It would be nice if it would work near the maximum diameter.

 

[davecb]

Dave,
I agree that the Sinclair/Wilson die with .0005 adjustability is excellent. My bitch was directed at the earlier dies from both companies. Just ordered a second Sinclair/Wilson seater die.
Ben

I guess you could say they've BenPerfected!

 

[Grimstod]

Keep die backlash in mind. Always pre-load from the same direction. That will help with die settings being consistent as you make adjustments.

 

[ireload2]

If you try to set your die using the same bullet following bullets will be seated a little deeper.
If you set your die using run of the mill bullets you may get a lot of variation due to the bullet's variations.

Try sorting your bullet so you can set the die with identical bullets. When you are down to the last few thousandths quit using the first bullet and use a new one for the last adjustment. Then check it again. If it is still not right use another identical bullet.

I have a lot of Wilson, a few Redding Competition and a lot of Bonanza/Forster BR and Ultra BR dies and they all work fine. I also have a set of Dewey hand dies that work well.
The very finest workmanship on a set of dies that I own were made in someone's home shop.

 

[memilanuk]

Never understood why all seating stems don't seat off the ogive? If they would, you could measure bto and be good to go.

The seater stem on the 21st century is *massive* by comparison to the ones in my Wilson, Redding and Forster dies. It makes them look like a piece of tubing with a chamfer on the inside. The 21st century one is machined from a solid chunk of metal, and custom honed fit the ogive of *one* particular bullet, in my case a 200.20X. Want to seat a 185 Juggernaught, or 155.5 BT Fullbores? Have to have another stem custom honed to fit each one. Not cheap, but they are damn near perfect.

 

[dminn1]

The seater stem on the 21st century is *massive* by comparison to the ones in my Wilson, Redding and Forster dies. It makes them look like a piece of tubing with a chamfer on the inside. The 21st century one is machined from a solid chunk of metal, and custom honed fit the ogive of *one* particular bullet, in my case a 200.20X. Want to seat a 185 Juggernaught, or 155.5 BT Fullbores? Have to have another stem custom honed to fit each one. Not cheap, but they are damn near perfect.

I have found that with many of the longer high b.c. bullets the seating stem contacting the point of the bullet is the cause of much of the inconsistencies in seating depth from round to round. For sure the custom honed seating stems in your 21st Century address this issue. I have the vld seating stem in one of my Redding competition seaters that gives very consistent results. I have modified the seating stem in a Lee seating die that came with the collet neck sizing die for .243 Win for use with the 105 Berger Hybrid. My intention was to use this until I could order a new Redding competition seater but the results I have obtained with this die match or exceed anything I have obtained with the Reddings in the past. I get consistent seating depths to .001, and runout does not exceed .002. No micrometer adjustment but I don't miss it since I am loading only this bullet and getting consistent measurements.

 

[memilanuk]

 

[BenPerfected]

I guess you could say they've BenPerfected!

Keep die backlash in mind. Always pre-load from the same direction. That will help with die settings being consistent as you make adjustments.

Pretty good way to engineer around the problem.

 

[kvd]

It is logical to say that as long as the bullets have been sorted to ensure that they are similar in terms of curvature and length from ogive rifling diameter to tip, then no matter where the seating stem makes contact with the bullet, it will be seated to the same distance from the rifling. Accuracy in seating depth will be further enhanced by:

1. Comparing subsequent bullets used to the bullet that was originally used to find the distance to the lands in the first place.
2. Using the same seating die as used to determine the reference dimension in item 1 above (by the Alex Wheeler method) and adjusting the seating depth in or out as desired by using the micrometer on the seating die. These adjustments are more accurate than CBTO measurements IMHO

My 2¢ worth.

Ken

 

[Richard Coody]

doesn't matter which seater die you use. if the ogive of your bullets is not consistent then you will have variations in seating depth.

berger and Sierra are pretty consistent. hornady and nosler not so much.

 

[chromatica]

+1 for Forster Ultra-micrometer seating die. It has a large drum with white lettering that is very readable.

Also check out the Sinclair bullet comparator. You can use it to measure the base to ogive distance to monitor your seating consistency. COAL measurements will be all over the map with most hollow point low drag bullets. I find it very convenient to use with my calipers.

http://www.sinclairintl.com/reloadi...r-hex-style-bullet-comparators-prod83792.aspx