Easy Wilson seating die mod.

[AlNyhus]

One of the great things about Wilson seating dies is their simplicity and machined tolerances. It's pretty common for the seating stem fit to be so good that the seater stem just floats on the column of trapped air above the bullet before you seat it. That's pretty cool but it can cause the loaded round to be a bit hard to remove from the seater unless you remove the seater stem....even though the case itself may have enough clearance in the die.

Anyway, here's something that helps. Chuck the seater stem up lightly and use a .0625 (1/16") end mill to make a hole the length of the solid portion of the seater stem...normally around 5/8" in length. You could probably use a decent drill bit but I use a fair number of these .0625 end mills at the race shop for certain projects. The hole allows the trapped air to release ...you get a better feel when seating and the loaded round comes out easier. The pic down the hole isn't the best but you get the idea. I've done this on stems from the .17's to the .30's.

Good shootin' -Al

 

[jkohler]

Al thats a nice mode. Maybe you should pass that on to Wilson they could incorporate it in.

 

[fkimble@charter.net]

You could also just mill a very small flat the length of the stem! It would be almost invisible.

Frank

 

[JamesinAsheville]

One of the great things about Wilson seating dies is their simplicity and machined tolerances. It's pretty common for the seating stem fit to be so good that the seater stem just floats on the column of trapped air above the bullet before you seat it. That's pretty cool but it can cause the loaded round to be a bit hard to remove from the seater unless you remove the seater stem....even though the case itself may have enough clearance in the die.

Anyway, here's something that helps. Chuck the seater stem up lightly and use a .0625 (1/16") end mill to make a hole the length of the solid portion of the seater stem...normally around 5/8" in length. You could probably use a decent drill bit but I use a fair number of these .0625 end mills at the race shop for certain projects. The hole allows the trapped air to release ...you get a better feel when seating and the loaded round comes out easier. The pic down the hole isn't the best but you get the idea. I've done this on stems from the .17's to the .30's.

Good shootin' -Al

I've been doing that for a while and add a piece of foam in the top of the stem to keep dirt etc out.