Hard Seating Bullets in 7 SAUM Norma Brass....

[CaylenW]

Ok guys, I've been lurking here for a while trying to find an answer to my issues with large inconsistencies in bullet seating pressure with my 7 SAUM Norma brass. Running Berger 180 VLD's and 180 Hybrids. Here's the stats:
-7 SAUM Norma brass. (First loading with the virgin stuff gave me a helluva time. 2nd firing wasn't as bad, but still wildly inconsistent.
-Redding full length bushing die with .315 bushing using the expander ball.

One bullet may seat nice and clean, but the majority have large variances in required pressure to seat the bullet, and obviously wildly different seating depths. In many cases I'm getting a ring on the ogive, and I made sure that the seater plug was in fact a VLD plug. As one could expect the SD's are terrible....

I'm not sure whether I need to turn necks, abandon the expander, or go up in bushing size., or hell.... do all three! I could definitely use some words of wisdom from the salts in here. Much appreciated.

Cheers

 

[CatShooter]

You might consider annealing the necks before you try anything else.

 

[R.Morehouse]

VLD case mouth chamfering tool ?

 

[tuttlefarm]

First turn necks, just to clean up, then determine what the correct bushing to use.

 

[MrMajestic]

Anneal every firing, dry neck lube(I use Redding's), expander mandrel.

 

[ShootDots]

Actually ALL the above replies are correct! However, it is not a matter of any one of them>>>it is a matter of doing ALL of them.
Individually, they are correct. But to get it "right" do all they said! Turn the necks, anneal that brass and use the proper chamfer tool for the bullets you are shooting.. They ALL contribute. ALSO make sure that once you KNOW the diameter of a loaded round, as Tuttlefarm said, use the correct bushing>>>start at 1K (thousandths) UNDER the size of a loaded round.. Then you will be in great shape..

 

[JRS]

Do you know the dimensions of your chamber? Don't start turning your brass for no reason. Redding produces dies by the gazillions. It's possible you have a faulty die. Check your chamber dimensions and check your die. Have you measured the diameter of a loaded round with virgin brass before using the .315 bushing?

 

[MagnumManiac]

I have 2 questions.
What do your finished necks measure with a bullet seated?
How are you getting 'wildly different seating depths'? Are you measuring from the ogive or the bullet tip?

Cheers.
:-\

 

[CaylenW]

I anneal this brass after every firing as it's stout as all hell. I use a Giraud annealer. I use a Giraud trimmer, so the VLD chamfer is already being done. Loaded round with virgin brass is .316, so hence the .315 bushing. Measuring COAL from ogives with a bushing. The only thing I'm not doing is turning the necks.... Guess I'll run a dozen or so through the neck turner and see how that goes. Appreciate the replies gents.

Cheers

 

[CaylenW]

Do you know the dimensions of your chamber? Don't start turning your brass for no reason. Redding produces dies by the gazillions. It's possible you have a faulty die. Check your chamber dimensions and check your die. Have you measured the diameter of a loaded round with virgin brass before using the .315 bushing?

I'll measure the reamer on Monday morning and see what we have for an ID on the neck.

 

[JRS]

When the reamer cuts the chamber, it is cutting the OD, not ID.

How are you measuring the length with a bushing

 

[bigedp51]

CaylenW

Your expander will tell you a story every time you pull it through the neck.

If you feel hard resistance as the expander is pulled through the neck you are over resizing the necks.

If you have very little resistance meaning just being able to feel it pass through the neck you are good to go.

The expander is there for unturned necks to push irregularities to the outside of the neck. If you turn the necks and use the correct bushing size the expander should pass though the neck as light as a feather.

Then if you follow ShootDots "total advice" your problem should have a happy ending.

 

[dipstick]

Please forgive me if these have already been covered.

Have you measured the neck after sizing with and without using the expander ball? Does the bushing actually size to .315? If you are over sizing and the expander is undersized you will end up with a "tight" case neck.

I once had a .270 expander in a 30-06 die. Didn't notice that there was no resistance when pulling back over the expander. Took a lot to seat those bullets. Finally measured the expander ball.

I would think variations in neck thickness would have an influence only if the expander wasn't doing it's job.

 

[william5409]

agree with u all

 

[savagedasher]

Sonic cleaning, and stainless cleaning both have effect on seating pressure. I stopped using both for that reason. Sonic was better then stainless With sonic you had just a clean surface to deal with. Stainless you not only had a clean surface but you have fine stainless particles embedded in the brass.
Don't take my word for it. Take the water at the bottom of the tumbler and look at it with magnification.
The reason for hard seating is lack of Lube between two clean surface or metal embedding in the brass.
The second reason is excessive expansion do to sizing.
Third is Hard brass. Larry

 

[CaylenW]

When the reamer cuts the chamber, it is cutting the OD, not ID.

How are you measuring the length with a bushing

Correct, but the OD of the reamer neck produces an ID for the chamber.

I said that I was measuring the COAL length with a bushing from the ogives.

 

[CaylenW]

CaylenW

Your expander will tell you a story every time you pull it through the neck.

If you feel hard resistance as the expander is pulled through the neck you are over resizing the necks.

If you have very little resistance meaning just being able to feel it pass through the neck you are good to go.

The expander is there for unturned necks to push irregularities to the outside of the neck. If you turn the necks and use the correct bushing size the expander should pass though the neck as light as a feather.

Then if you follow ShootDots "total advice" your problem should have a happy ending.

Yeah the cases require a lot of resistance to get them back through the expander. The weird thing is the loaded cases come out to .316" with a .315" bushing. After measuring the reamer it's apparent this issue is the brass being beefy. I've got a redding floating expander ball coming and I'm going to play around with a .316" bushing and see what comes of it.
Again, appreciate the replies.