Hornady bullet seating die 223 rem

[old codger]

My Hornady seating die has always required that you screw the seating depth adjustment almost all the way in to seat 55 gr. bullets so they will fit my magazines. Recently I purchased some of the factory second 55 gr. with poly tips from Midway. The die runs out of adjustment and will not seat the bullets enough to work through my magazines. I need about 0.020" more seating depth. I disassembled the die and it appears that the plastic seating stem that contacts the bullet nose might be worn just enough to be causing the problem. Anybody ever wear out a part of a seating die? I guess I will contact Hornady for a new part.

 

[SecondsCount]

The last time I talked to Hornady about a die issue, they were pretty awesome, and sent me the parts I needed at no charge.

 

[55fairlane]

Why bother.....(assuming) you have a lathe, make a better one for yourself

 

[Ray123]

Plastic! Never seen one that was plastic. All of mine are steel. Is your die body screwd down all the way to the shell holder and backed off a half turn? And still not seating the bullet deep enough , with all the adjustment in the seating stem. You could machine. 020 off the front of the "plastic" seating stem making it stick out longer. But have a lathe and would make a new steel seating stem to fit the profile of the bullet with a small ground boring bar after drilling a hole to clear the plastic bullet tip then put some lapping compound on the bullet and make a perfect fit to the bullet profile...works great even on heavily compressed loads, much better than Hornadys specialized seating stems.

 

[old codger]

Do not have a lathe. I have always set up the die like this.
Place a sized case in the shell holder and raise the ram all the way up.
Back the die ring way off.
Screw the die in until you feel the roll crimp ring just contact the mouth of the case.
Back the die out one half to one turn and lock it down with the lock ring.
This sets the die so it will not crimp while seating a bullet.
Place a bullet on the case mouth and raise the ram and keep adjusting the seating stem down until you have the OAL you desire. This has always worked with other 55 gr. bullets, but like I said, the seating depth adjustment has always needed to be almost run all the way in to get an OAL of 2.260" which just fits my magazines. Either the part of the die is worn or the ogive shape of these bullets is different just enough to cause the problem.

 

[fkimble@charter.net]

If your a full turn off case mouth contact, try turning the body down a little more. If memory serve, there is .071 adjustment per revolution..

Frank

 

[K22]

Plastic seating stem? That's not ideal.

I would just purchase a Redding or RCBS seating die and be done with it. It's a nominal cost and will last a lifetime giving problem free seating, Mine is 50 years old and I never had a problem seating any brand or style of bullets.

 

[Minshooter]

The plastic stem may be some aftermarket effort.
All my Hornady stems for the past 40 years are metal.
My .223 seating dies will easily seat shorter than I could ever want.
Maybe post a photo of your die set up on the press.
Seems like you don't have the die body screwed in per post 5 and 6.
Hornady is extremely good with customer service. Call them at 800-338-3220

 

[old codger]

I obtained the set of Hornady dies in a trade many years ago. They are at least 25 years old. I tried backing the die off only one quarter of a turn and the seating stem in all the way but the OAL still comes out a tad long. Problem seems to be a bad combination of die and bullet. I put in an email to Hornady but no reply yet. I think I will cure the problem by ordering a new seating die.

 

[AWS]

Hornady seating dies with the sliding sleeve, the bodies are pretty much universal except that they come in long and short. Someone might have swapped a .224 sliding sleeve for a 22H or 218B into a long body,. I too have never seen a plastic part in a Hornady seater.