How to seat compressed loads

[jcampbellsmith]

I've been loading some rounds for my 260 Rem tonight and it's a slightly compressed load. What's the best strategy for getting consistent seating? Seat long and seat again? Any recommendations? I'm using a Redding micrometer seater. Thanks JCS

 

[DaveWhite]

You can also vibrate your powder down, a bit. German Salizar shared this trick: take a second loading block and invert it over a first block that has your brass with powder thrown and trickled to final weight. Hold the two blocks together as a "sandwich" and hold against your brass tumbler (which is on cleaning your brass). After about 30 seconds, you will find that the powder in your cases has fallen significantly and you may not have any push back from the powder to the bullet when seated. Try a second 30-second vibration if the first did not get it settled enough.

 

[amamnn]

I saw a reply to this very same question posted by a shooter I have known and respected for years. His advice was (assuming you have used [correctly] a drop tube) then pouring out a little bit of powder until the bullet did not bottom out on the top of the charge was the best way to deal with compressed loads.

Redding (and others) competition seating dies come with instructions not to be used with compressed loads and a look at the ballistics charts for charges just below and just above compression does not show enough difference to warrant the extra powder and the extra worry about seating the bullet on it........it seems to me to be a waste of time in both hunting and competition--still, people will do it.

 

[savagedasher]

Try a 12'' drop tube with a slow pour it will get you about 2 more grains or more depending on the powder Good shooting
Larry

 

[Martin52]

+1 on the drop tube - I use the one Forster make and pour the powder into it in a circular motion allowing it to fall slowly down the funnel and down the tube. Reduces/eliminates powder crunch.

Martin

 

[ryanjay11]

If you can't get it to work after slowly pouring with a drop tube, you might consider changing powders.

 

[amlevin]

+1 on the drop tube - I use the one Forster make and pour the powder into it in a circular motion allowing it to fall slowly down the funnel and down the tube. Reduces/eliminates powder crunch.

Martin

Again, +1 on a drop tube. I just bought a short length of tubing (8") from my local auto parts house that had flares on the end. Cut one end off, threw away the "flare nuts" and J-B Welded the tube into an old Lee Powder Funnel I had laying around. No more crunch. Cost? Less than $5 and I didn't have to wait longer than the cure time for the J-B Weld.

 

[jcampbellsmith]

Thanks, I think the suggestion to try another powder that doesn't give me a compressed load is the answer. Regards JCS

 

[Jeffvn]

+1 on the longer drop tube (6" in my case). If that does not get you to the promised land, you can try the tumbler... meaning .... cover the top of the brass with your finger and hold the brass against the side of the running tumbler lid for 10-15 seconds. I have been able to seat loads up to 105-106% compressed (with powders like Retumbo, H1000 and H4831SC) using the combination of a longer drop tube (6" in my case) and tumbler vibration with no discernable resistance and no audible crunch.

Jeffvn