Lapua Bullets & Wilson Die Help Please

[mole]

I need some help please.

I reloaded some 6mmBR rounds today for my new rifle using my Wilson Die and 90gr Lapua Scenars.

My problem is that out of 50 rounds loaded 15 were either more or less than 5 thou than the set point.

I have never had this problem with any of my other wilson dies or bullet combinations in other calibres.

Incidentally when I ran the longer rounds through a friends die,not wilson) they all seated to the setpoint exactly.

A random sample of 10 bullets from the box shows that bullet length and bearing surface are extremely uniform.

Any assistance would be most appreciated.

Cheers

 

[jb1000br]

What are you using to seat the bullets? Arbor press? Mallet? Your hand?

JB

 

[Brodie]

see if the die is seating on the ogive of the bullet or on the point, maybe the lapua's are longer somehow and aren't allowing the die to seat on the ogive properly?

 

[mole]

Hi

I am using a sinclair arbor press and have checked the bullets, the seater stem is bearing on the ogive rather than the tip.

There is a very slight ring where the stem bears on the bullet as per others I have loaded in different calibres.

However the Wilson die bears further up the bullet,towards the tip) than my friends die, which is further towards the base.

My thought is that there may be a difference in the shape of the bullet at the point where my wilson die bears, but not further towards the ogive where the other die bears. Hence why the problem is only present when using the wilson die.

Any thoughts are appreciated.

Bruce

 

[Rem06]

too much or uneven neck tension? maybe from different lots of brass or fired a different number of times?

 

[338Lapua]

I will make a suggestion about your problem and it may not be the answer you are looking for. Any! Variation in the bullet jacket no matter how small can give a longer or shorter seating depth; Lapua Scenars are extremely uniform projectiles in my experience!
I have experienced your problem on a number of occasions with smk and to a lesser extent Scenars.
Even when I measured each bullet with a bullet comparator before seating it, I found it was difficult to pick up such a small variation, the best way I found around this was to seat bullets long by .10 of there seat depth, and then go back and check each one with your bullet comparator and adjust your die up or down accordingly, most bench rest guys I know only load 5 to 10 cases at a time when there at the range, so this method would work OK for them.

 

[mole]

Problem now solved folks.

It was uneven neck tension...

I tried some new brass that had been expanded at the necks to 1 thou undersize and the results were brilliant... every round was spot on.

Thanks for your help folks.