redding comp bullet seater issue

[JustinP]

Have struck a problem with my redding comp bullet seater. When seating v-max bullets, the mouth of the seating stem is leaving a ring mark/scratch on the jackets, which I can feel when running a finger across them.

Inside necks are clean and polished and I am using graphite to lube the stem mouth, inside necks and projectile.

Any suggestions on how to deal with this? Thought about polishing out the seater stem mouth but am a little afraid of using anything too abrasive.

Cheers

JustinP

 

[dreever]

Justin,

A visible ring is one thing, but one that you can feel is quite another. It's not unusual to see a slight ring mark, but you shouldn't be able to feel it.
I would e-mail Pat Ryan at Redding, or give him a call before you do anything. I would guess they may replace the part/ or tell you what to do to correct the problem. They are good people and prompt in their replies.

Danny

 

[JustinP]

Thanks Danny - I'll e-mail Redding, given I live in Australia.

I seated some Nosler ballistic tips and they were fine - slightly visible ring but nothing else. hmmmm....

Justin

 

[Caduceus]

Justin,

I've seen this before. V-max's seem to have softer jackets than Ballistic Tips.

Firstly, I'm assuming you don't have excessive neck tension on your resized cases. In other words, you aren't trying to stuff a .243" bullet down into a .238" ID neck are you. It's hard to get into this situation if you use an expander ball in your sizing die but quite possible using a bushing die with too small a bushing selected.

Now for the more likely answer - the inside edge of those seating stems has quite a sharp corner on it. You can fix this quite easily by using your neck chamfer tool and chamfering the inside of the seater stem, the same as you would with a case neck.

The steel seating stem is harder than brass but the chamfer tool is harder still. I don't know if they are carbide or tool steel but regardless, I have done this and it works. Chamfer the seating stem and let us know if it doesn't fix the problem.

 

[JustinP]

Greg

Thanks for the advice - much appreciated.

In answer - no, I'm only using .002" neck tension, so that shouldn't be a problem.

Didn't think about the neck chamfering tool...given the hardness of the stem mouth, did you manage that by hand, or did you need to chuck it in a lathe or drill? Can see there's a sharp edge on the stem mouth.

Justin

 

[Caduceus]

I just used it in a power screw-driver.

 

[Forum Boss]

After breaking the hard edge on the seater stem with the chamfer tool, chuck a bullet into a drill, coat the bullet with Flitz or lapping compound. That will polish in a radius that will match the bullet profile better.

The real problem is some interference with bullet seating. This is often due to build-up of brass in the neck-shoulder junction, or brass that is just work hardened from multiple reloadings.

 

[JustinP]

Thanks guys, I'll try the chamfering and polishing process suggested and let you know how it goes.