Seating die issues

[Deton8tor]

Last night while doing some reloading I ran into an issue I have not had happen before. While seating bullets I had a very noticable sticky sensation with a definite thump on the upstroke (after seating). Wasn't sure what the issue was, so I stopped and cleaned the press moving parts. Thought maybe a primer or debris was lodged in the press. Issue still there. I looked at my rounds and they had a ring impressed in the bullet where the seating stem makes contact.
So, I disassembled the dies and did an indepth cleaning of it, still there. I took another brand of bullet and the ring was till present, but not as bad and still had the sticky upstroke. I am seating Lapua 136L's in 6.5mm. the dies are redding comp. and I don't remember ever having this before. I have been using this brand of bullet for a number of years without issue I operated the press w/o a round in it and had no issues. Did this an an elimination. Could the jacket be a bit thinner? Or, is something else going on? I also noticed I had a tough time meeting the standard seating depth I always use.

 

[jpretle]

Is your case possibly sticking in the die, just slightly, when you begin to pull it out?? If so, might need to set your sizing die down a bit.

 

[Milo 2.0]

It's the seating cup sticking to your bullet. Buy a VLD seating stem for your die. That's what's causing the ring. Did you alter your neck tension, diff bushing, anneal, etc..?

 

[/VH]

My guess is; your seating force is excessive due to one or more of the following.

1. Seating into new unsized (need to be expanded) case mouths.
2. Burr in case mouth.
3. Neck sized down too much.
4. Work hardened brass.
5. Significant powder compression.
6. Seater die body set too short for the length of your brass; crimping case mouth.

 

[spclark]

EOD350, how do you control neck diameter when resizing?

Do you anneal your case necks & shoulders?

That ring on the bullet jackets where the seating stem bears is telling you your seating force is greater than the jackets can withstand without deforming. My guess is that your neck tension (neck thickness & ID + consistency of brass 'stiffness' or hardness) is too high now. Your last sentence is the strongest indicator here.

Whether cartridges loaded with this ring show adverse effect down-range depends on what kind of shooting you do and how deep those rings actually are. You're paying a premium for superb bullets, best to find the cause & eliminate it.

 

[Deton8tor]

I anneal every three firings, I don't stand on the brass. I worked with the set-up this morning and discovered that I had created too much neck tension. I use a Lee collet to do the necks and had to polish the mandrel. Must have taken it a lil bit too far. I believe I have it corrected. Thanks for all of the responses.

 

[acloco]

Most, not all, seating die stems are not manufactured with the secant style of rifle bullets that we are using. Whether the bullets are HP or tipped, the tip of the bullet is contacting the inner/top of the seating stem before the stem is contacting the bullet body.

Solution? Drill the stem slightly deeper to allow the tip of the bullet to not engage the inner/top of the stem and consider enlarging the diameter of the hole in the seating stem.

Enlarging the diameter slightly (0.020") allows the seating stem to contact deeper on the bullet body where the jacket is thicker.