Some issue loading Hornady V-Max in .223 Rem ?

[effendude]

interesting...I use the Hornady seater with micrometer, ( Seater stem for VLD) for my 6.5CM with Hornady tipped ELD, works well, and Redding seater with VLD micrometer seater, for 308, sierra tipped MK. I have the Hornady seater for 223 VMAX, which works fairly well, if I really prep the cases for these flat bottoms. VMAX boat tails, no problems

With new lapua cases, I used them straight away, with the boat tails, with no prep, other than dipping the necks in the redding imperial graphite, and never had any issue. I also will use the redding or RCBS small base dies on 308 and 6.5, again, have pretty good results. These flat bottom guys just make me nuts. Maybe one day I can sit with someone doing them and see what I am missing! for now...going boat tails! At 200yds, with what I am doing, shots are pretty accurate. So, that makes me happy!

Imagine people screaming at the screen right now..... You don't need to dip your necks in graphite before seating the bullet. You SIMPLY have undersized necks. Several have asked for you to measure the neck before and after seating a bullet. Take the primer punch out of a FL sizing die as your processed brass is already primed, and size 5 cases. Seat the flat based bullets. I bet you will notice a big difference.

 

[Kracken McGraw]

Imagine people screaming at the screen right now..... You don't need to dip your necks in graphite before seating the bullet. You SIMPLY have undersized necks. Several have asked for you to measure the neck before and after seating a bullet. Take the primer punch out of a FL sizing die as your processed brass is already primed, and size 5 cases. Seat the flat based bullets. I bet you will notice a big difference.

That’s a great suggestion.

 

[tommeboy]

I swear this whole thread is a fishing experiment.

 

[effendude]

I swear this whole thread is a fishing experiment.

No kidding...... Its like when someone asks you for directions, then ignores your help

 

[Mike F H]

This whole saga only reinforces my view that there a number of people so lacking in thinking ability and mechanical/motor skills,that it would be better if they kept away from firearms.

 

[BHP9]

I use a ''Shooters Box'' 3 step case gauge for 223REM. Better than my Forster or Wilson gauges

I hate to tell you but my 30 year old Lyman case gauges (223 and 308) does all that , as do my Dillon gauges.

 

[Doom]

This was a cluster and I'm amazed that no one mentioned the following so I'll just add there. Lee makes two different styles of seating dies. One includes a taper crimp as part of the seating process and the other is call a dead length seater. The taper crimp die requires a setup process that differers from the dead length seater. Confuse these and taper crimp die will deform the brass. It is important to read the instructions.

I don't know that this was the issue here but it is a possibility.

 

[tommeboy]

The Lee does not make a taper die for 223. They make their regular seater and then a collet crimp die.

 

[Doom]

The Lee does not make a taper die for 223. They make their regular seater and then a collet crimp die.

It appears you are correct that they no longer make the TC die but have in the past. I know because I have both.

 

[searcher]

Everyone has offered all the suggestions needed to get that pre-primed brass to accept bullets. Perhaps a summarization? Your necks are getting tweaked due to too much downward pressure to get your bullets into the cases.. Best solutions are:

1) re-size your brass with the de-cap pin removed. This alone would likely fix necks which are too tight for the bullet IF your die will allow you to remove the de-capping pin AND retain the expander ball - as the purpose in resizing is to allow the expander ball to open the necks a bit and not de-cap your primer. If you can do this, you needn't buy an expander mandrel or any other tooling.
2) If you can't remove the de-cap pin without removing the expander ball, the next option is to use an expander mandrel to open the necks a bit. This will be a one-time deal, as your necks will be sized properly on your next sizing.
2) ensure you have a reasonable chamfer - but recognize that this alone will not correct necks which are much too tight. If the bullets still don't seat after a light chamfer - the necks are too tight.
3) "squeezing" those bullets into the cases can be aided by graphite lube or applying moly to the bullets themselves. This should not be necessary with proper neck size - but helps if you can't re-size without the expander button, nor want to buy an expander mandrel.
4) Check the cases to be sure the mouths are "square". Trimming might be in order to achieve this if your seating die has any play in it, which can allow the bullets to cant in some seating dies enough to slightly bulge the neck just enough to cause you problems. A quality in-line seater is best in overcoming any mouths that are out of spec. They work best when there are no problems too.
5) I'd disregard the Lee crimp die info as that is to straighten out a problem you have in your seating or sizing. You are best advised to fix the problem.

While you said you are going to move back to boat-tail bullets, there is no reason to not be able to use your flat-base bullets too. I've bought a fair amount of pre-primed brass at deals that were too good to pass up in the past - and they usually demanded some kind of attention. Good luck!