trouble seating 55gr V-max bullets short enough for AR magazine

[short range]

I have 2 Lee seating die, I can't adjust either one short enough to seat 55 gr V-max bullet to fit in my AR magazine. Does anyone have any suggestions ? I haven't contacted Lee yet, I just wonder if anyone else had the same problem ?

 

[jonbearman]

Try taking the adjuster out and make sure it turns freely.Once it turns freely,I cant think of one reason why it wouldnt work.Turn the die down till the cartridge is just off the crimping groove and readjust the seating plug.

 

[sd359]

I have Lee dies and I just finished 50 223's with 55 gr vmax. As long as you set your die right you should not have any trouble. How did you set your die in your press?

 

[short range]

I set it up according to the directions that came with the die. "Screw in the die until it touches the shell holder, then turn it 1/4 turn more." Even if I turn the Adjusting Screw all the way down, it won't seat the bullet deep enough. The OAL ends up being 2.247" and it make a mark around the bullet.

 

[jhord]

That's not the right procedure, what you described is for the sizing die. You are supposed to insert an empty case in the shellholder, raise it all the way up, then screw the die down until it contacts the case mouth, then adjust it in or out for the amount of crimp that you want. (or lack of) Then you adjust the seating stem for the bullet depth you want. It sounds like you are probably crimping the heck out of the bullet and the seating plug is unable to move it. 2.250" is mag length.

 

[necchi]

That's not the right procedure, what you described is for the sizing die. You are supposed to insert an empty case in the shellholder, raise it all the way up, then screw the die down until it contacts the case mouth, then adjust it in or out for the amount of crimp that you want. (or lack of) Then you adjust the seating stem for the bullet depth you want. It sounds like you are probably crimping the heck out of the bullet and the seating plug is unable to move it. 2.250" is mag length.

+1, I think you hit it jhord,,

 

[sd359]

He set his die right according to the instructions, after reading the last 2 post I had to double check to make sure. Lee says turn to shell holder plus 1/4. I took one of my seating dies apart, they are simple. Take the die out of your press and unscrew the adjustment screw till it comes all they way out. There should be a straight round steel rod flat on one end and cone shaped on the other. There should be a rubber o-ring on the adj screw (it should not come off). Look inside the die, and there should be a small hole all you should see is smooth metal and a hole from the top. Make sure and look from both ends there should only be smooth metal and a hole. The Lee dead legnth bullet seating die only has a couple of parts, die body, adj screw, locking ring, steel rod with a cone shape on the end. Take it apart and see what else you find or what you don't have. Hope you figure it out.

 

[Link]

Gooday Short range.

Are you trying to crimp the bullet?

As anything or everything there is a large controversy of crimp or just neck tension.

We just set neck tension about .003 . However there is a post about concentricity with a AR that I did that no one reply ed much to?

later Link

 

[short range]

He set his die right according to the instructions, after reading the last 2 post I had to double check to make sure. Lee says turn to shell holder plus 1/4. I took one of my seating dies apart, they are simple. Take the die out of your press and unscrew the adjustment screw till it comes all they way out. There should be a straight round steel rod flat on one end and cone shaped on the other. There should be a rubber o-ring on the adj screw (it should not come off). Look inside the die, and there should be a small hole all you should see is smooth metal and a hole from the top. Make sure and look from both ends there should only be smooth metal and a hole. The Lee dead legnth bullet seating die only has a couple of parts, die body, adj screw, locking ring, steel rod with a cone shape on the end. Take it apart and see what else you find or what you don't have. Hope you figure it out.

sd359, I did take the die apart, the end of the steel rod with the hole had a sharp edge, so I smoothed it off, now it doesn't leave a ring on the bullet, but it didn't change the seating depth. I know the max OAL is 2.250 ", but with all 3 of my mags an OAL of 2.247 " barely fit into the mags, so the rounds don't feed correctly sometimes.

 

[jhord]

Folks, my apologies but I had it wrong. I was thinking the Lee .223 was an integrated seater/crimper but apparently it is not. I was going off memory and must've confused things with my .30-30 seater/crimper, which is set up the way I described. I looked at my .223 instructions and it's shellholder + 1/4 turn just as you said. Something is wrong somewhere with your die, it sounds like the seater plug might be too short?

 

[MGYSGT]

I thought Lee dies came with the crimp option. Back the die off and try again. Crimp is not needed with the .223 anyway. Don't believe I have ever seen a .223 projectile walk forward from recoil.

 

[jimbo88mm]

I have 2 Lee seating die, I can't adjust either one short enough to seat 55 gr V-max bullet to fit in my AR magazine.

Just to verify, you have two Lee 223 seating dies and both have the same problem? Both of the dies are set to the lowest setting and both of them are not able to seat the bullets in deep enough?

If this is the case, the odds that you have two bad dies seems very unlikely.

It sounds like you just don't have the dies screwed in enough.

The Lee instructions assume you are using a Lee press.

What press are you using?
Are you reloading for just 223? If not.. what other calibers do you load?


Assuming for the moment that everything is set up correctly and there is nothing odd going on with the press and how the dies are screwed into the press.. I would just back the bullet seater to its mid range, then give the die another 1/3 turn and see how it goes..

I have used the lee seater die for 30-06, 243, and 223 for my AR and have never run into this problem. The press I am using is the breech lock press.

One side note.. if you are using the breech lock press... Once I ran into a situation while loading 30-06 for my Garand that the bullets were not being seated all the way in, so like you the COL was a good bit longer then I wanted. This surprised me because the die had been set in a prior session and I didn't recall changing it. I was thinking that maybe my daughter had given the seating die a little turn. I then took a closer look at the die and noticed that the breech lock bushing was not seated all the way in the press. That bushing must be flush with the press.. if its not pushed in all the way then you'll run into the problem you are seeing.

Also.. a picture is worth a thousand words.. if you are still having trouble.. take some nice close pictures of how the die is screwed into the press.

 

[short range]

Jimbo88mm, I'm using the Lee Breech Lock Challenger Press the comes with the Anniversary Kit. I load 9mm, 223( the 55gr FMJ work fine) and 308 with Lee Dies, the 308 is a savage bolt action, I seat those bullets touching the lands, so no problems with the other bullets.
I tried backing out the seating adjustment screw, and then I turned the die an additional 1/2 turn, as you suggested, that let me set the bullet .002" deeper. I think that will solve my problem, I'll have to take some loaded rounds to the range and test them to make sure they cycle correctly. Thanks for your help, I will let you know if it works.
P. S. I tried turning the die in 1 whole turn, and it still only gave me the .002", so I set it back up 1/2 turn.

Thanks again, Steve

 

[short range]

This is the response that I got from " Lee Precision Products " :
Hi Steve,

The bullet seating plug in the bullet seating and crimp die is generic and designed to seat a wide variety of bullet types. It is a very low drag bullet and has very steep sides. These steep sides allow a large portion of the bullet to slide into the bullet seating plug before the plug makes contact with the
bullet ogive. This causes the bullet seating plug adjustment to bottom out before the bullet can be seated to achieve the cartridge overall length you are loading to.

A remedy for this is to order a custom bullet seating plug for $13.25 ($8.00 for the plug and $5.25 shipping). Send a check plus one bullet you want the plug made for along with a note explaining what you want us to make to the address below and we will make the plug for you.

Try to load very low drag bullets as long as your firearm action will allow. The steep taper and length of the bullet puts the bullet quite far back from contact with the rifling in the barrel when loaded to minimum overall length.

Sincerely,
Stephanie Lee

I guess I also could shim the seating plug at the upper end so it sits lower, if I need additional depth, but I could possibly cause the bullet to seat so it's not straight, if the shim isn't perfectly straight.

 

[necchi]

All that trouble with a common 55grn V-Max?
Well, you could try Bubble Gum?

I stopped using Lee dies when I got the first bad set. Sell it on ebay and get RCBS.

 

[short range]

Hi necchi, This is the first issue i've had with Lee dies, I think they have great products. I shoot some pretty good groups using these dies ( not bragging, I think the dies play a big part in that ) I've read several reviews by people that have both Lee and RCBS dies, and they like the Lee dies better. I'm sure that RCBS has great dies also, and everyone has their own views. It's great that we live in a country where we have so many choices and can voice our views.