Wilson seater bullet wobble

[60723]

I have several Wilson seating dies. Ordered VLD stems for 6mm hybrid and Vapor Trail bullets. How much wobble should I expect the bullet to have just sitting on the stem? Seems excessive to me.
I see no wobble with my old Whidden VLD stems.

 

[Chris Edmondson]

How do you detect a bullet wobbling in the seating stem? I'm just curious.

 

[60723]

If you stand the stems up and drop a bullet in, the bullet in the Whidden stem is solidly upright. The bullet in the Wilson stem has about 3/16 wobble side to side. Not sure this is a problem but don’t like it.

 

[jackieschmidt]

The point of the bullet might still be hitting before the stem contacts the bullet ogive.

 

[TTE]

Bullets and seating stem don't match in profile ... as Jackie states above.

 

[60723]

Point not hitting

 

[60723]

With the 103 Vapor Trails, the bullet contacts the Wilson die at about .120 from the tip. Ogive is about .700 from the tip

 

[Kracken McGraw]

With the 103 Vapor Trails, the bullet contacts the Wilson die at about .120 from the tip. Ogive is about .700 from the tip

Maybe contact Wilson to send your stem back along with a bullet.

 

[Evan]

All my Wilson seating stems needed to be lapped to fit the bullet I was using. They have the worst fit of any seating die I’ve used. The rest of the inline seater die is excellent though, so it’s a flaw I tolerate and correct with each die purchase.

 

[coldboreshot]

With the 103 Vapor Trails, the bullet contacts the Wilson die at about .120 from the tip. Ogive is about .700 from the tip

I'm not familiar with the geometry of the VaporTrail bullet but have you tried the standard seating stem?
Also, how is the fit with the hybrid?
Shouldn't the hybrid proflie be better suited to the standard stem?
Can anyone weigh in here on this?

 

[60723]

Actually both bullets seem to contact the stems about the same place. Called Wilson and lady said as long as the stems don’t mark the bullet all is good

 

[60723]

Tried lapping but no way could I ever get to the ogive!

 

[AlNyhus]

How's the run out when you seat a billet with the Wilson seater? -Al

 

[Ringostar]

Is it possible that you got a mispackaged stem? I don’t have a 6mm, but my 6.5 and 7mm Wilson vld stems fit great without any wobble. Compare the original stem with what is supposed to be a vld.

 

[gero]

I called about this issue, they want to sell a lot of custom seating stems.....

 

[Allen Corneau]

I have a Wilson inline seater for my 6BR and bought an extra VLD stem since that's what I use 95% of the time.

The VLD stem and non-VLD stem contacted the bullets (multiple weight Berger VLD's) at the same spot on the ogives, so I sent them back to Wilson and they honed the VLD stem to contact closer to the full-diameter ogive. It's still contacts the bullet closer to the tip than my Forster Ultra-Micrometer seater, but I only use it for seating tests at the range so it's not a big deal.

Back to the initial concern... If you put the seater body over the case to be loaded and drop the bullet in from the top (where the stem goes) you'll see that the interference between the hole and the bullet is very close. I wouldn't worry about the seating stem letting the bullet sit off-kilter while seating (which I'm guessing is your main concern).

 

[rardoin]

Don’t pet the sweaty stuff .

 

[BoydAllen]

If you stand the stems up and drop a bullet in, the bullet in the Whidden stem is solidly upright. The bullet in the Wilson stem has about 3/16 wobble side to side. Not sure this is a problem but don’t like it.

Some work with a concentricity gauge should tell you if the difference makes a difference.

 

[padom]

I wouldn't worry about it too much. No runout being induced with my LE Wilson SS Micrometer inline dies.

Just loaded up these 6 Dasher rounds last night..