30-30 Boolits Seating Crooked...

[UtopiaTexasG19]

I have been casting and re-loading 30-30 Winchester boolits for 3 months now and have been doing quite well with regular base cast boolits. A few days ago I cast my first Ranch Dog 30-30 boollits and since then lubricated, sized, applied gas checks and lubricated again. I am using the same Lee Deluxe 3 Die set as before but am having the gas checked bullets not seating straight in the casings. No matter how straight I hold the gas checked bullet on the casing rim I get some lead shavings and the boolit is slightly crooked in the casing after the boolit is seated. This is happening to about one in every 8 boolits I am trying to seat. I have never had this problem with the regular lead base cast boolits and the Lee die set, whether full lenght sizing or just neck sizing, appears to have no further adjustment as the necks in all cases appear to be the correct inside diameter. None of these dies appear to "flair" the neck like my pistol die sets accomplish. What am I doing wrong? Thanks...

[Atakawow]

My bet is that your problem arises during the seating stage. This is what I would do:

- Unscrew your seating die. Unscrew the top end of your seating die.

- Take out the seating stem. The stem should have one hollow end and one solid flat end. My guess is that you were using the hollow end to seat the bullet. Try using the flat end.

- Insert the stem back in the die, with the flat end going in first.

Try this. It might solve your problem.

[leadman]

Also are you using an expanding die first to open up the case mouth? I prefer the Lyman M dies for this.

[runfiverun]

champher the case mouths.
check the seating die for lube build up.

[Echo]

+1. If you don't have an M die, use a set of needle-nose pliers poked in and twisted some to flare the case mouth.
And what are the finished diameters of the boolits, both PB and TL. And how are you lubricating/sizing the PB boolits?

[UtopiaTexasG19]

Thanks for the advice.
I did in fact open up my seating die to look at the seating pin and was using the reverse coned end instead of the flat end of the pin so I will try the die out with the flat end of the pin for use on these flat nosed bullets. I had no idea the pin was reversable and went back to the direction sheet that came with the die set and there is no mention of the pin being reversible.
If this does not work I'll try chamfering the rim on the casings, or flair a tiny bit with needle nosed plyers and also look into the Lyman M die for the 30-30.
Thanks for all the help and quick replys. :)

[Char-Gar]

You have received good information and have plenty of things to check. The straight seating of bullets is one of the prime requirments for accurate loads with either cast or jacketed bullets. Depending on your make of die and the diamter of your bullets, some dies have seating chambers to small for the larger cast bullet. YOu need to check this out.

There are at least three straight line bullet seating dies out there, each one of them will assure bullets are seated properly. I use all three.

1. Vickerman bullet seater. You can buy one of these in 30 caliber and use it with any 30 caliber round. The bullet chamber than comes with it is .309, but the fellow that is making these now will make one large enough for cast bullets. I have such a die and it works to perfection.

2. L.E. Wilson chamber type seating dies. These will also seat cast bullet and jacketed bullet dead straight. Here again the stock item comes in .309, but Wilson will make you one .3125 for cast bullets.

3. Lyman PA (precision alignment) dies. Long out of print, these dies come with bullet chambers large enough for cast bullets. These dies can be found on Ebay from time to time.

[GP100man]

Lee universal rifle flaring die

http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct/?productNumber=140461

[adrians]

sound advice above .
try a chamfer first if it works ,great.
:bigsmyl2: then get the lyman "M' die anyway :twisted: [smilie=1: :evil:

[462]

A Lyman M-die assures that the boolit base sits squarely and firmly in the case mouth, a typical "flaring" die -- such as Lee uses -- does not.

Lyman Precision Alignment seating dies, though getting harder to find and becoming more expensive, can still be a bargain.

[geargnasher]

If you get a Lyman "M" die, get the 31 caliber, not the 30. The 31 is perfect for our oversized cast boolits in the .311" range. The .30 has a .307" primary step.

Gear

[dbldblu]

Too much neck tension creates crooked ammo, IMO. In rifle cartridges at least, maybe not revolver.

[Bret4207]

Consider that your pain base boolits may have been reduced in diameter when you seated them. Not usually a good thing.