Seating Bullets Consistently

[Ihsarah]

Hey guys, I like to experiment with different bullet designs, each a little different in size and where their crimp groove is located. The issue is when I go to adjust the height of the seating die I may seat the bullet too shallow, which isn't too hard to resolve but other times may seat it too deep until I get it just right. My question is if any of you more experienced reloaders have figured out a way to consistently get your seating die to the right depth without having to play the "too hot too cold" game on your first few bullets? Thanks for the help.

[dudel]

Make a dummy round for each bullet profile. Unscrew the seating stem, run the round into the seating die, screw the seating stem in till it makes contact, then lock it down.

[Char-Gar]

If I understand your questions, you are asking of there is a way to predetermine how to seat new bullet design for your rifle without doing the seat and try method with your die?

I don't think so, or at least I have never worried about it enough to try and find out. I am not a person looking for short cuts.

[Ihsarah]

Make a dummy round for each bullet profile. Unscrew the seating stem, run the round into the seating die, screw the seating stem in till it makes contact, then lock it down.

Ah this is genius! Simple too! I'll definitely do this for each of my bullet styles! Thanks!

[MT Chambers]

I usually just adj. so that coal. is way to long and then adjust down from there, doesn't take long.

[Nueces]

Another way to get to the same place as using a dummy round is, having adjusted your die, to measure the protrusion of the seating stem above the die or locknut. Keep a record of these measurements with your dies or in your bench notebook.

[lobowolf761]

I usually just adj. so that coal. is way to long and then adjust down from there, doesn't take long.

This is how you need to do it even when you are making up your dummy rounds. Start high and slowly seat the bullets deeper little by little till you get them seated the way you want them.

[OnHoPr]

Ah this is genius! Simple too! I'll definitely do this for each of my bullet styles! Thanks!

That is generally the way I do it also. But, after setting the seating die raise it a turn or so anyway, then fine tune back down. Why, because depending on your crimp groove or where you might want to try to crimp on a bearing band from the initial setting when you made the dummy seating depth round your brass may have been just trimmed or just being over length and needing trimmed. So, say you have just the simple Lee trimming length mandrel and cutter. It will trim down to that size all the time, not like being able to adjust it like a lyman trimmer. If you make your dummy round with a fresh trimmed brass it will be to deep if you use brass right on the verge of being trimmed. Get the longest spec brass to make your dummy round. It also depends on how close you are wanting your boolit to the rifling. Just a little more detail to think about when making your dummy rounds. I probably could have worded this better, but you should get the drift.

[00buck]

Be sure NOT to put a primer in your dummy round

[kbstenberg]

I use both Neuces an Char-Gar. I make the dummy round and label it with bullet style, the length, and the seating stem distance.

[Scharfschuetze]

You can also determine what each rotation of your seating stem represents. Once done, you can easily figure what the value of each 8th of a turn or each quarter of a turn's value is. There is usually a little play in threads, but it's accurate enough to get you where you want to go.

That's much like using the micrometer style match seating dies often used, although perhaps not quite as accurate.

When setting length to a crimping groove, make sure that you trim your brass to a known length (ie. minimum) to aid in your proper measurement and ability to return to it. Brass can vary quite a bit in length, even when newly bought and can skew your measurement or your dummy round's accuracy unless attended to. Uniform case lengths will also give you more consistent case pull from the crimp on ignition so you get a two for one benefit.

[silverjay]

Look at the micrometer seating dies. Easy to adjust and document the setting for each boolit type.

[bangerjim]

Dummy round! Only way to go. In my case, it takes one to know one!

banger

[44man]

I just use an already loaded round but a better way is to make washers to go under the die. I adjust for the shortest boolit, then pop a washer under for a longer one.
Brass shim stock works good. Easy to figure thickness.

[Blackwater]

+1 on making up dummy rounds for each bullet. This'll get you to churning out GOOD ammo the quickest/fastest/bestest of all the things you can do. Loosen your seater die's adjustments, screw it down over the dummy round until the crimp is fairly firm, then screw the seater plug down fairly firmly on the bullet nose, and you'll be VERY close, but the real trick is taking THAT round and comparing it, preferably with a good magnifying glass, to the dummy, and making any tiny adjustments needed. This should bring you very consistent joy with your ammo with the least possible time spent doing it. Having to adjust your seater for several different bullets is just a given, for those of us who like shooting a variety of bullets, and IMO, is a small price to pay for getting different results with varied bullets. It really is quick, and the biggest "problem" is usually just not being in the "mood" to just accept this very objective choice on our parts. The only way to avoid it is to use one bullet with each caliber, and that's kind'a boring, really, and negates much of the reason most of us reload - getting different performance from differing bullets. Sometimes, the things we do and choose aren't "problems" so much as they are very real ADVANTAGES. We just have to take those few little seconds it takes to produce really good ammo to bring us the real joy we're always looking for, and sometimes, the only impediment to that is our being in TOO big a hurry. It's not a slow process at all, and we ALL want and need to get things done as efficiently as we can. We sometimes just make poor choices in that process, and take too many things for granted that we often shouldn't, and there's always a price for that, such as difficulties on the range when we were really expecting simple joy and pure ol' fun!

[GabbyM]

Your seating stem is probably a 28 pitch thread on a 1/4 x 28 seater stem. That is 28 threads per inch. So 28 turns on the seat screw gives you one inch. One turn is 1/28th of an inch or .0357" which rounds to .036". Thus if you want to seat .018" deeper you give it a half turn. one quarter turn will be .009" 1/8th turn .0045".

Your instruction sheet inside your die box will give the parts list with the rod or it's locknuts thread size. Or you can measure travel with a calipers or depth mic by giving it a turn. Or give it ten turns, measure, then move the decimal point one place to see what value a single turn is.

[Nueces]

I use the seating stem turns per thread method, too. But, rather than measuring, I look at the short seated bullet and estimate how many thread pitches deeper it must go, then turn in the stem a little short of that estimate and try it. This works best when seating to a crimp groove or other visible feature, not a measured OAL.

[mdi]

dudel hit it. I have a dummy for every bullet I have reloaded. But, for a new bullet size design, I'll back the seating stem waaaay up and go down as needed. For "deep seated" bullets I use an impact puller, just tapping the tool not so hard as to completely dislodge the bullet but move it out a bit and measure.