Seating die leaves imprint on ogive

[ghh3rd]

My Hornaday 44 Magnum seating die leaves an imprint on the ogive on my Lee 310 grain boolits. I wonder if there is a way to get seating stems specifically for a boolit profile. I haven’t been able to find anything in my searches.

On a sidenote, I normally lube these with Felix lube, but decided to take a stab at using Hi Tek and powder coating (HiTek red and Eastman Ford Blue), to compare accuracy to Felix lube.

Thanks for any suggestions about getting rid of the ring.



Randy

[Rcmaveric]

I used 400 grit sand paper and a pencil eraser to polish up the edges till it stopped. Also gently seating bullets helps.

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[Walks]

You can get another seating stem & customize it with
a Dremel tool or use Johnsons paste wax, several coats on a bullet, drying well between each coat. Take the seating stem out of the die and fill it with 2 part epoxy. Twirl the bullet into the seating stem and then let the epoxy dry stem hanging straight down. You can clean it up after it hardens with the Dremel.

I find the old seating stem from LYMAN #98 for the .44WCF works well for that bullet for me. I have to crimp separately though.
I've many custom seating stems in the past using the epoxy method.
Manufacturers don't give you much choice anymore.
RN for Semi-Auto's
SWC for Revolver's.

[osteodoc08]

If Hornady, some will include a flat seating stem. Otherwise, you'll need to modify the seating stem. I've been known to fill the seating stem with epoxy and shaping as needed

[Bookworm]

For the flat boolits, I have used hot glue. Just fill the hole in the stem, let harden, sand off flat.
Works a treat, and very inexpensive.

[Went2kck]

http://castpics.net/dpl/index.php hope this link works for everyone. It will cross reference molds to bullet seaters on luberisizers. I had a ring around the top of bullet and it was not sitting on the gas check properly. I noticed the gas check was not on correctly and came off easy. I am hoping that the new top punch will help with this. It was 8mm mauser that i am reloading with the lee mold casting with COWW. I have used this top punch for 30 cal and worked fine no ring. I think this will fix the problem with seating the gas check correctly.

[redhawk0]

For the flat boolits, I have used hot glue. Just fill the hole in the stem, let harden, sand off flat.
Works a treat, and very inexpensive.

+1

redhawk

[gavlan]

For the flat boolits, I have used hot glue. Just fill the hole in the stem, let harden, sand off flat.
Works a treat, and very inexpensive.

I've used jb weld to do that it works great , for a rn or something else you can fill the stem and let it set up a while then seat a boolit normally but leave the stem in contact with the lead until the jb sets up.
Clean the stem up and your left with a perfect fit , boolit to seater of course it's now a dedicated stem..

[Thin Man]

When seating boolits with a long ogive I have used the hot glue frequently. Start by lightly oiling the nose of a boolit, fill the seating stem with hot glue, press the boolit into the stem and lightly twist these to form the cavity. Remove the boolit and confirm the stem's cavity is suitable to use. Once dried, the glue can be removed with any non-flame heat source. For your flat nose boolits, I prefer to get a spare seating stem and grind the end flat. As long as the boolit is properly aligned with the case this usually gets straight seating. My challenge is remembering which die box holds the seating stem I want to use. With so many similar caliber diameters those stems can hide in any die set box.

[EMC45]

I have chucked some of the seating stems of my dies sets (when able to) in a hand drill chuck. Run the drill at appropriate speed while pressing either a cratex bob or some 220 grit emery cloth against the offending sharp edge. It will soften the edge ever so slightly without changing the seater dimensionally.

[country gent]

First find out if its a sharp edge or poor fit causing the ring. blacken a bullet with a marker and insert into some and turn under pressure. Look at the markers rub marks if it a sharp ring around the bullet that looks like a knife cut breaking the edge should do it. Other wise it may require fitting the stem the bullet. For this I like to pick up a second stem to modify.

I use masking tape and wrap the outside of the stem body to bullet dia. then a wide piece 4-5 layers to make a nice solid sleeve above the stem. This allows the stem to be set in a paper cup for a stand and keeps the bullet well centered. For the stand punch a hole the size of the threaded shaft in the bottom of a paper cup (bathroom size works well here). Coat masking tape sleeve and bullet with a couple coats of release agent. Mix some jb weld and apply in stem a light coat on bullet also, this helps reduce air bubbles. Push in tight and support a couple strips of tape from sleeve over base of bullet keeps it in place. Let cure. Placing it under a desk lamp provides a light heat that helps remove air bubbles and speeds curing some. Once cured remove tape and clean up epoxy to original stem size. flatten and smooth end. If maring still occurs then the epoxy can be lightly lapped with a bullet and tooth paste, simichrome, flitz or rouge to smooth it and or form fit it.