Bullet Seating Marks

[jmak920]

Well, the good news is that the Redding seating die arrived on time. The not so good news is that when I opened the package there is a very visible orange colored warning card inside that clearly states that this seating die is NOT to be used for compressed loads. But, the die is very well made and the majority of my .30-06 loads are not compressed so I'll definitely keep it and maybe pick one up for the .25-06 as well.
I did contact Hornady this AM regarding the seating marks issue and look forward to their comments.

I found the same warning with my Redding seating die, with the micrometer adjuster, and do not consider it a problem. Have found no problems so far with around 50 compressed loads with no damage to the die.

I think that the only reason they say that is because that die does not have a crimping function built in as regular standard ( non "competition") dies do. It's my understanding that a lot of match shooters do not want a crimp anyway. It makes sense to me that Redding just doesn't want to guarantee that a compressed load won't push the bullet back out of C.O.L. spec. when when the neck tension might be minimal as the "match" guys sometimes want.

Since I like to crimp my loads anyway with a later crimping die operation, I just double check that my compressed loads are still correct for COL when they are crimped.
No problems so far, loads feed from the magazine perfect, shoot accurately and no damage to the die. - - - jmak

 

[jmak920]

I did chamfered the seater stem and then it locked and pulled all of my bullets out!!!!!!! The stem was out of tolerance and made the case neck too big. That was my last RCBS die purchase!

Buy Forster and avoid the crappy RCBS tolerances!

I don't blame you for switching to Forster, but;
Sometimes a chamfer cutter can raise a barely perceptible burr of steel on the inside corner of the angled cut. This could conceivably grab the bullet and pull on it.

Is it possible this happened to you ?

Such a burr can be removed with a cone shaped fold of 1200 grit abrasive paper, perhaps wrapped around the blunted tip of a machine sharpened pencil. - - - jmak920 :?

 

[HeathSexton]

I have pulled the seater stem, chucked it in a drill, loaded a bullet with polishing compound and lapped them before with good results.

I have an RCBS set that wanted to pull every 220 Speer I loaded in my .358 win. A little time with some lapping compound cured it of it's evil ways.

 

[Oldtrader3]

I did chamfered the seater stem and then it locked and pulled all of my bullets out!!!!!!! The stem was out of tolerance and made the case neck too big. That was my last RCBS die purchase!

Buy Forster and avoid the crappy RCBS tolerances!

I don't blame you for switching to Forster, but;
Sometimes a chamfer cutter can raise a barely perceptible burr of steel on the inside corner of the angled cut. This could conceivably grab the bullet and pull on it.

Is it possible this happened to you ?

Such a burr can be removed with a cone shaped fold of 1200 grit abrasive paper, perhaps wrapped around the blunted tip of a machine sharpened pencil. - - - jmak920 :?

No, I stoned it!