Thread: seating die is pulling out bullets

Obviously it must be jamming inside the seating die.
See the marks in this photo, you can see a ring mark around where it had met the neck of the case and then its pulled back out a bit. How common is this?

Very odd.

Check:
Bullet diameter.
Neck tension. Pliars?
Diameter of internal neck sizer.
Correct sizing die?

Is it a compressed powder load?

But guessing you checked most of above.

what brand of die?
do you get this with different projectiles?
neck tension def a head scratcher

Looks like brand new brass to me. Got to be compressed load surely. Are you running .311/.312 bullets? or are you using .308?

Neck tension very weak, or build up of shit in the die............or the wrong calibre die??

Weak neck tension. Is this the first loading in new brass ?
If so, pays to run the brass through a neck or FL sizer die to even up neck sizing and ( hopefully ) ensure ther will be sufficient tension to hold a seated bullet.
Early in my handloading career I sometimes seatined bullets into brand new brass and in some instances bullets fell right into the case as there was nil tension to hold them in place.

Originally Posted by Oldbloke

Very odd.

Check:
Bullet diameter.
Neck tension. Pliars?
Diameter of internal neck sizer.
Correct sizing die?

Is it a compressed powder load?

But guessing you checked most of above.

These are projectiles ive pulled with a kinetic hammer out of old 303 cordite rounds, so these will be .311 if im not mistaken?
Not sure how neck tension is measured, but they appear pretty tight.
Will the diameter of the die be stamped anywhere on it?
The load is ever so slightly compressed, not filled to the brim or anything, (about 5mm or more below the brim), I guess I could test this with an empty case to confirm if its that to blame.
I should also add that this is not happening with every single round, perhaps about quarter of them are doing this.

Originally Posted by Grasshoppa

what brand of die?
do you get this with different projectiles?
neck tension def a head scratcher

Its a new Lee die set, have used various projectiles, but mostly have been loading pulled flat bottom ones from cordite CAC ammo.

Originally Posted by Crusty

Looks like brand new brass to me. Got to be compressed load surely. Are you running .311/.312 bullets? or are you using .308?

Im glad it looks new to you, this is once fired HXP that i polished in my tumbler, as above, only slightly compressed using pulled .311 303 bullets.

Originally Posted by Bos

Neck tension very weak, or build up of shit in the die............or the wrong calibre die??

Is there any way to adjust neck tension? Pretty new to reloading here.

Originally Posted by 30.06king

Weak neck tension. Is this the first loading in new brass ?
If so, pays to run the brass through a neck or FL sizer die to even up neck sizing and ( hopefully ) ensure ther will be sufficient tension to hold a seated bullet.
Early in my handloading career I sometimes seatined bullets into brand new brass and in some instances bullets fell right into the case as there was nil tension to hold them in place.

As above, once fired HXP, I also have FL sized this brass. Im looking to neck size only going forward however.

Im wondering if i need to run some fine emery paper in the die itself? This is also supposed to remove the ring marks that it sometimes leaves on the top of the bullet, only a cosmetic thing i know, but may help stop the die from grabbing the bullets.
Im wondering if its due to this die set being new and needs to bed in a bit too?

This may not be relevant to you , but I've found that flat based projectiles needs more weight to press them in when I havent deburred the inside case mouths, causing decent ring marks. This happened when I got prepped cases from someone else.

Yes a case mouth chamfer on the inside couls help with bullet entry, some say to use a bullet in a drill with some cutting paste/ polishing compound to smooth the dies seating stem but I think your neck tension is running a bit light if the bullet is coming back at all.

It could be the bullet diameter too. If you have any other makes of bullet and a suitable tool to measure do some comparisons and see. Or try seating different bullets into the same ( empty ) brass and see if the same problem occurs.

Have you got some digital calipers? It can make diagnosing issues much easier... check bullet diameter,

also check die - can bullet pass through seating die easily, with top "nut" and bullet seater removed. My Redding .284W seating die could catch on projectiles (just) when seating cast projectiles, needed a whisker taken off the inside of the die, but I think that was because of they are designed to taper crimp as well as seat. I don't think the Lee dies do that.

If the projectile can pass through the seating die easily, it shouldn't be an issue with the die, right. Will then be most like neck tension with compressed load? How far is the bullet being pushed into the case? And what powder are you using that's giving you a compressed load (slightly off-topic...)

It could be the taper on the seating stem binding, try and see how a projectile looks in it.

Originally Posted by Warthog

This may not be relevant to you , but I've found that flat based projectiles needs more weight to press them in when I havent deburred the inside case mouths, causing decent ring marks. This happened when I got prepped cases from someone else.

Speaking of deburring, is it required at all, or only when you trim the cases down?
I found early on that it helped the flat base bullets seat better when I deburred the inside edge, i ran into some issues with the necks catching on the edge and buckling the necks at times, but I think I might need to put more effort into this, as ive experienced the odd case do this, with boat tails or the HXP projectilies, they seat much easier as they are slightly rounded, these early flat base ones have quite a sharp edge.
Im not sure if this is contributing to my problem here, but if nothing else it indicates to me that its a fairly tight fit.

Originally Posted by 30.06king

It could be the bullet diameter too. If you have any other makes of bullet and a suitable tool to measure do some comparisons and see. Or try seating different bullets into the same ( empty ) brass and see if the same problem occurs.

Will do this, but for now i need to go and shoot this as I have loaded all my spare HXP brass.

Originally Posted by bjp

Have you got some digital calipers? It can make diagnosing issues much easier... check bullet diameter,

also check die - can bullet pass through seating die easily, with top "nut" and bullet seater removed. My Redding .284W seating die could catch on projectiles (just) when seating cast projectiles, needed a whisker taken off the inside of the die, but I think that was because of they are designed to taper crimp as well as seat. I don't think the Lee dies do that.

If the projectile can pass through the seating die easily, it shouldn't be an issue with the die, right. Will then be most like neck tension with compressed load? How far is the bullet being pushed into the case? And what powder are you using that's giving you a compressed load (slightly off-topic...)

I just measured them on my digital calipers and they measure exactly .311, so they must be the right size.
I will check the seating die later today, my Lee set of dies has a separate die for crimping, so no problems there.

Originally Posted by inglishill

It could be the taper on the seating stem binding, try and see how a projectile looks in it.

This is what i feel is going on, will have a better look at it later. I think the taper on the seating stem might need a bit of a polish up.

Quote Originally Posted by inglishill View Post
It could be the taper on the seating stem binding, try and see how a projectile looks in it.


I've had this happen to me as well with only one projectile/die combo. seating stem in drill chuck and polish with a bit of emery paper did help, but in the end I made a new seating stem on the lathe for that projectile with a bit of scrap steel...

Im thinking that may be necessary, here is a photo of the seating stem.
I dropped a bullet through the die and no jamming, it dropped straight through, it was loose if anything but I expect thats normal to allow the thickness of the case neck.
Another thing I should mention is how I set the seating depth was I would place a factory round in the press and then screw the top of the seating die down until it stopped.
However this was not enough to seat a bullet to the same depth in my reloads as I had to screw it in further.
Ive also attached a photo of a buckled round. I have had half a dozen or so do this. I think I need to deburr the inside more.
Now im wondering if I should look for another die set. Perhaps this lee set is not that crash hot? It has a crimping die that is useful however.
I know someone with a Lyman set that is happy to let go for cheap, its a fairly old one in a cardboard type box.