Thread: Steating stem

Good afternoon

I have been having a look at my seating steam for both my 308 and 243 and have noticed it seams to be seating the bullets from the tip, or contacting the tip rather than seating from the ogive. As you can see in the picture there is a gap around the top or the ogive.
Am I able to modify the seating steam so it seats off the ogive which would give better consistency for seating depth.
Lee dies.
Thanks for any info

what type of bullets are you trying to seat

175gr Sierra TMK and Hornady 150 SP for the 308 and Hornady 87gr BTHP for the 243
Contacts around the tip area on both. I can’t add a picture off my phone sadly

@mimms2 I was thinking I could put it in the lathe and open up the inside off the seating steam around the tip area. But was more checking if anyone has had the issue or opened the stem up before

This is the 150 SP when put in with vivid on it so you can see where the steam contacts the bullet

Not an uncommon problem with new VLD type projectiles. Can be solved agriculturally by simply drilling the tip area deeper a little, then it'll seat off the ogive not the tip. If you've access to a lathe even better. A few of the other manufacturers remedied this by producing a separate VLD seating stem

Cheers sdogg73. Yea just seems the taper in the stem at the tip area is too steep so contacts just up from the tip. It’s not even just on VLD bullets. Even the basic 150 SP that’s in the picture is effected by it.
So just thinking of getting them into the lathe and open that tip area up.
Will see if anyone else has done it before

Originally Posted by sdogg73

Not an uncommon problem with new VLD type projectiles. Can be solved agriculturally by simply drilling the tip area deeper a little, then it'll seat off the ogive not the tip. If you've access to a lathe even better. A few of the other manufacturers remedied this by producing a separate VLD seating stem

You can deepen the centre of the seating stem with a lathe -- but just as readily with a drill press.

1. Put 3mm drill into drill press the wrong way, cutting end up.
2. Lower drill bit down to vice and clamp onto shank of drill bit. Fix vice to table in that position.
3. Loosen drill bit from drill head and raise the head back up.
4. Attach seating stem in drill head, lubricate the drill bit, start the drill press on slow speed, and lower onto lubricated drill bit.

[BTW, to minimise drill wobble, (1) seat the drill bit as deep into the vice as you can, just enough drill bit protruding as is needed for the hole. (2) Also seat the seating stem as deep in the drill press head as it will go.]

@Cordite thanks for that info. Have had a look and a 3mm drill bit simply slides into the 308 seating stem well past where the stem is contacting the bullet. So maybe have to go to 3.5-4 mm

If you have access to a lathe it is easy enough to just make some new ones. I found with the Lee dies you might have to make the stem longer to get them to work nicely with the design I made.
I didn't end up getting the concentricity results I wanted and bought higher quality dies.

I have also read a few things on epoxy bedding stems to a bullet but haven't tried it myself.

looks to me like it may be the wrong seating stem.
Rather than the bullets touching the end,they are just not fitting inside the seater.
So either turn it out or check that you have the correct seater.
my 2c

I drilled out my Hornady 6.5CM seating stem with a 3.5mm drill bit in a cordless drill. 143gr ELD-X no longer had their tips flattened. Easy.
I know i could have bought another stem for ELDs, but i needed it right then.