Eldx VS seating die - damage

Being new brass, the necks are probably squeaky clean. Did you lube the inside neck with dry lube? That may help it slide in with less force preventing that issue.

Mumzergadol said:

but can seem to find a vld Stem for this die.

Click to expand...

That's because, as far as I can tell, they don't fucking make one....they don't even seem to sell replacement stems separately that could ever find.

You can contact then and send them a bullet and your die and they will custom fit one to the other for $$....change VLD bullets, your guess is as good as mine.

Personally, I'd use a different seating die.....I use Redding Comp Seater with VLD stem (and yes, Redding makes VLD stems, sells stems separately, and are easy to change out).

Aside from lubing as suggested above, did you chamfer the inside of the necks?

And after running your .262" mandrel into the necks for .264" bullets, did you measure the resulting I.D.? Spring back, right?

Cheers

Frequently had this exact issue w/ matchmaster seating die, despite dry graphing & double mandrelling w/ a .263”. Still occurred @ 1x fired, so I just honed the stem & that mostly fixed it.

I didn't see it w/ 147gr ELD-Ms, but I only loaded ~20 ELD-Ms for 6.5prc. I didn’t pursue further... my initial ELD-M groups were atrocious, the ELD-X that didn't deform grouped very well, & I was loading for longer-range whitetail hunting. I decided it was easier to resolve the issue via honing than chase loads with other bullets.

I also could not see any deformation with 153.5 Hybrids or 142 SMKs.

A few things could be going on. 1) My ELD-X have not been particularly uniform in diameter, ranging from 0.263" to 0.264". I can feel a difference in the force to seat the ~20% that are 0.264" diameter. I took measurements as I was seating & noticed the 0.264" diameter were far more likely to deform. My 153.5gr Hybrids have had an incredibly consistent 0.2635" diameter across thousands of bullets from more than a handful of lots. 2) There could have been deformation of the jacket throughout the ogive and/or bearing surface of the ELD-M, SMK, & Hybrids, but I just couldn't see it, while the thinner forward portion combined with the very thick bearing surface of the ELD-X jacket concentrates any deformation towards the tip. 3) There could be differences in how close the lead cores are to the tip of these bullets, but I didn't look into that. 4) Some combination of the above

Hornady VLD seater has no issues, even with compressed loads. I prefer the Hornady seating dies, and I use the VLD version of the stem in every die with every bullet because of exactly what youre pointing out.
Another option? Take your current seater, put epoxy in it, and press in a well lubed bullet. You have the perfect seater then when dry.
And using Imperial dry neck lube can help.