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Die problem

sniperaviator

Sergeant
Full Member
Minuteman
Sep 25, 2010
584
0
65
Colorado
So I load as usual with my Redding competition seater and the 308 Berger bullet is getting semi-stuck in the seating die. It never did this before. There is a strange 'pop' as I pull the press handle down and there is a mark on the Berger bullet where it gets stuck in the die. I took the die apart and it looked normal. Any ideas on how to fix this?
 
Re: Die problem

Ya may have some gunk built up in the die. Take the die apart and clean the interior really good with denatured alcohol or acetone. Sounds like something is in there by the "pop" and may be merely gunk built up in the die over time.
 
Re: Die problem

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: sniperaviator</div><div class="ubbcode-body">So I load as usual with my Redding competition seater and the 308 Berger bullet is getting semi-stuck in the seating die. It never did this before. There is a strange 'pop' as I pull the press handle down and there is a mark on the Berger bullet where it gets stuck in the die. I took the die apart and it looked normal. </div></div>

What does semi-stuck mean:: stuck for a second? stuck for a second? not inserted into the case? case not holding bullet/ die puls bullet from case after insertion?

Can you describe the mark:: horizontal around the bullet ogive? horizontal around the shank? vertical over the ogive? vertical over the shank?

How many bullets have you loaded with this die?
How much force do you exert with your lever arm?
 
Re: Die problem

The Berger bullet is stuck where it meets the metal in the seater. It is stuck enough so that it makes a "pop" and leaves a ring around the ogive of the bullet. This is 260 Rem, not 308 btw.
 
Re: Die problem

Remove seater and chuck it in you drill. Take a bullet of the offending variety, and dip it in some lapping compound, toothpaste in a pinch and spin it in your seater. Gotta go for a good bit but you are basically custom forming you seater cup to your bullet, had this issue a few times, and this was a great cure for me. Lapping compound is cheap and available at any auto parts store BTW.....
 
Re: Die problem

Yea right. Where did that come from? I don't even own a crimp die! It's the die you use before the seating die, the SIZING die. Yeah, that's the ticket! So the moral of the story is, if your bullet is getting stuck in the seating die, don't size it down so much! Nice thing about bushing dies, you can adjust the amount of sizing.