Seating Die question 30-06

[johncamino]

I use a Hornady Seating die and it leaves a ring around my bullets bellow the tip. It particularly happens with 208 gr A-Max bullets, but it also occurs with 180 gr Accubonds. It seems to be worst with compressed loads. Does anyone have any fixes or recommendations.

If I change dies, any recommendations?

thanks.

 

[savage110]

Re: Seating Die question 30-06

Dont know on the first question, but if you change dies, Redding is the way to go.

 

[johncamino]

Re: Seating Die question 30-06

Here is a picture of the ring marks its leaving.

 

[sourdough44]

Re: Seating Die question 30-06

That slight ring should not be any problem,beyond looks. How much force is required to seat the bullet? More force ='s more of a 'ring'. You need some tension to hold the bullet. Do you have a slight bevel on the inside of the mouth to allow the bullet to get an easy start? Of course there are slight differences among the various brass manufacturers in thickness & all. Just a few minor things to think about. I guess I like pretty reloads too.

If you wanted to delve further you could try smoothing the edges of the seating stem. Maybe take it apart & touch up with sandpaper.

 

[johncamino]

Re: Seating Die question 30-06

I don't feel tension as I seat the bullet, aside from the compression of the powder. The resistance that I encounter is as I raise the handle after completing the seating. It doesn't release freely, and it feels like it's pulling on the bullet and then it releases. I already neck turn, chamfer, and debur the case, so o don't think that is the case. I might try taking the die apart and hitting it with 800 grit sandpaper to smooth it out.

 

[samnev]

Re: Seating Die question 30-06

I my experience the ring is usually caused by either to much resistence (since you say that's not an issue) or the seating die shape is slighly incorrect for the bullet you are using. I've used Pacific and RCBS 06 dies over the years and have not encountered this problem. In any case it shouldn't be much of a problem IMO. Your idea of smoothing it out might work if there is a bur of some kind..

 

[ChadTRG42]

Re: Seating Die question 30-06

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: elcam</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I use a Hornady Seating die and it leaves a ring around my bullets bellow the tip. It particularly happens with 208 gr A-Max bullets, but it also occurs with 180 gr Accubonds. It seems to be worst with compressed loads. Does anyone have any fixes or recommendations.

If I change dies, any recommendations?

thanks. </div></div>
You need this. It's the 208 A-max seating stem for the Hornady dies. The standard stem is not set up for the sharp angled match bullets. This stem should get rid of your ring.

 

[johncamino]

Re: Seating Die question 30-06

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: ChadTRG42</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: elcam</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I use a Hornady Seating die and it leaves a ring around my bullets bellow the tip. It particularly happens with 208 gr A-Max bullets, but it also occurs with 180 gr Accubonds. It seems to be worst with compressed loads. Does anyone have any fixes or recommendations.

If I change dies, any recommendations?

thanks. </div></div>
You need this. It's the 208 A-max seating stem for the Hornady dies. The standard stem is not set up for the sharp angled match bullets. This stem should get rid of your ring. </div></div>


Thank you very much. Will this stem only work with the 208grs? I also get a slight ring on my 180 gr Accubonds, but not as bad as the A-Max. It would be nice if I wouldn't have to switch the stem all the time.

 

[Fuzzball]

Re: Seating Die question 30-06

The ring is harmless and the cause is dual.

The entry of the seating plug needs to be radiused and smoothed. You can easily do it by chucking the seating plug in a drill and holding sandpaper to the inner cone to round it off a bit. Think you will find 800 grit cuts too slowly, try some 280/320 grit and finish polish it with the 800 stuff.

Other part is the force needed to compact your compressed charge for the bullet to seat; I would be surprised if the powder doesn't actually push the bullets back out a little bit afterwards! Perhaps you could increase the OAL, decrease the charge or switch to a faster or more dense powder?

 

[ChadTRG42]

Re: Seating Die question 30-06

The stem can be used on any 30 cal bullets. It will decrease the ring on any bullets.

Like Fuzz said, you can do the sanding to your standard stem and see if that works. If you take too much material away, the tip will contact the top of the stem, and deform the A-max tip. The 208 stem has a longer internal, and is cut for the angle of the A-max. Try sanding it first, and if you mess it up, then get the 208 A-max stem. It's like $5 or $8.

 

[johncamino]

Re: Seating Die question 30-06

It does push them back out a bit. I let them sit for a day, remeasure and re-seat them.

Thanks

 

[ChadTRG42]

Re: Seating Die question 30-06

Eeeww. You're running too much compression then. Try seating the round out longer, if possible. Or reduce your powder charge some, or go to another powder. What's your specs on your load? The COAL you're running now, can you seat the bullet longer, or are you at max mag length?

 

[johncamino]

Re: Seating Die question 30-06

I'm running 57.5 gr of RL22 in the 208gr and 60.5 gr in 180gr Accubond with a Coal of 3.665 and 3.705 respectfully which is 0.02" off the lands.

 

[ChadTRG42]

Re: Seating Die question 30-06

Ok. You're seated pretty far out there then. You're definitly getting all you can out of that combo!

 

[SPAK]

Re: Seating Die question 30-06

What kind of brass are you using?? 57.5 grains of RL 22 in a .30-06 case shouldn't be that compressed if your seating out that far with the 208 amax.

 

[johncamino]

Re: Seating Die question 30-06

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Frogman77</div><div class="ubbcode-body">What kind of brass are you using?? 57.5 grains of RL 22 in a .30-06 case shouldn't be that compressed if your seating out that far with the 208 amax.</div></div>

I'm using Winchester Brass, and I don't think that it is that compressed. I did sand the stem a bit and that helped. I ordered a 208gr A-Max seating stem and will see If that makes a difference.

 

[SPAK]

Re: Seating Die question 30-06

The new seating stem should help as should polishing the existing seat stem. Are you using a lot of neck tension? If it takes a lot of force to seat your bullets, that can leave an imprint on the jacket. (Although if your bullets are pushing back out the next day, you probably aren't using that much neck tension)

In any case, it's hard to quantify "a lot of force" when seating, but I used to get rings on the 208 amax bullet using a redding die, even with a polished vld seat stem. The ring was just wider if that make sense.

The two things that eliminated the ring marks were 1)Not using compressed loads or excessive neck tension 2)Using a moly dry lube to help with seating.

My loaded round runout seemed to improve as well.

 

[johncamino]

Re: Seating Die question 30-06

Thanks for the info.