Seating force

[NJRaised]

Reloading 1x fired federal 223 brass.

My process:
Deprimed
Tumbled
Annealed
Sized
Mandreled
Tumble
Trim/deburr/chamfer

I’m seating 77smks, and the amount of force required to seat bullets varies from case to case. Some slide in super easy, some take some effort.

I am not brushing necks. Just leave residue carbon from tumbling .

Any ideas what is causing this? I’m annealing and using a mandrel. Is it just federal brass?

 

[spife7980]

You annealed, brush the necks.
What are your measurements and how consistent are they? Is it the result of differences in neck thickness and concentricity?

 

[NJRaised]

You annealed, brush the necks.
What are your measurements and how consistent are they? Is it the result of differences in neck thickness and concentricity?

Very likely could be the inconsistency of brass thickness. I generally use starline brass for my bolt gun, and seating force is generally about the same from round.

This federal is inconsistent from round to round as far as seating force goes. But I’m still annealing and running a mandrel.

As far as brushing goes… do you recommend brushing right after annealing or before seating bullets. I tumble after annealing to remove any oxidation, and then tumble again after prepping brass, and have always left the residue carbon to aid in seating. But I haven’t made an effort to brush, yet.

 

[straightshooter1]

Reloading 1x fired federal 223 brass.

My process:
Deprimed
Tumbled
Annealed
Sized
Mandreled
Tumble
Trim/deburr/chamfer

I’m seating 77smks, and the amount of force required to seat bullets varies from case to case. Some slide in super easy, some take some effort.

I am not brushing necks. Just leave residue carbon from tumbling .

Any ideas what is causing this? I’m annealing and using a mandrel. Is it just federal brass?

What is your annealing process?

I assume you're flame annealing??? If so, what's your indicator for the right amount of time for the cases being in the fame (how hot the necks get)?

 

[JerkyFreak]

An often overlooked cause is uneven chamfering of the necks. A check would be to pull a round that seated easy and one that seated with more force and compare the two. If there are more gouges in latter as compared to the other, that could then be it.