seater die incorrect?

[jdefranc938]

hey guys! I'm havin some issues when I seat the bullets. Everything appears to be fine after sizing but when I go to seat the bullet it appears that the seater is affecting the shoulder significantly when compared to an seated case. There is a SLIGHT bulge where the shoulder meets the body (after seating). However when I cycle these through the action (with lots of effort the first time) the bulge goes away. I'm guessing the bulge is being compressed from the chamber itself. I have the seater die set according to factory specs. (Touch shell holder and back off one turn) Should I continue to back it off slightly until I'm not getting the bulge?
Or is this somehow related to the sizer die?

[Joe O]

The seating die should be adjusted ,by running the press ram all the way up(no die)(no bullet),then screw the die down untill it hits the crimp
onto the mouth of the case,then back it off 1/2-3/4 turn,and lock it down.Now with the lock ring locked onto the die,unscrew the die a turn or two off the press and insert the case with a bullet in the mouth and slowly screw the die into the press(you didn't say what make die you have)Have the seating stem backed off so as not to seat the bullet more than a few thousands.Holding this,screw the die into the press untill it makes contact with the press,back out the case,and you should be set up to adjust the seating depth where you want,with as straight as a screw in die, can align the bullet with case.Hope this makes sense.

[204cat]

if you do not back it off enough you may end up with a crimp. did that once. a start of a crimp.

i am going to guess you are getting the bulge with flat base bullets from friction. or something may not be aligned.

[Fred_C_Dobbs]

First, the case mouth needs a bevel to ease the bullet's base entering it. If you trim the case but don't chamfer its mouth, it can take too much force for the seater to get the base of the bullet started into the case mouth (especially with a non-boattailed bullet), slightly crushing the shoulder. It also can happen if the body of the seating die is screwed in too far. I learned both the hard way. With my RCBS .204 seating die, there's barely 1/4 turn between seating the bullet too loose and slightly crushing the shoulder.

IMHO, using your rifle for a sizing die probably isn't a good idea. When I've bent brass like this, I pulled the bullet, poured out the powder, then resized the case (yes, with the primer intact). I unscrewed the decapping pin in the sizing die enough that it wouldn't contact the (live) primer but left it low enough that the expander ball still went through the case neck. And I resized very slowly.

If it makes you nervous (or you think it's unwise) to resize a primed but uncharged case, I'd recommend you adjust your seating die using a sacrificial piece of unprimed brass. Once you have the die properly adjusted, you can always pull the bullet and reuse both the bullet and the brass.

[futuretrades]

I didn't see any mention of lubing the case neck here. Some good advice is stated here, and this is just another step to keep in mind when reloading. I was having the same problem when I fist started reloading, and some of the more experienced people on this site helped me. lubing the case neck was a sure and quick and easy fix for my problems. Since this info was passed along to me, i have loaded thousands of rounds for my 204 and 223 with absolutely no problems.