I have been trying to shoot 165 gr Barnes triple-shock boat-tails in my .308 win. If I seat the bullets out to 0.050 off of the lands, some of the grooves ar sticking out. Barnes says that is no problem but I have a problem with my seating die pulling the bullet out a little when coming out of the die because the load I am shooting is compressed (43gr. IMR 4064)and the bullet sticks in the seating plug a little. Other bullets don't do this and the TS's don't either if I seat them deeper where I don't end in the grooves on the bullet shank.

Anyone got any advise other than switching bullets?

I shoot the 168 TSX's with 46.0grs of Varget in a couple of my 308's. Usually they have excellent neck tension. Maybe you need to polish your expander ball enough to get a little better neck tension. I would also polish your seater stem so that it doesn't stick. If I were doing it I'd probably chuck up an extra bullet in a drill put a little lapping compound on the bullet and use it to polish the inside of the seating stem....................DJ

do you get good accuracy from this load?

Not too bad.............




Might have been a little better if I hadn't missed a wind shift..................DJ

My Kimber 84M SA shoots the same load into about 3/4 MOA but for some reason it like the TSX's Moly'd better than plain..............DJ

What kind of primers and brass do you use?

Prepped Lapua brass, federal GM 210 primers, ammo loaded to less than .002 runout.

Polish the seating plug with emery cloth to break the edge of the hole profile to keep the bullets from sticking.

Hey DJ. what dies are you using?

I have several sets of 308 dies. I honestly don't remember which I sized these with but I almost always seat with a Redding Micrometer die in 308. I also use a Bersin tool to adjust runout to less than .002...............DJ

I have been using Lee dies. Bad, good, or indifferent???

Some people like Lee dies, I don't. I'll usualy only use them when I don't have or can't get something else. IMO Lee products in general are well designed but cheaply manufactured. The only reloading tools I've ever worn out were Lee......................DJ

As stated above, it is absolutely no problem that your TSX is seated to have one or more bands protruding from the case mouth. Your seating die grabbing the bullet is a problem. Deal with your seating die, not your seating depth.

- mike

get rid of the expander button all together. Only use it to slightly widen the case mouth to allow for initial seating. This increases neck tension. Plus it significantly reduces risk of runout.

Iedvm,you can also try vit 140 or 540 with Winchester cases and get better results.

quote:

Originally posted by Fjold:
Polish the seating plug with emery cloth to break the edge of the hole profile to keep the bullets from sticking.

I keep telling Forster that they need to de burr their de burring chamfer. Under a microscope, I can see what makes the little ring on my bullets.

Spin the seating plug in the drill or lathe with 400 grit wet and dry paper, and it is fixed.

mho,
How would you deal with the seating die. I had Lee build me a custom plug for the particular bullet. Then I lapped with a bullet & 400 grit lapping compound finished off with JB bore cleaner. Still stick with the compressed load of 43 g of IMR 4064 in Rem cases.

The next thing to do is to try something other than Lee dies. Try Reddings micrometer seater and you'll be glad you did...............DJ

quote:

Originally posted by djpaintles:
The next thing to do is to try something other than Lee dies. Try Reddings micrometer seater and you'll be glad you did...............DJ

I second this, these are the only dies I use.