I always keep a dummy round of a particular round that has prove to be accurate for setting up my seating depth. Lately I always come up with a longer round after using the dummy and have to adjust the seater plug down a little. My question is how much finger torque do others use when setting the depth on a dummy round. I fiqure firm contact with finger pressure should do it, but lately it hasn't, appears I'm losing my touch so to speak. dempsey

I have found the same thing. I think it comes from a teeny bit of flex in the press/die during the pressure of seating, and it seems to depend on the particular cartridge/bullet combo.

Canuck

I've had the same problem and think you have asked a very good question. Has to be a way to fix this. Maybe some of the bench guys know the answer.

Same thing here. Run the seater stem down to firm contact and usually end up going another 1/16 turn or a bit less to match the set-up round. Bench shooters use a different type of dies called hand dies that are not threaded into a press. The seating die is called a straight line bullet seater. The seating die is set on a stand with the case in it. A bullet is dropped down thru the top of the seating die and the seating stem is then put down thru the same hole. The seating stem assembly has a shoulder on it that is used to adjust how far the stem can go into the die to adjust seating depth. The seating assembly is them pressed down into the seating die with a mallet or small arbor press. The shoulder is stopped by the top of the die itself so there is no press flex to deal with. They are made by Wilson and others and can be seen in the Sinclair International catalog.
www.sinclairintl.com

I think what you've run into is fairly normal for most of us, Dempsey.

The deal is that when the dummy round is in the die, I don't want to screw the stem down on it too strongly, or I risk pushing the bullet farther into the case and ruining it as a dummy round. But by screwing the stem down where I can just feel contact, then I get rounds that are slightly too long, as you noted.

I think Alleycat is onto a solution, which is to set up the die as you have been, but just pay attention to how much extra you have to screw the stem in to get the depth exactly right. Do that about 4 or 5 times, and if the results are repeatable (1/16 turn, 1/8 turn, whatever) then just note that somewhere in your loading manual and you should be good to go.

I guess the other trick would be to seat the dummy round a few thou deeper than you really want. Then, when you screw the stem down to just touching, your bullets may seat exactly right, with no additional adjustment needed.

I coat the inside of the case neck with epoxy, seat the bullet where I want, and let it set up. My dummy rounds can stand a fair amount of pressure with out moving.