O.K. I have some time this morning so I am getting all my Qs out there for the experts. When seating my bullets I am following the RCBS directions . I set a case in the press at full stroke and seat the die till it touches the sace internally and then back it out 1 turn. I was under the inpression long ago that the die actually was supposed to slightly crimp the case necks when seating the bullets. I guess i was misinformed. My other concern is my directions never discuss where exactly to set the decapping/depriming depth to. I have left mine where they wer from the previous owner. but I cant find any info about it in my relaoding books. Thanks all.

Gunz, when setting up a new seater die I take a case which is ready for that operation and place it in the shell holder and run it to the top of the ram stroke. Then I lower the die body on the case and you will feel when the crimping portion of the die makes contact to the case, I back off a half turn. Next when begining to seat a bullet I leave the die body loose in the press and achieve the seating depth I want and only tighten the locking collar when the bullet is at the top of the ram stroke. Regarding depriming, it is usually easiest if the primer is kicked out when the ram is near to the top of the stroke... play with it. And pay attention to how the case is being sized along the way. Good luck.

So you use the die body to adjust bullet seating length? I missed something here. I adjust the die up off the case at full up position and then tighten the locking collar. Then adjust the seater inside for length . Did I miss something here? Now I am confused. Sorry for all the trouble

I am confused also. Set up your seating die in the press as 308Sako described. This will keep the crimping part of the die out of the picture. Then lock the large locking ring. Now, when it is time to adjust for bullet depth, loosen the small locking ring on the seater stem just a little and screw the stem in or out to desired length. Lock the small setter stem locking ring.

Thanks for bailing me out Steve. Gunz, when ever "looking" at how a die will affect your loads try to visualize the relative position of the active ingredients... Yes the seating stem should be raised away from the bullet and then worked in to achieve the proper overall length your desire. Sorry for the confusion.