Anyone have trouble with the bullet seater die in Redding brand, buckling the neck when seating a bullet? This occurs from what I can tell from too tight of tolerance in the die, and will slightly push the shoulder back or buckle the neck resulting in a round that won't chamber or chamber incorrectly.

Back the die out of your press two complete revolutions and readjust the seating stem. It will never happen again..........

Big Stick, Have you had this problem? And did this cure it? I have the die backed out as far as possible with seater stem all the way in. It helps but does not completely cure it. (TN2 chamber)Was told to get a size bigger dia. (308 to 323) seater die and try it. Haven't tried this yet.--------

[This message has been edited by Chainsaw (edited 02-12-2002).]

I wonder if you are crimping the cases? I have a set of Redding dies, and the information about the "seater" die is as follows:

Bullet Seating
The standard die set is supplied with a bullet seating die into which is machined an integral bullet crimping ring. These dies can be used to seat bullets with or without crimping at the option of the reloader. Crimping is a constriction of the of the case mouth into the side walls of the bullet, primarily to prevent the movement of the bullet into the case during the recoil of firing previous rounds. Do not attempt to crimp a bullet that does not have a cannelure.

Bullet seating Without crimp
To adjust the die for bullet seating, screw the die down in the press until it touches the top of the shell holder when in the uppermost position (ram up). Then back the die off at least one full turn. This will insure that the ring inside the die is raised enough to prevent crimping the case�s mouth during the bullet seating operation. Lock the die in place before using it to seat bullets.

Bullet seating with crimp
Install and adjust the bullet seating die as indicated above, but this time adjust the bullet seating plug until the crimping groove in the bullet just shows above the end of the case mouth. The bullet seating plug is temporarily locked in this position with the small lock ring provided. Now withdraw the case and screw the bullet seating die approximately 1/4 turn. Reinsert the case into the bullet seating die and withdraw to observe the overall cartridge length and the crimping action at the end of the case. Continuing adjustment of the bullet seating die In or OUT as required will produce the crimp desired and the overall cartridge case length. An adjustment of the bullet seating plug may have to be made from the initial setting to arrive to the correct dimension. Be sure the crimping takes place in the crimping groove of the bullet. The maximum crimping effect available is attained when the bullet seating die is in contact with the shell holder. Redding dies will usually provide much more crimp than it�s actually needed when set at the position above, but this design allows for extra deep crimping, crimping of unusually thin wall cases, wear on the crimp ring, and amount of outside chamfer on the case neck. With both the seating die and bullet seating plug properly adjusted and locked in position, seating and crimping of bullets on the reminder of the cases to be loaded can now be accomplished.

Hey Chainsaw,

I've got a question back a'cha as I have just ordered a set of Redding dies.

Are you using the Redding resizers in your process? Big Stick has given the correct resolution based upon the operational standards, but that does raise the question of neck size prior to the seating operation.

Another intersting prospect is; does your recharging die expand the neck any?

Please keep us posted. Thanks in advance.

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Best regards,
Alex

Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch.
Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote! - Benjamin Franklin 1759

I know of two cases, mine, where the neck portions of the die was too narrow (6ppc). Turning took care of that. No matter what I did, the neck would get pinched and pushed in during the seating process.

The other was with a Donaldson Wasp wildcat a friend just ordered. There the neck was to short in the seater, and brass would hit the end of the seater, and crumple the case. Funny enough, the sizer was fine, plenty long. Go figure.

I try to think of it as "tolerance having it's price", but in my opinion, seaters shouldn't have this many problems. FWIW, Dutch.

Call Redding, or email their techs. A buddy was having problems with 225 grain Nosler Ballistic Tips getting stuck in the seater stem of his .358 Winchester seating die. Also, this stem wouldn't seat the B-Tips deep enough, though it worked fine with 225 Sierras. The B-Tip has a much longer, more javelin-like taper than the Sierras do.

A call to Redding got him another seating stem (at no charge) that fits the B-Tips much better. I think the original stem was a #20 and the new one is a #21, but I'm depending on my own volatile memory for that (in other words, take the stem numbers with a grain of salt).

I believe that Redding will make this right, whatever is needed.

BigIron