I have a set of Hornady 338 WM reloading dies - however the seating die leaves a very noticeable scratch/compression/dent ring around the nose of the bullet - especially the new 225 gr Accubond when seating into the case. Willing to buy another seating die but I thought I'd get some opinions first - Thanks

Two observations. First, you don't need another seating die. Take the seating plug out of your seater, put it in a drill press or lathe so that you can put some fine emery paper to the area of the seater plug that contacts the ogive on the bullet and polish it up. It's likely the angle on the hole is such that the edge of it is the only contact with the ogive. You can increase the angle so that it is not only polished but conforms more closely to the angle of the ogive. Differences in the ogives make it difficult for the manufacturer to configure the button to every bullet combination.

Secondly, if you require so much force to seat a bullet so as to indent the ogive it's likely you are over-sizing the necks in your sizing operation. Measure the neck of a sized case, seat a bullet and measure the neck again. If the difference is more than .002" or .003" you are over-sizing. You would want to talk to Hornady who will probably ask you to return the die so that the neck can be polished out a bit to eliminate that problem.

In a 338WSM I use the Hornady seater with Accubonds and I've experienced no problems.

Rifleman,

I had this same problem with a set of 25.06 hornady dies.. Well as a matter of fact I had alot of problems with those dies.. First problem I was having was getting stuck cases left and right no matter what I tried.. Trust me I tried everything I could think of but they would still get stuck.. I ended up shipping that one back to Hornady and the said it was machined wrong and they gave me a new one..

Then I had the problem your having when seating.. I would get a ring around the tip of the bullet and sometimes it would put a deep ring around the bullet.. Again I sent that die back to hornady and I imagine it was something wrong with the seater plug becouse they just gave me a new plug but returned my die and ever since then I havent had any issues with it..

This was my first go with Hornady dies and I was not happy at all. But thier customer service was great and they took care of the issue without any hassle at all..

6.5 Bandit

Actually I already took a drill press to the seating plug and changed the taper some - it did help - the neck is not too tight but the seating force goes up when the rather long 225 NBT's or Accubonds hit the powder charge (4350)which is just below the neck. I just read where a fellow used some two part epoxy and stuck a highly lubricated bullet into the epoxy filled plug - wound up with a nice contour fitting plug - but - I don't have this problem with other dies so I think Hornady needs to redesign this piece. Thanks for the replies

Let me toss in a related issue -- I have a Redding die set for 7mm-08 and it really likes to grip the bullet I'm seating and pull it back out when I lower the ram. Any ideas?

Again,
The trick is to recontour the seating punch. You might try chucking your bullet seater up in a drill, coating it with some lapping compound, and spinning it against a more blunt bullet, or maybe one caliber larger? Then again, can you just replace the seater stem with a different one? Maybe from another die? Just thoughts,,,,,Bug.

I get a slight mark/ring on my .458 when I load soft points and a compressed charge of powder. Doesn't seem to have any detrimental effect.