I would like to here your tips on how to seat a bullet strait with very little runout.

if using a standard o type or c type press the only way i have found successful is to buy a redding competition seater. they are very good.

Most BR shooters, both short and long range, use a "straight line" seater die with an arbor press. Whenever I build a BR rifle, I include a seater die and, a "wiget" made with the chamber reamer.

As Eddie pointed out, most BR shooters use Wilson type seaters. What hasn't been said is that runout problems are normally a culprit of the SIZING operation, not seating. Oversizing brass is the main cause of non concentric ammunition. With factory chambers and dies, it's hard to get away from oversizing as the chambers are oversized, and mostly off center a bit. After firing, the case is sized down to where it will rechamber easily, but it is usually far from being straight. No matter how you seat a bullet, if the case is crooked, the bullet will be also.

I think you guys are missing my point...how do you do it....not what causes bullet runout.

I have been checking cases for .000/.001 runout for a long time now and seat my bullets into the case only .020 deep then check for .000/.001 runout and staighten then seat. This doesn't always work though.

Regular dies is what I use not wilson.

Well, I start off by chambering with a floating reamer holder. Keep the chamber runout in the .0002" or less area. I use dies that are made to size the brass a very minimal amount, working in harmony with the chamber dimensions. I cut my Wilson style seaters with the chamber reamer using a piece of barrel shank and top it off with a micrometer top from Sinclair. With these methods, I can attain less than .001" runout in my loaded rounds...all the time.

For factory rifles, I couldn't care less about bullet runout, and the rifle's don't know the difference either.

Follow Pointblank's instructions and it will solve your problem.
Butch

I seat my bullets with three gentle half-strokes of the press handle, not one continuous stroke. This allows the bullet to straighten up on the second and third strokes. I use garden-variety RCBS dies, too...

the redding competition dies are very good. the forster-bonanza competition seating die is just as good as the redding and its alot cheaper too!

I use a modification of homebrewer's technique.
I rotate the cartridge about a quarter turn before the second and third strokes.

muck

I concur with muck.I also use Lee's Collet Dies.I still had problems sometimes tho.I got Lee's; Crimp Die and crimp as final operation.It's not perfect but I can't afford anymore costly measures.

quote:

I rotate the cartridge about a quarter turn before the second and third strokes.

I rotate the case like that during sizing too. I do not know whether it makes any difference 'though.

My least runout loads involve no sizing and seating the bullets in a soft paper cup, sealed and set using molten waxy-lube. Cases last forever but I have only proven this technique with my hornet. Runout was non-measurable using a lathe and dial guages and measuring at different points and in different ways. The only thing I can say for sure is that I can load more powder for more velocity without pressure increasing pressure - and then only with one powder type, that being Lil'Gun.

Holy Cow, homebrewer! Is that for real? Is that really someone under there?!!!!!
Ummm .... he might be looking for his polling station!

wilson, forster benchrest, redding, dies. buy HANDLOADING FOR COMPETITION by Zediker. get a Sinclair Intl. catalog. find the old Creighton Audette articles in American Rifleman from approx. 20 years ago.

303guy has it right. In the sizing step, size the case, lower it, rotate the cartridge 1/2 a turn, and resize again. You can do it in smaller increments if you want to. Then seat the bullet and check the runout and see if it is any different from one of your regularly sized cases. Having said that, the real test is at the target and I personally doubt that you will see a statistically significant difference in targets using a factory chamber. I could be wrong of course, but you can prove this for yourself. If jumping through hoops to get .001 runout does not create better groups then I don't see the point. What groups are you shooting now?
Modified: At least one of the die makers also recommends the above process at the seating stage (as was mentioned in one of the earlier posts). Try that a s well, but, again, the proof of the pudding is at the target.
Peter.

quote:

I would like to here your tips on how to seat a bullet strait with very little runout.

Buy a set of Lee collet dies for your gun.

I use 303guy's method for case sizing ans muck's bullet seating method in a number of cartridges and I get excellent results.