Seating die leaving ring on bullets

[huntin24/7]

I started loading bullets for my 6.5prc with adg brass. I’m using a Forster seating die and ran the full length sizer through the mouth on each one first. I noticed a ring on each round and it kind of looks like it’s leaving a small dent on the bullet although I can’t feel any dent running my finger across it. How big of a deal is it and if so what should I do to fix it. I’ve had rings before on bullets I’ve loaded with no accuracy issues but this seems like a bit more than what I’ve seen in the past.

 

[huntin24/7]

FYI, I’m not an advanced reloader by any stretch, but have always had good success in all my previous calibers and loads with just a very basic knowledge of reloading.

 

[BuckRut]

The collet in your seating die doesn't fit the shape of the bullet perfectly. You can see if Forester offers different replacement collars and see if one fits the shape of the bullets you are loading better.

 

[mtmuley]

Try a VLD stem. mtmuley

 

[Jbotto]

If you get a pinch you can customize seating plugs to your bullet with a bit of epoxy or even short term/hot glue. Epoxy is the better way to go though of these two options. Overall a VLD stem is the way to go in the long run.

 

[huntin24/7]

Does a vld stem work with any bullet and most seating dies? Also, do you think I should shoot the ones I have loaded or pull bullets and start over?

 

[mtmuley]

Does a vld stem work with any bullet and most seating dies? Also, do you think I should shoot the ones I have loaded or pull bullets and start over?

Contact Forster. They should have one. mtmuley

 

[winmag]

I’d disassemble the die and polish the seater stem. I’d also order a VLD seater stem, polish it, and install it.

It likely won’t effect accuracy, shoot it and see. It will negatively impact the ballistic coefficient but not nearly enough to make any sort of difference, maybe -0.001. But I know it would bother me so I wouldn’t take my own advice. I’d find a fix.

 

[huntin24/7]

Sounds good. Thanks. I love the Forster ultra micrometer and want to make it work. I tried my cheap rcbs seater and it left much less of a ring. I contacted Forster and am waiting to hear back from them. Thanks for the replies.

 

[mtmuley]

Sounds good. Thanks. I love the Forster ultra micrometer and want to make it work. I tried my cheap rcbs seater and it left much less of a ring. I contacted Forster and am waiting to hear back from them. Thanks for the replies.

Not sure why but my Redding and RCBS dies seat VLD'S without leaving a ring using the normal stem. mtmuley

 

[huntin24/7]

These are with scenar bullets by the way. My Forster 7mm die worked great with vld’s.

 

[winmag]

The main reason people use VLD seater stems is to prevent the tip of the projectile from hitting the end of the seater stem, instead of the seater stem contacting the ogive as the projectile is seated. When this happens the projectile isn’t supported as it’s seating, resulting in concentricity (and therefore accuracy) issues.

 

[Wind Gypsy]

Like others have said, you can use epoxy to make it fit your bullet better or put some lapping compound on a bullet and spin it in the stem a bunch to spread out the contact point.

There's a fair chance there will be no impact to performance but theres also a fair chance you may not be getting as consistent seating depth as you would be otherwise.

 

[morgaj1]

Forster will custom hone a seating stem for you:

https://www.forsterproducts.com/resources/custom-machining-service/

 

[Red-Team 98]

I use Hornady Dies and purchased the stem for the ELDX bullets and that solved the problem of the annoying bullet seater ring.

 

[jeff_gibbons]

I read another thread where the guy had same issue and backed off neck tension with either a mandrel or larger bushing and it went away. His theory was tight neck required more force to seat. Good luck

 

[Carl]

It is probably some combination of excessive neck tension and imperfect bullet-seating stem fit, though if the neck tension is high enough you'll get a ring with almost any seater.

In this situation I first use a bullet chucked up in a drill to polish the seating stem with the aid of an abrasive compound like JB. If I'm still having an issue after I look at a way to leave the neck larger, typically a mandrel for my workflow but a larger bushing would also do if that is setting the final tension.

 

[ImBillT]

High neck tension or compressed load.

Changing to a different seating stem may or may not make the issue go away by spreading the force out over a larger area of the ogive.