Bullet seating depth inconsistent

[Guest jg45]

I need some help from those more knowledgeable than I am. I am using a Hornady Lock N Load Progressive to load .45 ACP. I am using mixed brass, 200gr SWC HG68 style bullets from Black Bullets Intl, 4.7 gr WST powder, Wolf Primers, and Hornady dies. The problem is the bullet seating depth. When I set it up according to the instructions with the press and with the dies which is to use just one round in the press and keep messing with the depth going from long to short until it's right, the rounds are too long when all stations are filled. When I fill all stations and then set the depth, I get a variance of around .005 in seating depth. Any one have any idea what I am doing wrong. On a side note, I am also having problems with the primers not seating fully, I cannot seem to push forward enough to get them completely seated. Any insights on these issues?

Thanks

[Guest 6.8 AR]

Are you using the round seater or the flat seater that came with your die?

And, Is your die plate good and tight? With the primers, other than making

sure the pockets are clean, sometimes the nut that pushes upward when

you push back on the handle, will come loose. If it starts out okay and gets

worse as you go, that's probably the culprit.

[kb4ns]

As long as you're not loading any really hot rounds, I wouldn't worry too much about .005" variations. I'd set it a hair on the long side, though. Remember that in reloading recipes, the OAL is usually a minimum OAL.

[Guest FroggyOne2]

Have you measured the length of your bullet? The length of the ogive to the base of the bullet can cause that much varience.. also.. are is all the brass trimmed to the same length? You will need some tools to measure the COL of the bullet.

[Guest FroggyOne2]

As long as you're not loading any really hot rounds, I wouldn't worry too much about .005" variations. I'd set it a hair on the long side, though. Remember that in reloading recipes, the OAL is usually a minimum OAL.

Yes.. but the seating stem does not usually touch the tip of the bullet.. it rests on the ogive of the bullet.

[timcalhoun]

.005 is nothing when it comes to pistol ammo and particularly on a progressive press. In fact bullet inconsistencies will be off by that much.

Don't sweat it. Go shoot.

[Guest jg45]

Are you using the round seater or the flat seater that came with your die?

And, Is your die plate good and tight? With the primers, other than making

sure the pockets are clean, sometimes the nut that pushes upward when

you push back on the handle, will come loose. If it starts out okay and gets

worse as you go, that's probably the culprit.

Using the flat seating stem. The dies are tight in the top and shell plate is tight as well. As for the primers, I hadn't had this problem until I started using the Wolf primers. The primer ram nun is tight int he subplate.

[Guest 6.8 AR]

I didn't think .005 inch would make any difference. Truthfully, I get mine close to the

spec. and make sure they chamber in all our .45's and that's it. I've loaded about 500

Wolf primers and didn't notice any problem, except at the range. Too many misfires

for me.

Like Tim said, go shoot 'em.

[timcalhoun]

Yep, just out of curiosity I went down and measured some 40 cals. When measuring 10 in a row the precision 170g black bullets had a difference of .007 and my Zero 180JHP had a difference of .004. I'm sure I could find an even bigger spread if I kept measuring.

Tim

[SonnyCrockett]

I get variation - 1.122-1.125 is what I look for in my 40SW loads

My Lee Turret press has a turret than moves a few thou by design when I

pull the press lever-So for me it would be impossible to get repeatability but your

press uses bushings,it should have zero play and you should have round after round

a tolerance thats as close as it can get...Id call the MFG and get some tips

[Guest 1shot]

Your problem with the Wolf primers and miss fires is you are not seating them properly. These primers have a harder cup and my be just a hair larger in diameter or because of the harder cup they don't compress in as easy and the anvil sits up just a hair more than most primers. When you seat them it takes a little more force. If you use a good seating tool where you can feel the primer seat you will feel the anvil touch the bottom of the shell priming cup then you need to put a little more pressure on to feel it compress the anvil down onto the priming pellet and feel the primer cup come up solid in the bottom of the shell priming cup. I use a Lee hand priming tool and it works great. At first I had a few miss fires with Wolf primers but when I learned how to seat them like above I have not had one single problem and these Wolf primers are some of the most consistent primers I have ever used. They really make up very accurate ammo. By the way I have been an avid handloader for over 30 years.

[leroy]

....Your problem with the Wolf primers and miss fires is you are not seating them properly. These primers have a harder cup and my be just a hair larger in diameter or because of the harder cup they don't compress in as easy and the anvil sits up just a hair more than most primers. When you seat them it takes a little more force. If you use a good seating tool where you can feel the primer seat you will feel the anvil touch the bottom of the shell priming cup then you need to put a little more pressure on to feel it compress the anvil down onto the priming pellet and feel the primer cup come up solid in the bottom of the shell priming cup. I use a Lee hand priming tool and it works great. At first I had a few miss fires with Wolf primers but when I learned how to seat them like above I have not had one single problem and these Wolf primers are some of the most consistent primers I have ever used. They really make up very accurate ammo. By the way I have been an avid handloader for over 30 years. ....

This is great advice for anyone who loads ammo that needs to go off every time you pull the trigger (....hunting, SD, etc. ...). The surest way to get ammo PROPERLY PRIMED is with a hand primer.

PS-- i fully agree those who opine that .005 is a miniscule oal difference with the reloaded ammo. Dont worry about it.

Thanks for posting this great info.

Kind regards,

leroy

[Guest jg45]

Thanks for all the replies. I won't worry about the variance in OAL.

[my82cam]

i ditched all of my wolf primers, i was having a hard time seating them, so i took the mic out, they were all out of round. i didn't find one that was even close. measured some winchester primers and they were dead even. just my 2 cents lol