For any one who has "bedded" their seating stem...

[barefooter56]

Will do!

On another note, any reason you know of why I'm shooting so smoke out the barrel? Is R26 just dirty, or do I need a magnum primer? Ive just been using CCI large rifle as of now, but man does she like to smoke.

I would figure on a 28 inch barrel, id get a good clean barrel.

Ask ALLIANT about the smoke. You could use it as cover to make it harder for the game to see you and get an easier follow up shot if you need it.

 

[TheDerkster]

Great its shooting so well. Sort of makes it a wash. So your thinking its a variance in the bullet itself?

Not necessarily. I correct all variance by writing the measurement down, and then reseating to desired length. Before I bedded the stem, I would be shooting for 2.1755, and get 2.2185. I pulled those bullets back out they were so bad. I think I need to anneal the necks because they also seated much harder.

If they are to short, it doesn't seem to affect too much.

 

[TheDerkster]

Ask ALLIANT about the smoke. You could use it as cover to make it harder for the game to see you and get an easier follow up shot if you need it.

I prefer to make them have no idea where the shot came from. Smoke gives me away.

But in all reality, I shot a bunch of does at the end of season to fill the rest of my tags and the freezer, and they had no idea at 250 yards with a braked gun. They just run in circles

 

[toliver]

Just curious but have you checked the concentricity since you bedded the stem?

 

[Bwhittty]

Derkster,
See if that .004 is the issue first. To find your "gremlins" change only ONE thing at at a time and keep good notes. Also keep in mind that we are not always on our game when shooting and that a mediocre result one day with a load that worked before may be you and not the load. Stay out of the weeds. And keep in mind its a HUNTING RIFLE. Not a TARGET RIFLE. Animals have larger x-rings that targets at any range so once you get a load to one or half minute of angle the qucker way to gain accuracy is to work on reading conditions, trigger control and position. In short..practice even in lousy weather. But don't practice if you are distracted or just not into it at the time. It has to be GOOD practice. Shooting skills are perishable and need constant attention.

That's a fact. Got my 6.5 shooting in the low 2's and **** near a 1!! Then next time out I shoot a .486. Double the size of the stellar group. Practice practice practice. I need much more of it

 

[TheDerkster]

Just curious but have you checked the concentricity since you bedded the stem?

No. It's one of the many more tools I need to buy. I can spin test, but that's about it

 

[barefooter56]

No. It's one of the many more tools I need to buy. I can spin test, but that's about it

Get the SINCLAIR concentricity gauge. And when you check your runout, weather its cartridge case or a loaded round. Only do it using fired brass out of THAT rifle. When checking bullet run out . You place the probe on the dial indicator as close to the bullet/case mouth junction as you can without touching the case neck. Always pre-load the dial indicator .010-.015 on the item to be checked and re-zero the face before measuring.

 

[orkan]

I'd like to offer an observation on this if I may.

I noticed the user said he annealed, and then is noticing rings on bullets. This is something I have helped customers with many times. After annealing, the oxidization which is noticeable as a gold sheen on the brass, is extremely tacky. If left untouched, it will really grab hold of those bullets. Both on the way in, and way out. Brass in this condition will cold-weld bullets faster than anything I've seen. It is pretty important to tumble that tacky sheen off before loading.

While measuring the neck diameter and then assigning a "neck tension" value is really the only thing within reach of most shooters, it is certainly not scientifically sound. The brass thickness, alloy composition, and surface finish have a huge impact on the actual force required to seat or release bullets.

I think you'll find that if you tumble that oxidized sheen off the brass or polish it out with a loose fitting or non-aggressive brush, that your issue will be resolved.

Having said that, as others have mentioned... I too have had many dies with seating stems which required polishing in order to remove the ring left on bullets. Typically a felt point with flitz held by hand while spinning the seating stem with a hand drill for a few minutes resolves the issue. When that doesn't work, the stem gets chucked into a lathe and more aggressive polishing is done. I always like polishing the insides of my dies for a better finish anyway, so it isn't too much trouble to me.

 

[tbrice23]

I sonic clean after annealing, it definitely takes care if the annealing tarnish that is left in the necks.

 

[TheDerkster]

I'd like to offer an observation on this if I may.

I noticed the user said he annealed, and then is noticing rings on bullets. This is something I have helped customers with many times. After annealing, the oxidization which is noticeable as a gold sheen on the brass, is extremely tacky. If left untouched, it will really grab hold of those bullets. Both on the way in, and way out. Brass in this condition will cold-weld bullets faster than anything I've seen. It is pretty important to tumble that tacky sheen off before loading.

While measuring the neck diameter and then assigning a "neck tension" value is really the only thing within reach of most shooters, it is certainly not scientifically sound. The brass thickness, alloy composition, and surface finish have a huge impact on the actual force required to seat or release bullets.

I think you'll find that if you tumble that oxidized sheen off the brass or polish it out with a loose fitting or non-aggressive brush, that your issue will be resolved.

Having said that, as others have mentioned... I too have had many dies with seating stems which required polishing in order to remove the ring left on bullets. Typically a felt point with flitz held by hand while spinning the seating stem with a hand drill for a few minutes resolves the issue. When that doesn't work, the stem gets chucked into a lathe and more aggressive polishing is done. I always like polishing the insides of my dies for a better finish anyway, so it isn't too much trouble to me.

Great info. I did tumble the brass and give it a good scrubbing on the inside first. Then used case lube to help but to no avail. Bedding the stem solved the problem.

 

[Bwhittty]

Great info. I did tumble the brass and give it a good scrubbing on the inside first. Then used case lube to help but to no avail. Bedding the stem solved the problem.

I too did the same thing... Bedding the stem was the only thing that solved the problem...

 

[FEENIX]

Just curious if Rich had the same problem as you and had to bed the stem?

 

[parshal]

Jumping in on this thread. I've got a Redding VLD seater for my 6.5 WSM and it's leaving a ring on the ELD-X's. It did not on the 130 Precision Ballistics.

 

[Bwhittty]

Jumping in on this thread. I've got a Redding VLD seater for my 6.5 WSM and it's leaving a ring on the ELD-X's. It did not on the 130 Precision Ballistics.

It also did on our 143 ELD-X in our 6.5-284's... First Redding sent a polished stem... Didn't fix it... Then they sent the VLD stem... Didn't fix it... By this time I was ready to go ballistic on them... My smith said to bed the stem and see if that fixes things. It did...