Need help with consistent seating depth using seating die

[GLTaylor]

GLTaylor:'
'Thanks for that explanation. I'm going to cut one of my old cases in half to see if I can see anything there.

They are usually pretty obvious. When you seat a bullet you'll feel the resistance when a donut forms/is forming

 

[DUSTY NOGGIN]

keep in mind a ballistic tip is a little softer than a target and some hunting other bullets . so if you do have differences in neck tension you will find that because the "tougher ones to seat "can actually deform slightly the area where the seater contacts just below the tip .

turn all neck to match , pre-expand and dry lube

 

[IHFarmer07]

I questioned this neck tension issue on a few forums and Joe here shared a lot and I've had/have the privilege of calling him and it was overwhelming what he had told me......in our phone call, he basically said, what ever your process is in reloading, do the same thing EVERY time. Some say they only anneal every other loading or every 3rd loading....whatever, Joe and a lot of these F-class/BR guys are a big help as long as you listen and act like you want to learn.

 

[WahooYahoo]

I had the same problem with my forester die 2-3 years ago. The stem would even click sometimes when seating the bullet. Tried everything. Then I found in a web search a problem with a cracked seating stem from forester and the long process the OP went through to get it fixed. Forester wouldn't admit the problem. LONG LONG story shortened, I sent 3 cartridges and my die to forester. They replied like they've never seen it before, but their answer was nearly verbatim to the posts I had read. I still have that paperweight somewhere if anyone wants it. I haven't bought a Forester die since as a matter of principle. My LE Wilson, Redding and even Hornady dies seat to within .001. Side note, Just a month ago loaned my Redding 6.5 CM die to a buddy who couldn't get consistent seating depths in his... Forester.

 

[Savage16Hunter]

I am finding it more and more after 40 years of reloading in all calibers. These new razor sharp pointed bullets are not consistent as they want us to believe. I find match grade in most calibers differ not only in weight but length consistently screwing with seating depths. I believe that is the whole reason Hornady made a specific seating plug for their Atips. There is one thing you can try that has helped....seat the bullet part way...say 1/3...turn the case seat 1/3 turn the case finish. Just me

I do the same "1/3 turn" for seating PLUS adjust runout using the Hornady tool to adjust to less than 0.002 runout. But, with the 120 gr Noslet BTs (loaded in my 7-30 waters for a TC Contender), I found the bullet itself (using the Hornady comparator) to have variability. Additionally, as already mentioned by others, slightly compressed loads will push the bullet back out to cause variability.

 

[Savage16Hunter]

Lol you learned the hard way too huh!? I just bought a couple really good shape used "genuine" Mitutoyo calipers myself.....no comparison......someone recommended me getting the 8" calipers and I didn't listen on the first cheap caliper but I sure did on the mitutoyo's! I need one more 8", but I bought two ip67's, on 8", one 6" and the 6" is going to the shop to work on the farm equipment.

As soon as I got into long range shooting, the first thing I did was to buy a good Mitutoyo caliper and i-Gaging Micrometer - if you can't measure anything accurately, you'll be making decisions based on bad data. But, using the Mitutoya caliper and the Hornady Comparator, I still got variability with the 120 gr .284 Nosler BTs.