seating die leaving marks on ogive.

F

FairChase93

Active member
I'm trying to work up a load for my Ruger American 223. I'm loading 53 Gr Vmax at the moment. I'm using Hornady Custom Grade dies. The seating die is leaving a light ring just above the ogive of the bullet. It only does this with the 53 Gr Vmax, I have seated other bullets with this die and they are fine. The 53 Gr Vmax is a longer tapered bullet and from what I have read elsewhere this can cause a poor fit in the seating cone and cause the circular indentation.

Now the marks are very light and probably more cosmetic than anything however my OCD is apparently kicking in because they are really bothering me.

My question would be, is there a simple solution to this other than purchasing a different die and hoping for different results?
 
I should add that I know neck tension can be a culprit so I grabbed a 60 gr Vmax And a 55 gr Nosler Varmegeddon and seated them as well, there was no mark on either of them. This leads me to believe the cone on the seating plunger is the culprit.
 
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Those rings are easily removed with barrel steel...
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Seriously, if it really does bother you, call Hornady and ask. I suspect they have some seating steams that are better for the long nose bullets like VLDs and heavy VMax/AMax.

But I'd just shoot em.
 
Or remove seating stem from die and take an old bullet and put a dab of fine valve grinding compound on it and turn it back and forth. This will polish the edge of seating plug and your problem should go away.
pahntr is correct, though, that the ring won't hurt anything other than your feelings.
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Regards,
hm
 
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I know, I know but come on guys how are they ever gonna do their job with that ugly mark on them. All joking aside it's just driving me crazy! This kind of stuff usually doesn't bother me too much but this time I can't quit thinking about it. I might give Hornady a call just for kicks and see what they say. If it's going to be a big hassle I'll probably end up having to start ignoring it. It's mostly a vain pride thing I suppose.
 
I run in the same stuff with 60 gr v max and 139 gr SST. My Lee bullet seating die was doing the same thing . I called Lee they said to use sand paper to remove it. It wouldn't hurt the accuracy of the bullet. I said it still looks bad. They said I could order a replacement part to fix it. Then she said wait where not making custom parts at the time because we r so back logged. The tech said take a small drill bit drill it out a little sand it and would fix it. Wrong still leaving marking on bullets. Lee said hornady bullets was to pointed for way the die was made that done it.
 
Don't use "Sand paper"... use silicone carbide "Wet-n-dry" 600 grit or finer.


IT doesn't take much - you just have to break the sharp edge.
 
I have the Hornady dies for my 30tc( only ones available when I won the Icon). Hornady told me to sand the seater after I called them about the ring on mine it is about .25 under the polymer tip on 165 grain sst.
 

I have a bad case of OCD...Just ask my wife and sons.
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It was a struggle, but I have learned to ignore the slight
ring. It happens with several of my dies, with some bullets.
I am more concerned that my shade tree metal working would
do more damage than good to my dies, so I just ignore it.
I did call Forster, on my 6mm WOA die set, with 65 gr. Vmax
bullets, and they said, "Send it in, and we will fix it".
I never did, because I didn't want to be without my dies
for their quoted return time...Which wasn't that long...See
I am neurotic, too.
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Squeeze
 
Could it possibly be that there is no support under the jacket of the bullet where it touches the seater plug?
 
Originally Posted By: DABCould it possibly be that there is no support under the jacket of the bullet where it touches the seater plug?



No that is not at work. They don't leave a lot of voids in these bullets. I had the same thing on a 260 Remington and VMAX. The Wilson straight inline seater was denting them badly. I changed to a Horandy seater and the problem went away.

BTW the groups I just posted up that were 0.2's- 0.4's from my 260 were those dented ones. It realy doesn't apear to hurt them.

Greg
 
I had that problem before I went to a micrometer seating die. But not one of the hogs we shot complained about us shooting them with those bullets with the ring around them. Actually, they took their breath away ......
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Originally Posted By: HidalgoI had that problem before I went to a micrometer seating die. But not one of the hogs we shot complained about us shooting them with those bullets with the ring around them. Actually, they took their breath away ......
lol.gif


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... you are making me laugh today
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A long time ago, (before I learned that pretty ammo was better than uuuugly ammo). I shot at a woodchuck with a 6mm Rem and the bullet had one of those dopey rings on it.

Well, that damm bullet went and made a half turn around that woodchuck and hit the dirt right behind him. So he flips me the bird and dives down his chuck hole
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Well, I went back and cleaned up that seating cup and made some more loads, but these were beautiful.

Went back and took another shot at that woodchuck... well he seen it comin' and ducked and ran like crazy to his hole... but that pretty bullet just turned and followed him through all that tall grass and caught up with that chuck just before he took that dive down the hole... and bopped his azz but good!

So there!


tt2.gif
 
Like the prophet Ron White said about deer hunting......

"Heck, deer hunting is EASY. Just use a bullet with a chrome bumper and a horn, and the deer will jump out in front of it!"

Gotta have the right equipment ......
 
Originally Posted By: HidalgoLike the prophet Ron White said about deer hunting......

"Heck, deer hunting is EASY. Just use a bullet with a chrome bumper and a horn, and the deer will jump out in front of it!"

Gotta have the right equipment ......

lol.gif
 
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