Home Forums Reloading Varmint Rifles neck tension

I have a Lee 223 die set and am loading 64 grain power points for deer hunting. I seated half a dozen and happened to pick one up just right and with just finger pressure I pushed the bullet down into the case. I adjusted the sizer die and seated them longer as well, hoping I just had it at the ogive.

Not so. Still will sink into the case if I put much pressure on at all.

What?!

Doubt the die is out of spec, I have used it before with no trouble.

Is the die seated in the press correctly? Touching shell holder at top of stroke plus 1/4 turn?

No I left it set to neck size. Never had an issue before

Had the same issue with some 55 sp Win bullets.

The only part of the bullet that measured .224 was the very base and they tapered down to the cannelure.

I could get them to run just fine if I seated them out past magazine length but I wanted to run them in an AR so it was a no go.

I did send them back to Win who stated they were in spec.

I swore off Win ammo and components afterward.

Wondered about that...I dropped and broke my micrometer so I can't measure that

Easy fix with a Lee die set... your don't do the camming effect like you do with an RCBS die..

If you used the neck sizer, it wasn't tightened down enough...

Occasionally I will get that problem as I use a lot of Range Brass...

had 3 out of 50 last night that was doing the same thing... easy fix... took the spindle out of the F/L sizing die..
lubed the case necks and ran them up in the die, just enough to give them a light roll crimp..works just fine..

I lube the necks with a Q tip and a little spray lube on the Q Tip...

Cranked the die to size all the way. Still happening. Think it's a bullet issue

rare but it happens.. still doing a roll crimp should solve that issue tho. at least has for me always... been doing that for a long time.

You got a factory crimp die?

Heck no lol haven't crimped a damn thing in 10 plus years. No semi autos here so no need

If nothing's changed, yep, I'd measure the bullets.

Of, if my mike was busted, grab another bullet from another brand and see how THAT seats.

The Lee dies come with just a lock ring - no set screw to make sure the die is in exactly the same position each time you screw it onto the press. They use an O-ring system that I don’t care for.

I had the same thing happen to me with some .204 cases and found the die wasn’t threaded all the way down. Reset the die and all was well. I’ve since replaced all of the lock rings with RCBS and eliminated the issue

I leave mine in the turret for that reason. Just swap the turret when I need to change dies

How many firings on casings? My guess is to anneal the necks. I usually just toss them.

One

How is that set correctly?

Just more poor advice from people that dont know how to properly set up a die set mathman. You see it all the time here buddy.

I would appreciate some concise directions on how to properly set up a seating die for a bottleneck rifle cartridge. It seems each brand of dies has their own twist on how to set it up. Should the die touch the shell holder at the top of the stroke?

Put a case in the shellholder, raise the ram to the top, screw the die in till it either touches the shellholder or you feel slight resistance from the case then back off half a turn and set the locknut.
Now adjust the seating stem to get the OAL you want

It isn't any one way. The particular adjustment depends on how your die interacts with the brass from your chamber. A FL die should be turned into the press just enough to ensure smooth chambering for the sized brass. Whether that's just off the shell holder, flush against it, or a quarter turn past flush is what you have to find out. It's a bit of cut and try, but once you've done it for that die and brass from that chamber you're all set.