Bullets shaping like hour glass???

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Brianma65

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Hey,
I just loaded some 69 g Sierra TMK, Varget powdered.
.223
Only COL,I could find was on hodgdons site.
Which was for a Sierra 69 g HPBT.

There was a lot of compression.

Anyway,all my bullets have hour glass shape? Or kind of a indented ring,around the upper part of the bullet.

What up with that?

I did use a small amount of crimpIMG_0660.jpg
 

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That is a terrible photo. Can barely tell what is wrong. Just how much powder are you stuffing in there? Are you using a long drop tube and dropping the charge slowly to give the powder a chance to settle and pack as best as it can? Maybe tap on the case lightly as it is filling or after it is charged - partially seat the bullet to act as a plug then tap on the side to try and settle the powder some, then finish seating the bullet. Bottom line is that you already said it. A lot of compression. Probably too much compression. The bullet is getting distorted by the seating die. The ring is forming as the bullet is getting crushed where the seating part of the die is pushing on the bullet.
 
The max load almost fills the case.
I got the data from Sierra,via email.

But they didn't give COL. ,that's why I used hodgdons site,which said 2235 COL.

Maybe I should increase the COL?

It's normal ,for Varget to be compressed.
Here's a better pic, just below the green tip, about an 1/8 of an inch.IMG_0663.jpg
 

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I shoot the 69 tmk's for yotes and went through and have a few hundred of em. Never seen anything wrong with the shape of the ones I have.

With 25.6 of varget Im on the edge of a compressed load with an OAL of 1.894 (ogive)
 
Brianma65 said:
The max load almost fills the case.
I got the data from Sierra,via email.

But they didn't give COL. ,that's why I used hodgdons site,which said 2235 COL.

Maybe I should increase the COL?

It's normal ,for Varget to be compressed.
Here's a better pic, just below the green tip, about an 1/8 of an inch.View attachment 133663
Click to expand...

AGAIN, you are putting to much pressure on the bullet when seating. You are pushing to hard. Don't care if you push to hard fast or slowly.
 
yomomma said:
AGAIN, you are putting to much pressure on the bullet when seating. You are pushing to hard. Don't care if you push to hard fast or slowly.
Click to expand...

Ok ,I'm not following you,sorry.

I seat the bullet slowly,following through slowly,until the die hits the shell holder .
How am I pushing to hard?

I've loaded 75 test loads of Hornady 53 Vmax, right before these,and didn't have that issue.
 
I'm speculating that this is a MEGA compressed load (110%+?)

Can you give me the following and I'll run the numbers using QuickLOAD:
Assuming .223 Remington cartridge...

Mag fed or bolt gun and barrel length?
Case headstamp (RP, FC, LC etc)
Case trimmed length?
Powder VARGET- load weight?
COL 2.235?
69g STMK approx. Bullet length?

hoping that I can help you....
 
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Your seating die hits the shell holder when seating the bullet? Forget about COL unless you need to load from a mag. I would say your neck tension is too tight resulting in too much seating pressure and deforming the bullet.
 
Brianma65 said:
I seat the bullet slowly,following through slowly,until the die hits the shell holder .
Click to expand...

Your die should NOT be hitting the shellholder!!! You should be about a Nickle's thickness away from the bottom of the
die when the ram is fully up. You are trying to crimp that bullet when the die is adjusted as you have it.
This means the bullet cannot move, and instead the seating plug distorts the bullet.
Back that seating die off at least 1½ full turns, reset your seating stem, and try again.
Eagleye.
 
IMG_0664.jpgMag fed,semi, with a 18.5 barrel.

Trim length 1750
Hornady case
26 g Varget,as per Sierra email data.
Overall bullet lenght0.987.

I've loaded a couple of thousand rnds ,the exact same way.
I screw the die in until it's hand tight ,firm.
Then I turn in a small amount more,for a light crimp.

As it sits now,the die is about a mm away from the shell holder.
Not touching,as I first thought.

Here's the email from Sierra.

The 24 g of Varget is causing the same issue.

I'm going to try a COL of 2245 , see if that changes anything.
 

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"Only COL I could find was on hodgdons site.
Which was for a Sierra 69 g HPBT."

You are expected to use your own COL to suit YOUR rifle.

I load my 69MKs at 2.340" for my rifle. For you to use that OAL would make as much sense as for you to wear size 13 boots because that is what I use. Our rifles and feet are different.

Are you starting with their MAX load, too?

Start with the published START load and work up from there, to see what works well in your rifle. What worked in their rifle, and the MAX for their rifle has little to do with your rifle.
 
Eagleye said:
Your die should NOT be hitting the shellholder!!! You should be about a Nickle's thickness away from the bottom of the
die when the ram is fully up. You are trying to crimp that bullet when the die is adjusted as you have it.
This means the bullet cannot move, and instead the seating plug distorts the bullet.
Back that seating die off at least 1½ full turns, reset your seating stem, and try again.
Eagleye.
Click to expand...

I believe Eagleye hit the nail on the head.
 
You have too much powder in the brass for that 69gr TMK. It is a longer bullet than a 55gr FMJ-BT. The Varget powder can only compress so much. Once the compression limit is being approached, something has to give. In this case it is the bullet. Hornady says 25gr Varget as a max load. Hogdon says 26.0 as a max load. Do what Ganderite says!
 
As I suspected, this is WAY TO MUCH POWDER @ 121% COMPRESSED!

Lucky that those bullets distorted with the compression otherwise you might have fired one (and only one)....

Here are the QuickLOAD numbers:

ODf0CvE.png
 
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