anyone had problems with lee dead length seaters?
- Thread starter mikeystew
- Start date
Yup, agree 100%.
If you're not measuring off the ogive, you're pissing into the wind worrying about precision in OAL.
Measure a few bullets with an ogive-based comparator, and see what your variability is compared to the dead bullet length - I guarantee the tip-to-tail measurement will have more runout than the tail-to-ogive measurement.
-M
If you're not measuring off the ogive, you're pissing into the wind worrying about precision in OAL.
Measure a few bullets with an ogive-based comparator, and see what your variability is compared to the dead bullet length - I guarantee the tip-to-tail measurement will have more runout than the tail-to-ogive measurement.
-M
i plan on making an attachmaent for my verneer that will do just that, trouble is the cannelure lands in a different spot relative to the mouth also. my brass is all the same length. and i can not find any obvious defect in the die.
im thinking it may be the bullets themselves are too narrow at the tip and the seater is not pushing the ogive, rather the tip? thoughts?
it is a 30-30, 150g hot cor flat nose .308
im thinking it may be the bullets themselves are too narrow at the tip and the seater is not pushing the ogive, rather the tip? thoughts?
it is a 30-30, 150g hot cor flat nose .308
No, you're not getting it.
Grab 10 bullets out of your box you are loading from.
Measure those 10 bullets from base to tip and you will see some of the variance in the bullet lengths, this will show up in your loaded rounds as well unless you measure off the ogive.
Also, line those 10 bullets standing up side by side on a flat surface and see if the canelure is in the same place on every bullet, I would bet they are not.
Your seater is most likely seating where it should unless you were using long VLD bullets in which case seating off the tip would cause serious bullet runout but your "to the tip" measurments would be close to equal.
Grab 10 bullets out of your box you are loading from.
Measure those 10 bullets from base to tip and you will see some of the variance in the bullet lengths, this will show up in your loaded rounds as well unless you measure off the ogive.
Also, line those 10 bullets standing up side by side on a flat surface and see if the canelure is in the same place on every bullet, I would bet they are not.
Your seater is most likely seating where it should unless you were using long VLD bullets in which case seating off the tip would cause serious bullet runout but your "to the tip" measurments would be close to equal.
My Lee seating die was giving bad OAL's. The cup that accepts the bullet tip had sharp edges. Sometimes the bullet would get caught on the edge and not fully enter the cup giving short a OAL. My neck tension was only .001" so it did not take much to push the bullet in the case, less than it took to overcome the sharp edges on the cup. Sanded and lapped and it was better. Also the rod that pushes the bullet in must slide up and center it's self in the top cap which is cone shaped. If the rod gets hung up and does not slide to the top of the cone you get short OAL.
no i understood what you were saying CyaN1de, what it made me think of is making a bullet length comparitor.
anyway i measured the bullets themselves today by removing the seating rod from the die and placing it over the bullet tip, and then measuring the bullet OAL from base to the end of the seating bar. the results were hard to believe....
i had length variations as much as .010, 40% measured the same but the rest at complete random lengths. i measured them all and compiled 4 piles into nearest lengths out of 35 bullets.
anyway i measured the bullets themselves today by removing the seating rod from the die and placing it over the bullet tip, and then measuring the bullet OAL from base to the end of the seating bar. the results were hard to believe....
i had length variations as much as .010, 40% measured the same but the rest at complete random lengths. i measured them all and compiled 4 piles into nearest lengths out of 35 bullets.
Crappy bullets maybe?
If you are using the seater stem as a comparator then your measurements SHOULD be dead on the same every time.
