Hornady seating die severely denting bullets

PoFF

PoFF

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Just started my first match or reloaded ammunition in 300 Blackout with a brand new set of Hornady dies. However, upon seating of the bullet, the seating stem severely dents (large deformed ring, not just a mark on the copper) the bullet, to a point where I'm wondering if it'll be shootable with any hope of accuracy.

I've ruled out the fact that the crimper might be too low as I've risen the die as high as possible.

Bullets are Match Hornady's .30 cal 225 grains (yes, it'll be a subsonic load)

The load is not compressed...

Any clue?
 
Pics? Without seeing it, my guess is that your stem has something wrong with the edge that contacts the ogive. Take the die apart and see if there is a burr in there or other defect that needs attention.

FWIW, I had one brand of die not like 225gr .338 Accubonds, the ogive would jam into the stem every time and half pull the bullet out of the neck when lowering the ram on the press. I used a different brand of seating die and the problem went away, so it is possible that your seating stem and the bullet shape just don't want to work together.


Mark
 
By the sounds of it you have way to much neck tension. Were you necking up 223 brass, maybe you have to turn the necks.

And hexbasher, it sounds like he isn't even utilizing the crimping feature of the dies

Take a caliper and use the inside measuring side to measure the diameter of the neck before you insert a bullet. You might find that it is much smaller than .305 (my FL dies generally size about 0.003 thou smaller than the bullet diameter) you might be around the 0.300 mark.

Hornady dies are capable of swapping out the seating stem. You can purchase the seating stem specifically made for the bullet, (probably close to the 208grain AMAX stem)

That all I got,
Evan
 
I would take the die apart and compare how the seating stem is shaped vs your bullets. You may have to reshape the seating stem to better fit your bullets.

I would use a fine file and a drill press to reshape it
 
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you need a heavier chamfer on the inside of your necks to make it easier for the bullet to start, chances are you have some tight neck tension on your brass and being that the neck is thicker then normal brass It requires more effort to get the bullet started. I solved some of this problem with a bit of sizing wax on sides of my bullet prior to seating, it doesn't take much and they seat with much more ease
 
PoFF said:
Just started my first match or reloaded ammunition in 300 Blackout with a brand new set of Hornady dies. However, upon seating of the bullet, the seating stem severely dents (large deformed ring, not just a mark on the copper) the bullet, to a point where I'm wondering if it'll be shootable with any hope of accuracy.

I've ruled out the fact that the crimper might be too low as I've risen the die as high as possible.

Bullets are Match Hornady's .30 cal 225 grains (yes, it'll be a subsonic load)

The load is not compressed...

Any clue?
Click to expand...

Yep. The seating stem is profiled for a short 110 - 125gr bullet. You are using a long slender nosed bullet. Thus the edge of the seating stem is digging in to the bullet nose. The cure is to chuck the seating stem up in a lathe and reprofile it.

Damage like this to a bullet shouldn't affect accuracy much. Keep in mind the bullet will be spinning at a hundred thousand rpm or more. Any inconsistencies in the bullet exterior get averaged out. The BLK is a medium range cartridge at best so super fine accuracy is not required and will likely not be achievable with subsonics.
 
Thanks for the many advices, I'll try to snap and post a few pics of the damaged bullets.

Might also try to swap the seating stem from one of my 308 or 30-06 dies to see if it makes any difference.
 
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I had the same problem with "Varmint" bullets when I first got my .223. The wall of the bullets were so thin that any die I tried would mark the ogive of some of the bullets. It did affect the accuracy to a certain extent, from "cloverleaf at 100 yrds with unmarked bulllets to .600 at 100 yrds with the marked bullets....not something to worry about unless you are considering sniper type competitions.

Changed to hunting designed bullets and marks disappeared, group was still 6-.700" so doesn't really matter what I use.
A change to a slightly larger neck sizing plug to reduce neck pressure would probably remove the problem for any bullet.
 
If what you are getting is a 'donut' around the tip of the bullet, I used to get those when I used hornady dies. The problem was fixed when I went to Lee dies or Redding dies.
 
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