Thumbs up for Forster Precision Bullet Seaters

ceriksson

ceriksson

Salty Knife Nut<br>Moderator
Moderator
Rating - 100%
68   0   0
Location
Victoria, BC
665744.jpg


I picked one up recently for my .308 from mystic precision (mysticplayer on CGN)

and Finally got down to doing some reloads yesterday.

It was a day of firsts really. Trying my new Hornady FL Die set, and a cabelas digital scale, which I won't go too much into. Hornady took a while to set up and clean but worked fine eventually, the cabelas isn't good enough to work on its own and can't keep a zero very well but works as a good backup double check with the RCBS Scale.


Ok, when I finally got to the point of bullet seating I was loading 167gr Lapua match bullets for my 5R and wanted exactly 2.8" OAL.

So I followed the instructions that came with it and made a dummy round first with an empty casing and played with the seater getting it initially set up length wise.

Then started with my rounds. Now the precision in this die first highlighted another variable that I overlooked in some of my rounds. I need to be trimming them all the exact length before loading next time.

BUT, the die is worth its weight in gold in terms of its precision with seating bullets, this is coming from a guy who has only used a standard RCBS seating die before this one.

What makes it so useful is not just its abilty to be adjusted with the top portion but also that it has a spring loaded tube to centre the bullet, but the biggest win here for me was that I can initially set the bullet close to my desired length and keep moving the adjustment and working the press even within less than .001" adjustments and it still moves the bullet that hair of a measure.

The problem which led me to get the forster die was that with the basic RCBS seater if I was say .005" off of my length and wanted to make that adjustment down it didn't pick that up consistetly when I made the adjustment and worked the press again, making it really hard to maintain some consistency with my OALs.

So for anyone concerned with OAL consistency the Forster precision bullet seater is awesome.

It was a decision between this unit and the redding comp seater and with a price in the 70-80$s vs. Reddings 120-130$ price tag, you won't get the value of the $$ difference for the Redding IMO. It is hard to improve on the Forster.
 
Good to know. I have had the same issues as you and have been casually looking for ways to get things more consistant without adding more time to the process.
 
interesting locking die, I have just started to play with my redding competition seater, worth the extra ±50$? IDK
I would say the main difference bewteen these two is that redding's initial depth is set with an allen key through the top, instead of having an exposed bolt


Now I need someone to help me with this on/off the lands thing and I'll start using it to its full potential (see my most recent thread or pm)
 
Cant go wrong buying good stuff, shoot or have shot 60+ calibers anything serious uses a forster or redding die set. Charles the Forster Coax press allows you to just slide the dies in and has a fairly universal set of shell holders built in well worth the money, universal primer seater as well designed to seat them .005" below flush.

Andy
 
I bought a set of these for my 300 WM ATRS rifle. In my opinion the Forster is the best die out there. Runout has decreased and I'm sure once I get to sizing my brass with the Forster Neck Seater and seat bullets with the Forster Precision die I'll be laughing. The whole inside of the die is a sliding sleeve that the whole case and bullet fit into before the bullet ever contacts the seating stem.

The only thing I changed on mine was replacing the lock rings with Hornady lock rings, which I think are the best due to the flats on the ring and the fact that the set screw pulls the split ring together rather than bottoming out on the threads. That was the only thing I didn't like and it was easy to fix with the lock rings. Then I sold the Forster rings and covered the cost of the Hornady lock rings (which I'm replacing all my die lock rings with).
 
Last edited:
I just picked up a set in .308 Win at a gun show for $20 and they appear to be new. I just loaded up some ammo with them today so here's hoping they're as good as people say!
 
Good micrometer seating dies are a thing of beauty. I had a chance to use a Meecham micrometer inline seating die... incredible. .001" click on the mic, equals .001" on the OAL.. every single time.

A good, RIGID press is key for these to work properly. I use a Lee Classic Cast.
 
+1 for the Forrester dies and Mystic - I just got one from him.

I literally felt like I've been wasting my time up until now fighting runout. This thing, you just slap it in and it makes them as straight as the brass you put them on. Beautiful.
 
ceriksson, they are a first-rate piece of kit. I didn't know that that they were cheaper than the Redding seater (both are equivalently good).

Another thing that you might find, is that a floating-bushing design seater die, made to precise tolerances (like the Forster and the Redding are) can greatly help you to make straight ammo (low bullet runout), which usually is quite helpful to accuracy. (FWIW the Hornady New Dimension dies are also a floating-bushing design, but the tolerances on the one that I have is so sloppy that it doesn't provide any benefit over a conventional hunting seater die).
 
I have the Forester Ultra Micrometer for my .338 Lapua and the RCBS Competition Micrometer set for my .308 win. In terms of making great ammo they are both very good. The only thing I like better about the RCBS is the window in the sleeve where you drop the bullet in as you are bringing the ram up, just makes for a bit quicker reloading.

Apparently the Redding bushing set are way to go, I will probably try them with another rifle I'm reloading for.

Ivo
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom