Best bullet seating method?

T

twentytwoguy

Guest
As pertaining to long-range shooting there has been some discussion lately about bullets being seated concentric to the cartridge which in turn helps them start heading down the barrel straighter for best accuracy.
To this aspect of reloading it would seem that the method of seating the bullet would be critical and I am curious as to what others think about using specific dies, presses and methods.
Using a Wilson micrometer seating die with an arbor press and holding the die by hand would appear to be crude but many shooters do it. Does the die completely align the case and bullet regardless of the slop involved in that method?
And with a traditional press and fixed die could the alignment be less than ideal but not noticed as it is difficult to measure if the die is true to the shell holder?
 
If you feel that a misalignment problem exists with the die and shell
holder, Try a shell holder one size larger. For example, a 308 shell
holder will work in a press to seat PPC'S and a 6.5 X 55 will work
for 308. these can be tried for slightly more clearance in seating only.
For $4.95 you can prove the alignment/ press thing for yourself.
 
twentytwoguy said:
As pertaining to long-range shooting there has been some discussion lately about bullets being seated concentric to the cartridge which in turn helps them start heading down the barrel straighter for best accuracy.
To this aspect of reloading it would seem that the method of seating the bullet would be critical and I am curious as to what others think about using specific dies, presses and methods.
Using a Wilson micrometer seating die with an arbor press and holding the die by hand would appear to be crude but many shooters do it. Does the die completely align the case and bullet regardless of the slop involved in that method?
And with a traditional press and fixed die could the alignment be less than ideal but not noticed as it is difficult to measure if the die is true to the shell holder?
Click to expand...

The Wilson hand dies in an arbour press are about the most accurate way to do it because they remove any chance of press misalignment that can happen with 7/8 x 14 type presses .
The threads can be out . The ram can be out.
The shell holders out etc.
With the Wison inline system it may look crude but infact is a very accurate way to load precision ammo.
There are better quality accurised 7/8 x 14 presses and dies available than the standard off the shelf stuff that improves the situation.
Depending on what you are loading for you could get a quality bullet seater like a Redding Comp. and a bullet runout concentricity gauge.
Thern you test your seated bullets for run out. This also tests your press and die combination. If you get low acceptable runouts then it may be all good.
If not you have to start improving things even more until you get low runout.
With the Wilson dies there is nothing much to cause missalignment so it is more potentially accurate from the get go .
It is also light and compact for range use which is a major factor in it's design.
However it is only available in certain cartridges and for some reloaders we have to use other systems that take more mucking about with .
However Wilsons list of cartridges is quite extensive .
 
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Twenty

In my experience, you can trace much of the loaded round runnout back to the sizing operation. If a case comes out of a sizing die in less than an absolute straight condition, no bullet seater will straighten it up..........jackie
 
agree with jackie here. wilson is the way to go so you can have less crap to carry to the range to tune seating depth, but wont fix runout. it also should not cause runout, very good tool.
tom
 
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jackie schmidt said:
In my experience, you can trace much of the loaded round runnout back to the sizing operation. If a case comes out of a sizing die in less than an absolute straight condition, no bullet seater will straighten it up..........jackie
Click to expand...

Yup!

Dat's truth...

:)
 
Bullet seating

Yes, agree, the Wilson chamber seater dies used with an arbor press are very good. But, I also use the Forster Ultra Micrometer Benchrest Seater dies, with an older Rockchucker press, check runout using 2 different gauges, and cannot find any difference or advantage in either seating method. Both produce loaded ammo with minimal R/O, and when I do get unacceptable R/O, it's usually caused by a defective case, even Lapua on rare occassions.
 
If you want the best of both use a Wilson type inline seater and seat the bullets a little long and finish seating the bullet to your desired OAL with a Forster Ultra seater in a 7/8" press. The Wilson type inline die can't be beat as far as concentricy but doesn't seat to the same OAL as well as a Forester Ultra seater (in my experience) but using the Ultra seater as the last step you ensure that you get good concentricy with the Wilson seater by doing most of the job seating the bullet and the Ultra Seater will ensure the same OAL. This goes against my K.I.S.S. method of reloading match ammo but it works.

Rodney
 
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jackie schmidt said:
In my experience, you can trace much of the loaded round runnout back to the sizing operation. If a case comes out of a sizing die in less than an absolute straight condition, no bullet seater will straighten it up..........jackie
Click to expand...

The sizing die goes in the press also.
 
A seating die cannot straighten what a sizing die does to a case, but it can make a loaded round more crooked than it would have been had a better seater been used. I have determined this by actual test. One of the best seaters available is a custom arbor press die that has a chamber cut with the same reamer as the rifle being loaded for.
 
Why wouldnt a wilson seat die seat to the same lenght everytime? As far as i can tell mine do! I am pretty new to all this so maybe i can learn something here. Thanks Lee
 
The Wilson seater will do just as accurate job as any other die so the negative comment is not valid in my view.
 
My Wilson's seat to the correct depth.
Most are also chambered Wilson blanks, with micrometer tops. But not all.
I just don't see how bullets could be seated better than with Wilsons.

I also completely agree about the majority source of runout coming from sizing.
 
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