[GeronPG]

Hey, a friend of mine was loading Barnes 130's or 150's in .308, and the bullets were sticking in the seater die when seating. He cleaned it, still doing it. Cases were sized correctly. It's as if the profile of the bullet seater perfectly matches the profile (ogive?) of the bullet so the bullet sticks to the inside of seater stem, and the bullet is withdrawn when the ram is lowered. It seems like he needs a way for the bullet profile not to match so perfectly, yet still be aligned/centered. Anybody else had this problem? What's a smart fix? Wax or a little case lube inside the seater? Graphite? Or perfectly dry? I was thinking of trading out the seater stems with something else that's very similar, but slightly different.

 

[Doom]

First step is to clean the inside of the seating stem and see if that works. Next step would be to take a bullet, coat it with Flitz and polish the inside of the stem.

 

[shooter444]

Doom

Yup. I would try polishing the seater with FLITZ and a chamber mop to fit, on the end of a hand drill.

If that fails, I would NOT try any lube, wet or dry, just seems that would could cause problems down the line.

YES! Your idea of a different profile would be my next step,... but, just make sure you get a nice fit, without any wobble.

jmo.

 

[unclenick]

My first guess is the seating stem is narrowly tapered for VLD bullets and that the solids are wedging into that narrow taper. But it may also just be very rough inside, in which case polishing or, better yet, lapping will clear it. For them to stick hard enough to actually pull a bullet (40-70 lbs force) would take more than a vacuum-tight profile match.

Have him paint a couple of bullets with a Magic Marker and stick one and remove it to see where the interference fit is occurring. Also, it might not hurt to clean the stem out with solvent to be sure no stick buildup is in it.

Of course, the above assumes he is getting enough interference fit between the bullet and the case to hold onto the bullet properly. Have him measure a case neck all around and then seat one of these bullets and measure it again. Normally the difference would be about 0.0015" more diameter with a bullet in place. However, if the bullet is one of the designs with its surface in bands to reduce starting pressure, it might need twice that to get a good hold.