I purchased this die in 45ACP to use with my Dillon 650. To make a long story short, I'm having a lot of trouble adjusting it in. It either lightly seats the bullets in the case, or shoves the in too deep. Even small adjustments to the die body (not the micrometer) will change a barely started bullet to a deeply seated on. I'm using FMJ bullets. I have tried their instructions, but that leaves the die seated so deep in the machine that the lockring barely engages. But if I run the die up a quarter inch it will still push the bullet in to the same depth. I have tried incremental changes and it will go from lightly seated to way deep in an eighth of a turn of the die body. Any ideas what I'm doing wrong?
Does anyone use a Redding Competition Bullet Seating Die?
- Thread starter sar4937
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rewster
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I have 3 of these but all in rifle calibers. If they work the same, you have to set the die so that the shell holder just contacts the body of the die itself. That means you have to push up the inside collar (if you have an inside collar & they are the same). Then you run the micrometer out so that you don't contact the bullet the first time. Then work the dial down to the correct setting.
I use them for all of my 5.56, .308 and 30-06 loads even if there not match loads. I think they are great and bullet runout is negligible.
I use them for all of my 5.56, .308 and 30-06 loads even if there not match loads. I think they are great and bullet runout is negligible.
I have Redding competition seating dies for .357, .44, 45 ACP/AR, .45 Colt and .500 S&W. I really like them. The element that actually seats the bullet is spring loaded. It probably helps to have significant neck tension provided by the case as the bullet is seated. If the expander/powder funnel is a little too large for the wall thickness of the brass you are using, you may not get enough neck tension for proper bullet seating. Measure the expander and see if you need to polish it down a little to provide more neck tension.
OP
I was making the mistake of setting the overall length using empty cases. I ended up putting a completed cartridge in the shellplate and running the die body down until I felt resistance to set initial length. But when I seated a bullet in an empty case with this setting it would seat the bullet deep. I have sucessfully loaded twenty rounds for testing. It must be the spring loaded seat in the Redding die, the Dillon die will seat a bullet in an empty case.
