Seating die deforming WC

[Al W.]

Morning folks,
I've had a little HBWC thread going here at the Reloading forum and have gotten a bunch of good advise to improve my loading for 38sp.
A little wrinkle I've noticed has to do with the seating die on my Dillon 550 .
I notice that the die which is reversible for Semi WC or Round nose , slightly deforms the top of the bullet as it is seated.
Anyone else find this to be annoying enough to want to find a way to stop it ?
It isn't an issue with the harder swaged projectiles but the softer bullets , such as the Zero brand which are the best shooters for me are soft enough that the die sort of smears a new circle into the bullet top. It varies from projectile to projectile and I would guess that it has some effect (possibly slight?) on the flight of the bullet.
The only possible solution I can think of is grinding another profile into the die.
Any of you folks given that a try or thought about this ?
Dillon sells the reversible die for under 30 bucks so its not like replacing it is a life changing problem .
Might be worth a try.

 

[Rosco Shooter]

You might want to try the Uniquetek seating die replacement insert. I use it to seat SWCs on my 550, and it might also work for wadcutters as well.

 

[Al W.]

You might want to try the Uniquetek seating die replacement insert. I use it to seat SWCs on my 550, and it might also work for wadcutters as well.

I searched for it , only found target stands. Where did you find it ?

 

[Krogen]

An age-old method is to fill the cup in the seating stem with epoxy and use a bullet to shape the epoxy while it cures. Be sure to use a release agent on the bullet or you might glue the two together.

 

[P.44]

...Google found this
Bullet Seat Stem

P.44

 

[SMSgt]

It's cosmetic. Don't worry about it. If you were shooting them for competition on the 1000-yard range, it might be a concern.

 

[scattershot]

Here ya go....

Bullet Seat Stem

 

[stu1ritter]

Don't know about Dillon dies but on my RCBS dies I just ground the seating stem flat.

Stu

 

[Pisgah]

An age-old method is to fill the cup in the seating stem with epoxy and use a bullet to shape the epoxy while it cures. Be sure to use a release agent on the bullet or you might glue the two together.

An equally effective but temporary and easily-reversible method it to insert a small ball of aluminum foil. The first bullet you seat will mold the foil to the bullet nose, and subsequent bullets will not be deformed. If you switch to another bullet style, just pick the foil back out of the die.

 

[gwpercle]

I custom fit a RN seating stem to seat WC bullets with epoxy putty.
1.) Degrease the seating stem cup
2.) Lightly Grease the wadcutter nose , the epoxy needs to stick into the stem but not stick to the bullet...the grease is the release agent.
3.) Mix epoxy putty and roll a small ball , pea size, and place into the seating stem.
4.) Gently start to seat a bullet that is straight in the case , a loaded round can be used , seat with just enough force so the epoxy takes the shape of the wadcutter nose. It doesn't take much pressure .
5.) Let epoxy cure . Remove bullet and trim up any excess epoxy.
6.) If something is wrong (crooked bullet) remove the stem and the epoxy and do it again.

Epoxy putty is easier to use because it doesn't run like liquid ....you don't want epoxy dripping down into places in you press.
I made my first one about 25 years ago and still use it .

You can also fill the seating stem cup and sand the cured epoxy flat !
With a flat seating stem you can seat any bullet with a flat spot on the nose WC, SWC, TC, RF ...all of them . Truth is the flat stem will also seat round nose bullets too .

So many moulds have a nose that don't exactly fit any stem you can buy, the epoxy putty will let make any custom stem you want.

Gary

 

[Al W.]

Thanks !

Thanks for the help !

 

[Nevada Ed]

You might also try;

1. Backing off one turn on your sizing die.
2. Adding 1/4 turn on your belling die.
3. Slowing down the speed at which you seat the bullet.

Try a few loads to see if bullet damage is less?

 

[Maddog 521]

I just had the same problem while loading some .357 mag. Here's what I think my problem was.
I assumed the dies were all set from my last time I reloaded.
I adjusted the die to bell out the case a little more.
I adjusted the seater die down to get more crimp.
None of that helped. I finally fixed my problem by----------
Resetting all 3 dies as per the instruction sheet
Less belling and less crimp. Tested about 6 and all looked good. That seemed to fix my problem. Good luck

 

[rockquarry]

You can make this a lot of work and still wind up with a less-than-perfect homemade solution or you can buy the proper seating stem. These are very inexpensive.

 

[Al W.]

You can make this a lot of work and still wind up with a less-than-perfect homemade solution or you can buy the proper seating stem. These are very inexpensive.

I like the way you think.
Thats exactly what I did, UniqueTek has lots of loading product.
So rather than modify the seating die, I have a die expressly for WC and SWC.
Makes sense to me !

 

[Al W.]

I just had the same problem while loading some .357 mag. Here's what I think my problem was.
I assumed the dies were all set from my last time I reloaded.
I adjusted the die to bell out the case a little more.
I adjusted the seater die down to get more crimp.
None of that helped. I finally fixed my problem by----------
Resetting all 3 dies as per the instruction sheet
Less belling and less crimp. Tested about 6 and all looked good. That seemed to fix my problem. Good luck

Yes good Idea, I went that rout first and found that I still had deformation. This lead is pretty soft stuff.
I bought a new die. That should sort it out.

 

[Al W.]

You might also try;

1. Backing off one turn on your sizing die.
2. Adding 1/4 turn on your belling die.
3. Slowing down the speed at which you seat the bullet.

Try a few loads to see if bullet damage is less?

Good ideas. I tried that . No dice.

 

[Al W.]

Don't know about Dillon dies but on my RCBS dies I just ground the seating stem flat.

Stu

The thought had occurred to me , but I sometimes load round nose 38.sp for plinking . So I just bought a WC die.

 

[Rosco Shooter]

Seating Dire

I searched for it , only found target stands. Where did you find it ?

Try this web address

Bullet Seat Stem

 

[Nevada Ed]

The straight wall 38 special is a pretty easy case to load.

My early problems started with an expander that was not the correct diameter.
Fixing that .......... solved all my 38 special die,problems.

Now the tapered 9mm case is a whole different wild animal !!

Good luck with your future loads.