Seating die seating bullets too deep

[mattwill00]

Hey all. I’m just beginning my path down the rabbit hole of reloading. I built up a tikka in 6.5x284 and starting loading up some rounds with retumbo, H4831sc, Lapua brass, and have been shooting through some Barnes 127 gr LRX’s and 140 gr VLD huntings. I’m using a RCBS gold metal seating die and I’m having some trouble with it. I can’t seem to seat the bullets shallow enough when I have the die on the shallowest setting, but I am screwing the die in to where is it basically touching the ram. Should I just be backing it further off the shell holder and tighten it there? Is there such thing as too far away from the shell holder? Just trying to get a little closer to the lands.

Also, should I consider getting a custom seater stem from rcbs? Or should I be looking at different dies?

Lastly, I put up some sub 0.5 MOA groups today. Pretty damn good feeling. I’m settling around 58.7 gr of retumbo, cci br2, and 140 vldh’s. Anyone have any idea on where to start for loading up LRX’s with retumbo?

 

[Ram94]

With groups like that, I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[ID_Matt]

I have the same die and load for the 6.5-284. I may have to look when I get home but I believe I screwed the top off of the die and moved it up somehow. I do remember having the same problem and being able to fix it. If not, you could back it off the shell holder a little bit. I think in the manual it should have something about adjusting the die like you are talking about.

As far as a custom seating die, most guys only need them if the bullet is too skinny of profile for the die and then the die seats off of the tip rather than the ogive. Seating off of the tip will cause inconsistent depths. I shoot the 156's out of mine and did have to get the custom seating die.

 

[mattwill00]

hey appreciate the info! There’s a weird spacer on the top of the micrometer portion that I guess can be removed. I was wondering about that myself.

Also I had a weird issue arise today. One of my rounds wouldn’t chamber. I brought it back and checked the datum to base and it’s the same as the other cases. Out of curiosity I kind of jammed it in there with the bolt and then cycled it out. There’s a pretty big scrape on the side of the bullet. Obviously it seems like the bullet was seated wayyyy off axis. Unfortunately I don’t have a concentricity gauge. Have you ran into this issue with this die? I’m resizing with a FL Redding bushing die and then using an expander mandrel. No neck turning. Thanks for the help!

 

[rayporter]

no need to touch the shell holder.

 

[Cahunter805]

Like Ray stated you don’t have to touch the shell holder. You can back it off a little and set your lock ring.
You can remove your seating stem and test how the VLD/LRX fit in it. If it’s contacting the nose before the Ogive you can drill out the stem so it’s not contacting the nose.

 

[ericwh]

My RCBS instructions suggest a 1/16" gap for seating die without crimping and 1/32" gap for crimping.

 

[Laelkhunter]

I adjust my seating die so that it does not crimp. Put a shell in the shell holder and raise the ram to the top of the stroke. Screw the seating die down into the press until it contacts the mouth of the case. Then unscrew it about a half turn. This should set your seating die so the mouth of the case will not crimp. Then screw the seating stem into the die a little at a time until you get the bullet at the correct depth.

 

[B23]

I'm not familiar with RCBS dies but these don't by chance have a hole in the top of the seating die like the Redding Comp seater die has where you can stick an allen wrench in and screw the stem up or down does it?