Bullet seating

[338 EDGE]

Hey guys has anyone been loading the berger vld bullets with a redding micrometer seater and having drama doing so. My seater does not like these bullets they are 130gn in 6.5 cal, is there a alternative seating stem to the the one supplied with the die. The bullet tips get damaged and they grab on the way out has anyone experienced this. Cheers Mick.

[johnk]

A warning first: Redding micrometer seaters have supremely tight tolerances & can be a real bugger with long projectiles, particularly when associated with tight necks and/or compressed loads. I split a .308 plunger which then buggered the bore of the alignment tube trying to get .210 Bergers over a serious load of N150. Fortunately, Redding took pity on me & replaced the parts. These days, I only use that die with short 155s over modest loads.

Getting on to your particular issue, I had the same problem with Forster's equivalent die loading Berger VLDs. I dropped the stem out, held it gently in soft leather jaws & drilled it out with a drill somewhat under half the stem diameter until the tip of the projectile cleared & the cup struck way down the ogive where it should have.

[Woody_rod]

I use my 308 Forster seater for my 260. The bullet does not touch the sides of the die at all, only the pusher bit at the top and the case in the false sliding chamber section. There is only very small runout - no different to would be in a die made for the purpose. This was not intentional, only that I had a 308 seater, so tried it to see what would happen. I fully expected to have the bullet top squashed as you said 338.

I can see how the longer bullet could stick in the die throat, if it were close tolerance.

Just one thought: could the bullets sticking be telling you something about the concentricity of the case neck vs, the case body? This would be one of those "red flashing light" moments for me.... sometimes while chambering a barrel, I notice small things like this....I immediately check all of the things that can be checked. More often than not, the chuck jaws have just relaxed a tiny bit and the barrel moves a few tenths out of center.

[M12LRPV]

The suitability of the seater stem was a concern for me when buying my forster (i'd read that reddings had problems with compressed loads so they were off the shopping list) so I straight up asked them if the seater stem in the die was fine for the projectiles I was using. They said yes and that has been true.

However I did experience some sticking. A light swipe around the sharp edge of the seater stem lip with some 1200 wet and dry stopped that. Don't know if you can do the same with the redding but it's worth mentioning.

[Chris S]

I too had trouble with Forster seaters when seating 6mm VLD's.
Hornady seaters have worked great for me as they offer seater
stems to suit their A-Max's in all their various calibres.
I've used their VLD stems for .22, 6mm & 30 cal. Bergers, Dyers,
A-Max's etc., all no problems with neglible run-out.

see ya, Chris

[IanP]

Hey guys has anyone been loading the berger vld bullets with a redding micrometer seater and having drama doing so. My seater does not like these bullets they are 130gn in 6.5 cal, is there a alternative seating stem to the the one supplied with the die. The bullet tips get damaged and they grab on the way out has anyone experienced this. Cheers Mick.

Yeah I had this problem too until I ordered the long Redding VLD seater stems from Sinclair Int. look here: http://www.sinclairintl.com/.aspx/cid=0 ... ater_stems

I also use Wilson Seater Dies and they require the alternative VLD seater stems as well. Hope this helps!

IanP

[338 EDGE]

Thanks heaps guys for your input. Ian what bullets were you using with the long redding vld seater, i want to load 130gn bergers for 6.5x47 lapua and 140gn bergers for 6.5-284. Regards Mick.

[IanP]

I was using the 130gr Berger VLDs with the long seater stems. I now use the 139gr Lapua Scenars in my 6.5x47L but I point them in a Whidden pointing die.

The 140gr VLD Bergers would be great bullets to use and those and the 130s definitely need the long VLD seater stem.

I now order the long seater stems for all my Redding and Wilson seater dies as most of the bullets I shoot including the 155gr 308W HBCs use VLD designs.

They cost approx $US14.00 so they are a good insurance policy to buy just in case the die set you get requires them.

IanP

[338 EDGE]

Thanks Ian, ive just ordered the long vld seater from Sinclair thanks for the info, i also recently ordered the whidden pointing system should be arriving shortly, i hope!. Regards Mick.

[Woody_rod]

I was using the 130gr Berger VLDs with the long seater stems. I now use the 139gr Lapua Scenars in my 6.5x47L but I point them in a Whidden pointing die.
IanP

They are already pointed from the factory, why do it twice?

[RAVEN]

Woody as all good FO shooters know improving meplat and ogive to point consistency will mean smaller groups at long range.
RB

[IanP]

I was using the 130gr Berger VLDs with the long seater stems. I now use the 139gr Lapua Scenars in my 6.5x47L but I point them in a Whidden pointing die.
IanP

They are already pointed from the factory, why do it twice?

If we count the maunufacturer's point as once, then I do it three times. I first point the bullet with the non VLD pointing die to close the meplats and then point the bullet (139gr Scenars) with the VLD pointing die to completely re-shape the point to a VLD type nose.

In effect I create a hybrid ogive by using a two step process. It works for me with both accuracy and BC being raised. How do I know the BC has been lifted? I have tested projectiles (pointed/unpointed) one after the other and recorded velocity and bullet drop. Bullet drop decreases by over 1 MOA and obviously windage would be better as well but not as easily measured.

Try it out Rod and you will never ask, "why do it twice?" again!


139gr Lapua Scenar Unpointed - Pointed - Pointed x 2

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

*** Note to 338 Edge***

Order both the standard and VLD die insert from Whidden and you may well end up pointing twice like I do. The Berger VLD projectiles only require the VLD pointing die and a one step process but you might like to experiment on others.

I use the #0 and #1 insert on the 139gr lapua scenars.
Insert Chart here: http://whiddengunworks.net/diechart_ass ... Chart5.pdf

IanP

[Woody_rod]

That looks pretty good mate. However, I will be spending what time I have reading conditions and building better scores that way. I doubt that 1MOA would do me much good.

If I want less elevation, I can just put more powder in my case

[johnk]

Ian,

If you just used Whidden's meplat tool betwoeen both pointing dies........

John

[IanP]

Ian,

If you just used Whidden's meplat tool betwoeen both pointing dies........

John

John, I dont meplat trim at all, thats why the meplats look a little all over the place. The diameter of meplats is greatly reduced by pointing and pointing even tidies up messy meplats but not perfectly. The photo shows 3 different projectiles, all had different meplats.

John Whidden makes a great pointing tool but I dont like his meplat trimmer. I use the Wilson Sinclair carbide case trimmer to trim meplats whenever I feel the need to do it (not often).

The meplat diameter reduction is the big gain and the nose shape change has been determined by John Whidden in consultation with Bryan Litz. Thats good enough for me!

IanP