BJung
Member
I don't have a seating die with micrometer settings and had problems over seating bullets in the past. I would initially seat my bullet slightly, take a measurement, screw the seating stem down, seat, measure, and sometimes find a correct OAL. This last time, I seated my bullet slightly and continued doing the same process until I was coming close to the desired OAL. After my last measurement, I seated the cartridge into the shell holder and rose my case into the die. The pressure prevented the stem from moving. Then, lowering my case to remove the tension, I turned the stem down 1/4-1/2 turn at a time and then measured the OAL. If the bullet needed further seating, I repeated this new method of which I had much more control over the seating process. With the OAL determined, I unscrewed the seating stem, turned the die body until it touched the case and added a 1/8 turn for a slight crimp. Then, with the cartridge up, I lowered the stem to the the properly seated bullet and locked everything down. If anyone has a different method, please share.