Bullet seating, seems easy but not working

[vito]

Now that I have the first few steps down in reloading I set up the Lee carbide die for seating the bullet on my Lee Classic Turret press. I followed the instructions of screwing the die down until it touched the shell holder, then turned it back up 3 full turns. Just to see how it would do I tried to seat some bullets in empty cases, but each time it pushed the bullet totally into the case, with the front of the bullet about 1/8th of an inch below the rim of the case. I can't see what I did wrong but this is obviously not right. Might I have overflared the case during the de-priming step? If so, I might have ruined all the cases that I have started with.

 

[45lcshooter]

Turn the screw on top of the die out of the die. For presses, turn the die until it touches the shell holder, then turn a little more to put tension on the ram. And good to go.

 

[floydster]

rc will be along any minute to tell you what to do

Smokeyloads

 

[NeuseRvrRat]

http://leeprecision.com/cgi-data/instruct/Pistol3.pdf

first of all, you don't seat bullets with a carbide die. make sure you're using the correct die. if you're sure you've got the seating die, you just need to adjust the seating stem up. it sounds like you adjusted the die body correctly, but a seating die has two adjustments.

in short, RTFM. from the link:

Raise the ram to the top of its stroke and hold. Screw the bullet seating die in until it touches the shell holder, then back it out three full turns. Lightly finger tighten the lock ring. Bullet depth is adjusted by screwing the adjusting screw in or out to suit.

emphasis added

 

[floydster]

Or Walkalong

Smokeyloads

 

[sellersm]

Turn the screw on top of the die to back out the seating portion of the die (it has two 'parts', the smaller screw part controls the seating depth). Take a factory round, place it in the press, raise the ram all the way up, and then screw down the outer screw until it just touches the bullet (you'll feel it give some resistance). You should now be close to a good seating depth and from here you make minor adjustments...

 

[floydster]

Sounds like you didn't back off the seating stem when you installed the die, read the instructions again.
My apologies to rc and Walk if I put you on the spot

Smokeyloads

 

[rcmodel]

My apologies to rc and Walk if I put you on the spot

Walkalong? Me?
Spot??

Well yes you did!

I used to like Walkalong, a lot.
And I think he liked me, a little?

We even agreed sometimes!

Now, we hate each other for sure because of what you said!!

SEE WHAT YOU DID!!

rc

 

[vito]

Thanks to all. I guess despite thinking I read the instructions I didn't even think about the screw on the top which I guess I had screwed all the way down. I will try and fix it tomorrow. I look forward to successfully loading one round!

 

[Jesse Heywood]

I love it. War between the old farts. Can I join?

 

[1SOW]

HEh! "Old Farts"?

I resemble that shot.
This segmented circle around the die represents .002" of bullet seat for each line the stem is rotated to.

 

[gamestalker]

The initial adjustment you made is the crimping range of the die. you need to screw the seating stem up high, located at the very top of the die. The way I adjust my seating die is I first place an empty case in the shell holder and run the ram all the way up. Then thread the seating die in until it just touches the mouth of the brass, you'll feel the resistance. Then adjust the die down about 1/4 turn, this will produce a starting crimp to which you can finish adjusting later as needed, after bullet seating depth has been established.
Then back out the seating stem as far as it can go. Then place a charged case in the shell holder and and place a bullet on top, run the ram up all the way again and thread the seating stem down, located on top of the die, until you feel it contact the bullet. Back the ram down and adjust the seating stem a full turn to get the bullet started into the case. Then continue adjusting and seating until you've achieved the seating depth desired. Now just continue making small adjustments as needed to seating depth and crimp as necessary.
GS

 

[Pulp]

I wonder if Vito is referring to the Factory Crimp Die? The instructions he referred to sound like instructions for the FCD, not the seating/crimp die.

 

[TheCracker]

Go to the lee website and carefully watch the setup videos they have for all of their dies. Copy cat it 100% and you will be fine. You should do this every time you set up a die until you have done it enough to be well versed.

 

[.22-5-40]

With seater stem backed out, I like to adjust seating die with a case in shellholder and ram all the way up. Threading die down until I can feel crimp ring contact case mouth..then back off die couple of turns. Since I use seperate crimp die, I don't have to change setting.

 

[Walkalong]

Yawn. Did I miss something?

Agh, I see everyone has vito on the right track.

 

[James2]

Simply put: The crimp is set by how far you screw the die into the press. The Overall length is set by the top screw. Of course if you change the die setting to change the crimp it will also affect your OAL, so it takes a little fiddling to get it all right. Have fun!

Click Here!

 

[jgh4445]

Also, once you have the die body set to the desired depth ( for crimping), you can place a loaded factory round in the press and with the seating screw BACKED OUT OF THE DIE, run the loaded round to the top of the stroke. Now, screw the seating plug back into the die body until you feel it stop on the bullet. Tighten. Now you have set the seating depth to approximate the factory bullet seating depth. Great place to start.