Seating Bullet Deformation

[blackfoot]

Never had a problem with any cartridge until the Grendel. When I seated bullet with the original seater stem in my Wilson seater, it would leave a distinct ring cut into the bullet. Called Wilson and they said to replace it with a VLD seater stem so I did. Now the Scenars actually get dented when I seat them over 27.9 grains of 8208, which is slightly compressed even after trickling it though a drop tube. Are the Scenars just softer than most bullets? Would like to use the load and the bullet, but I can't have them being deformed upon seating.

[txgunner00]

I've had that issue with several other calibers in the past when doing compressed loads. Usually a proper seating stem helps. There was a thread on here about vibrating the cases before seating your bullet to settle the powder. Can't seem to find it but you may give it a try.

[stokesrj]

The reason Sceenars and other similar designed bullets will deform is because they are a hollow jacket at the point the stem contacts the nose, there is no lead core to support it internally because the led core is shorter, it doesn't fill that far forward.

Since you have two stems, you can bed one of them with epoxy to fit the bullet perfectly. Just coat a bullet with wax, mix the epoxy, fill the stem with the epoxy and then just sit it on top of a bullet. Be careful that the stem is aligned with the bullet properly and after the epoxy has partially set you can remove the excess.

Are you sure you don't have to much neck tension, or insufficient bevel of the case mouth? I load 28.5 grains behind the 123 A-Max and get no deformation.


Bob

[blackfoot]

Do I dare use the seater body to align the bullet properly? Might epoxy the seater stem to the body.

[stokesrj]

If your careful you can do it that way, just use a fully loaded round and wipe off any excess epoxy before inserting it into the die body and let it cure only partially. I usually mix the epoxy on a paper plate and watch the remaining epoxy to tell me how firm the epoxy in the seating stem is getting.
Bob

[txgunner00]

Nice trick with the epoxy.

[blackfoot]

The reason Sceenars and other similar designed bullets will deform is because they are a hollow jacket at the point the stem contacts the nose, there is no lead core to support it internally because the led core is shorter, it doesn't fill that far forward.

Since you have two stems, you can bed one of them with epoxy to fit the bullet perfectly. Just coat a bullet with wax, mix the epoxy, fill the stem with the epoxy and then just sit it on top of a bullet. Be careful that the stem is aligned with the bullet properly and after the epoxy has partially set you can remove the excess.

Are you sure you don't have to much neck tension, or insufficient bevel of the case mouth? I load 28.5 grains behind the 123 A-Max and get no deformation.


Bob

Gave it a little more chamfer and used some dry neck lube (which I've had lying around for years and never use) and they seated just fine!! Thanks for the heads up, I get tunnel vision sometimes.

[Hoot]

...snip...There was a thread on here about vibrating the cases before seating your bullet to settle the powder. Can't seem to find it but you may give it a try.

http://www.65grendel.com/forum/showthread.php?2360-More-counsel-and-wisdom-please&p=25032&viewfull=1#post25032

Just used it yesterday to settle powder with some Barnes TTSX. Since I wrote that, I switched from an eraser to a piece of HDPE over the tip. It transfers the higher frequencies more efficiently.
Continuous Process Improvement.

Hoot

[Dacapster]

I started Annealing the cases after 3 firings and there is almost no marks on the tips. They seat with less effort.