Concentricity

[L Rivard]

I, am trying to wring out a .222 Rem and having a hard time getting loaded round concentricity down to an acceptable level. My cases coming out of the Full length resize die are OK at zero to two thou, but seated bullets run out up to .012". I have tried several standard seating dies, lapped in stems but no luck. I think I need a specialty seater, but don't know which one to buy. Any experience out there to share?

[RareBear]

Pull the plug out of the seater die and set a bullet in the business end to determine if the bullet nose touches first (bad news). The circumference of the seater plug should do the pushing on the bullet ogive.

[L Rivard]

Harold' your explanation of my measurement method is correct. I have tried both an RCBS and LEE seaters, and two different bullet shapes, a 40 grain Hornaday V-Max, and a Speer 52 gr HP. All attempts showed an unacceptable range. I then tried lapping the cavity of the seater stem with a bullet coated with lapping compound. Some improvement, but not enough. Do you think an RCBS competition seater would be worth a try?

[Daryl]

I get virtually straight loaded rounds in .222 using my Lyman press and Hornady dies. I prefer these - but make sure they are adjusted straight to the ram using a bushing between the shell holder and die to accomplish a straight die when setting the lock ring. Maybe that is all you have to do with your seating die.

[Chuck Miller]

Have you tried a Wilson chamber seater?

[Larry in VA]

Have you tried checking your neck thicknesses for uniformity? Although I doubt a .012 run-out would be caused neck thickness unless you had some really bad brass.
I have found that sometimes cures from this kind of thing comes from small incremental changes in the way I do things. All really good suggestions here so you may get an improvement by trying them all, one at a time of course.

[rick w.]

The Wilson hand neck sizing dies and seaters have been in the benchrest competition arena for a long time.

The sizer with the bushing top, does about a half of the neck unless you specify differently at purchase or touching. Some only use the dies by hand(hence the name) or some will use a small arbor press, boils down to choice.

When I used to shoot in those circles, the emphasis was on accuracy, usually with fairly low neck tension(in my day anyway). I have used the Wilson products in a lot of single shot rifles. I have no experience with using the Wilson products with a repeater, mainly the concept of neck tension application specifics(my opinion solely).

There are other dies out there that fall in to the hand die criteria, but so far my bench only has Wilson.

I think a lot of them in the right atmosphere.

I think a lot of the 222 as well..........

One would surmise from afar that 12 thousandths out of whack, might be the compound leverage of the press/dies getting to you somehow.

[Mike Casselton]

I set any new die up by first loosening the decapping or seating stem. The die lock ring is also set up not making contact with the press and the set screw loosened.

For the sizing die, screw it down about a nickle thickness from touching the shell holder. Lube a case and run it up into the die. Leave the ram up.
At this point, I turn the lock ring down and set the screw.
Once this is done, I lower the ram and screw the decapping stem down to the correct point. I then raise the ram and center the pin. Then it also gets locked in place.
The point behind this is to use the case to center the die.

The seating die gets the same treatment up to the stem.
If you have a known seating depth or a previously loaded cartridge set the stem to that depth. With a loaded cartridge run it into the die, then turn the stem down to it. Don't lock it just yet.
Take a properly sized case and a new bullet and run them into the die. Set the stem to the correct position and then lock it down.
Verify the stem is set correctly with another case and bullet.

You will need to move the sizing die again to get the correct amount of shoulder bump. Just repeat the steps for setting the body. The stem will be centered.

[L Rivard]

Thank you all for your help. As I mentioned in my first post, concentricity out of the sizing die is OK, zero to two thou. I think I see a small arbor press and Wilson seater in my future.

[georgeld]

You might try checking the seating stem itself with the
dial indicator just to make sure it is straight too. You can't
make straight products with crooked tooling I was told once.

Just a side note, and no I haven't listed them yet either.
I have a coffee can full of dial indicators if anyone needs
one or two. Plumb damn cheap too, a few are digital even.

I'm not a precision shooter so I don't mess with this stuff.
IF I get inch groups or better I'm tickled.
The proof of the pudding is the holes in the paper.
How's your groups??
I'd figure if your ammo is off center the holes will be all over the paper.
Not just off to one side or the other. For a test, take a dozen of those crooked loads and shoot 3 shot groups and compare them. Then you'll see right away whether this is all that necessary or not.

Let's see those four groups once you've got 'em fired.

Good luck.