Lead in seating die

[Mastiff37]

I noticed I'm getting a ring of lead deposit in my RCBS carbide reloading die. It cleaned out easily, but am I doing something wrong? I've only loaded about 250 rounds.

Possibly related, I often have the situation where the bullet itself is setting the headspace (I hope I'm using the term right) on my 45 acp. I drop the finished cartridge in the fit tester and I have to lightly force it in, reshaping the lead. After that it drops in easily.

These are SNS casting 200g RNFP.

[BigD_in_FL]

Do you have the proper seating plug in the seating die?

[Whisper 300]

Lead ? or wax with shavings mixed in?

I have found that when I reload my cast bullets that are "liberally" coated with lube, I get a waxy plug up on the seater of the seat die.
When I notice that bullet set is getting deeper I stop pull the die ad clean out the waxy s----.

If it is all lead you are shaving off some lead while seating and you need to flare the case mouth a bit more.

Gary

[serf 'rett]

I drop the finished cartridge in the fit tester and I have to lightly force it in, reshaping the lead. After that it drops in easily.

How do the rounds fit your barrel? 45ACP should headspace off the case mouth by design. While it is possible to do some interesting things with lead bullets and seating close to the lands, this is an area where experience is needed.

I do have to clean my seating die when I notice a build up of waxy lube and lead.

[jepp2]

I have to lightly force it in, reshaping the lead

Can you show a picture of how the lead is reshaped? It makes a difference if the lead is in contact with the lands, or the bullet is contacting the end of the chamber.

As others have mentioned, it is normal for material to accumulate in your seating die when loading lead.
-If it is mostly lead, you may not be flaring your case enough. How have you set your flare? Using a measurement to determine the amount of flare and closing the flare with a taper crimp die can eliminate problems.
-If it is mostly lube that is just part of loading lead and after 250 rounds it would be normal to clean it out.

Dillon seating dies actually use a plug so you can pull the bullet seating assembly without affecting the depth setting adjustment.

[Mastiff37]

Good question. Not sure if it's just waxy junk. It took minimal scrubbing to remove... Doing a slightly bigger bell may be appropriate. I was shaving the bullets a lot at first and opened it up quite a bit. The bullet is nearly at full depth just sitting in the bell, seems like the die is mostly just squeezing the case down around it.

[Mastiff37]

To be clear, I have a little device that I don't know what it's called, that I can drop the bullets in to check fit. It's just a piece of aluminum with an imitation chamber in it and I look for the case end to set flush. So when it "reshapes" the bullet, it's just squeezing it to a slightly smaller diameter.

Camera phone pic isn't the best. There's a little ridge in the lead that you can see. I think it forms during seating and occasionally catches before the case edge. Just pushing it into that tester with my thumb clears it up, but I'm guessing more bell is the correct answer.

[YARDDOG(1)]

It looks like a Wilson gauge,, I woul use your barrel of the gun your are shooting JMO ; ) PS Yes you could try belling more
Y/D

[steve4102]

Bullet is almost at full depth just sitting in the bell??

Something is defiantly wrong here!

[Mastiff37]

Blurry camera pic, but here's the bullet sitting in the bell prior to seating.

[Gster]

I don't load cast, (YET) but from the pic. I'd say there is way too much bell (flare) put in that case. Or is there something I don't know about loading cast bullets?

[Mastiff37]

That's what I thought too, but I kept adding more to avoid the crimp coming in and shaving the bullet. I was getting lead all down the case wall, and the lip of the case up under the bullet. People told me cast bullets require more bell...

[m&p45acp10+1]

As long as your seating die is removing enough of the flare without crunching cases you should be fine. I shoot mine oversized, so I have to flare more. As long as the brass does not hang up on the bottom of the seating die then I do not worry about it. In 5 years I can count how many cases spit on one hand. I tend to loose them long before they split.

[ocharry]

Just curious

Did you use a deburing tool on the mouth of your cases??

If you have a sharp edge there it will cut a ring off of the bullet,,,,,

Just for grins,,, take about 20 cases and debur the mouth of the case and set the expander plug to open the case enough to just let the bullet start into the mouth

Sometimes if the bullet isn't straight when you seat it will shave the edge of the bullet,, if you have a debured case mouth,,, and you should do that anyway the bullet willslip in and not be shaved....

Give it a try and let us know

My .02.....YMMV

ocharry

[Mastiff37]

I haven't been deburring, but I haven't trimmed the cases either. Where would the sharp edge come from otherwise?

[Jerry45]

Its really hard to tell from the picture but it appears you may be over crimping. That will add to shaving lead. I don't like seating and crimping at the same time (especially with lead bullets). What happens is you end up scraping a little lead right at the end of the seating/crimping action. I started loading lead .45 ACP yeas ago and have loaded many thousands. I use to get rings of lead in my crimping/seating die also, every couple of thousand rounds. I stopped crimping and seating with the same die. I started using a Lee Factory Crimp die in the last stage. Like them so much I have one for every caliber that requires crimping. No more lead in the seating die. You will still get a wax build up over time in the seating die but no more lead.