300WM not seating bullets tightly

[Bachto]

I haven't had this problem before as a hobbyist reloader. I was reloading a bunch of rounds at my buddies house who is a comp shooter and reloads way more than me. We ran into this issue. A lot of my once or twice fired brass wasn't seating tightly even when using a bushing die that was the recommended size. My buddy thought it was because we had to seat the bullets for my Tikka so far down to get them to fit in the stock mag. By brand new brass doesn't seem to have this issue.

Anybody else had this issue? Do we just need to go even smaller on the bushing next time? or should I switch bullets? We had the pressure gauge to show how much pressure it took to seat and it was within what he said was normal. (30 to 50 pounds of pressure if I remember correctly) But a handful of my bullets I could push down with my finger with not much force.

Norma Brass
Berger VLD hunter 168 grain

I can't remember the size of bushing we used I remember we took measurements and sized down the bushing I think .002 of an inch. This might not be quite right but something like that.

 

[Harvey_NW]

As long as the neck portion is contacting the bearing surface you probably just need a smaller bushing. The bushing numbers don't correlate directly with actual dimension either, so If you ordered a bushing .002" under loaded round neck diameter it may not even be sizing the neck at all, and there's some springback even if it is. Also certain bushings (SAC) are tapered and don't apply equal force to the whole neck. It's kind of a trial and error thing really. I try to avoid bushing dies if possible, traditional FL dies have always worked fine for me and been less hassle.

 

[Axlrod]

Measure the case neck before and after seating a bullet. You want the difference to be .002"-.005"

 

[wapitibob]

Had that issue when I annealed with a torch and went too long one time. Other than that, never. I use a .005 under sac bushing for .004 neck tension.

 

[Kernalbragg]

Measure the case neck before and after seating a bullet. You want the difference to be .002"-.005"

You want it to be larger after you seat the bullet so it’s snuggly held into the casing, correct?

 

[Axlrod]

You want it to be larger after you seat the bullet so it’s snuggly held into the casing, correct?

Yes, and don't be afraid of .005"/.006", I have had very good results there with quite a few cartridges.

 

[rayporter]

this is one reason we reloaders end up with whole series of bushings.

dont try to just buy one and hope is fits.

you dont by chance have an expander in the die?