Hornady seating die question

nm.otter

WKR
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Feb 15, 2025
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Anyone here happen to know which profile seating stem the Hornady 6.5 CM Custom Grade die set (#546289) ships with?

They sell two seating stems individually (#397106 and #397130) that cover 130-147gr slugs -- just not sure which might be a duplicate and I need a few $ to make freight on a BF deal.
 
I don't have mine in front of me, but it came with two stems in the box. One was marked, the other unmarked. I can get the one P/N in a day or two if nobody else knows.

I did have to buy the 397130 stem for 143 ELD-X and 147 ELD-M separate. It also seems to fit my 140 Bergers the best. It's a necessary buy IMO.

Edit: I'm pretty sure the 397106 stem came with my set.
 
I'm not positive, but if it's anything like my 243 and 7-08 hornady die sets, the stem that's included is the "NON-VLD" one, ie 397106 which is for 130-140 grain bullets. 397130 seems to he the "VLD" version, since it is described as being for 143-147 grain bullets.
 
One other seating stem related trick to mention, regardless of brand. I don't remember where I learned this trick from, but I was having issues with my RCBS Matchmaster seating stem scoring the jacket on the ogive of 75 grain ELD-Ms when I started using it. I called RCBS and they said they have a service where they will profile the stem for a given bullet. IIRC they need a few pieces of the bullet, the stem, and maybe 25 bucks or so (whatever the price, I felt it was high, let alone shipping). They don't even offer a VLD version like Hornady does.

In my mind, between the price and this concept of them making it fit one particular ogive, I said, why can't I just polish it myself--so after a quick search (again don't remember the source) I found that you can use polishing compound or any other polish rubbed onto a bullet you wish to use, and just twist that thing in the stem like you're trying to start a fire. You have to be prepared to move polishing compound back onto the bearing point of the bullet often, and eventually remove it from the stem. I found Q tips with the cotton trimmed off and toothpicks worked well for this. You can probably even put a bullet in a drill chuck, but honestly the whole process didn't take more than 15 minutes, probably less.

Sure beats sending it out to RCBS. I've also seated 85 grain Barnes Matchburners since then, and no issue with scoring on those either. And if I ever find I have scoring issues with a different bullet, I can repeat the polishing process with that specific bullet.
 
Anyone here happen to know which profile seating stem the Hornady 6.5 CM Custom Grade die set (#546289) ships with?

They sell two seating stems individually (#397106 and #397130) that cover 130-147gr slugs -- just not sure which might be a duplicate and I need a few $ to make freight on a BF deal.

Mine have had a VLD stem and a Non VLD stem included. If you do a large amount of reloading pick up another VLD stem. They are pretty thin at the tip and I have had them flare out and start causing problems during seating.
 
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