Okay, so please help me on what I might be doing wrong.
I THINK I've maybe, possibly solved it, but I didn't have the time tonight or desire to load up even more ammo.
So I loaded 12 rounds of 125gr RNFMJ and 12 rounds of 158gr Missouri coated LSWC.
All worked fine. The 158gr all seemed to seat pretty consistently.
Fast forward to today. My seating depth was wildly off loading 50 rounds of 158gr coated LSWC. Like varying +.030" to -.02" or so. I'd get some at 1.455" which was my target, some at 1.475" some as short as 1.435" and everything in between. Generally seemed to be about 33% at the target, 33% at the long end and 33% at the short end. Not a lot a little longer or short if that makes sense.
In playing with it I realized I wasn't expanding the mouth enough. Adding a little more helped a tiny bit. I also realized I didn't have the seating die set properly. Too much crimp. Backed it off a little and consistency improved a little, but only a little. I managed to finally get them all within .010" on that batch of 50.
Loaded up another 25 tonight and the consistency again was a bit better, but I still ended up with 3 rounds long and 3 rounds short out of the 25, the other's were within .010" (nothing longer than 1.460" and nothing shorter than 1.450" except those 3 long and 3 short rounds). Not great consistency, but a lot better.
I took the die completely off, took it apart, put it back together, screwed it down and then having watched several videos I took the one person's advice and backed off the zip spindle a bit, and used the zip spindle it as the guide for one full revolution backing off the seating die rather than guessing what a full revolution was. Then locked it down and then adjusted the bullet seating stem to get the right depth. got the 3 "long" rounds seated right, then loaded 3 dummies backing the seating stem off a little and then to the correct depth before loading them (figuring the 3 long rounds had too much neck tension still).
I then knocked the 3 short rounds some with my bullet puller. Not enough to knock the bullet out, but enough to lengthen the COAL a fair amount. Popped each on back in to the press without adjusting the bullet seater die from where I had it set from the 3 dummies that set right at 1.455" and it set all 3 short (but now partially pulled) bullets right where they should be and the neck tension appears good (I can't shove the bullet in, and they ended up at 1.458", 1.456" and 1.457" I figure that's pretty good).
Thoughts? I know it helps to actually be there and watch the process. Its a Lyman T-mag turret press if that also helps any.
Was I probably just having the neck tension/crimp too tight and that was messing with the coated LSWC proper depth? Any other thoughts or things I can check? I will load up some more at some point, but with 75 rounds loaded and having spent like 6hrs reloading today (I was also figuring out how to work the Lyman powder dispenser rather than using scoops and a scale. I really like that Lyman powder dispenser! I weighed the first half dozen charges, a few in the middle and the last few and all were 3.4gr. Variation less than .1gr).
I THINK I've maybe, possibly solved it, but I didn't have the time tonight or desire to load up even more ammo.
So I loaded 12 rounds of 125gr RNFMJ and 12 rounds of 158gr Missouri coated LSWC.
All worked fine. The 158gr all seemed to seat pretty consistently.
Fast forward to today. My seating depth was wildly off loading 50 rounds of 158gr coated LSWC. Like varying +.030" to -.02" or so. I'd get some at 1.455" which was my target, some at 1.475" some as short as 1.435" and everything in between. Generally seemed to be about 33% at the target, 33% at the long end and 33% at the short end. Not a lot a little longer or short if that makes sense.
In playing with it I realized I wasn't expanding the mouth enough. Adding a little more helped a tiny bit. I also realized I didn't have the seating die set properly. Too much crimp. Backed it off a little and consistency improved a little, but only a little. I managed to finally get them all within .010" on that batch of 50.
Loaded up another 25 tonight and the consistency again was a bit better, but I still ended up with 3 rounds long and 3 rounds short out of the 25, the other's were within .010" (nothing longer than 1.460" and nothing shorter than 1.450" except those 3 long and 3 short rounds). Not great consistency, but a lot better.
I took the die completely off, took it apart, put it back together, screwed it down and then having watched several videos I took the one person's advice and backed off the zip spindle a bit, and used the zip spindle it as the guide for one full revolution backing off the seating die rather than guessing what a full revolution was. Then locked it down and then adjusted the bullet seating stem to get the right depth. got the 3 "long" rounds seated right, then loaded 3 dummies backing the seating stem off a little and then to the correct depth before loading them (figuring the 3 long rounds had too much neck tension still).
I then knocked the 3 short rounds some with my bullet puller. Not enough to knock the bullet out, but enough to lengthen the COAL a fair amount. Popped each on back in to the press without adjusting the bullet seater die from where I had it set from the 3 dummies that set right at 1.455" and it set all 3 short (but now partially pulled) bullets right where they should be and the neck tension appears good (I can't shove the bullet in, and they ended up at 1.458", 1.456" and 1.457" I figure that's pretty good).
Thoughts? I know it helps to actually be there and watch the process. Its a Lyman T-mag turret press if that also helps any.
Was I probably just having the neck tension/crimp too tight and that was messing with the coated LSWC proper depth? Any other thoughts or things I can check? I will load up some more at some point, but with 75 rounds loaded and having spent like 6hrs reloading today (I was also figuring out how to work the Lyman powder dispenser rather than using scoops and a scale. I really like that Lyman powder dispenser! I weighed the first half dozen charges, a few in the middle and the last few and all were 3.4gr. Variation less than .1gr).