Indent ring on HP bullets during seating

[DIYguy]

I've been loading Berry's 147gr FP bullets for about two years now and do like those bullets. Started loading on my Hornady LnL but switched to XL 650 and LnL is in a box. Still using my match grade Hornady seater and crimper combo die. The Berry's are a plated bullet and pretty soft and I get an indented ring from the seating stem. Not a big deal, I live with it. I'm starting to switch over to Berry's 147gr HP bullets for my USPSA load. With the same setting on the press, just switching to the HP bullets I now get a really strong indent on the bullets. I'm thinking because the bullet has a slightly different shape to the ogive and is hollow the bullet is even softer than the solid bullets.

I'm now considering converting from the seat and crimp combo to a seat only and crimp only dies. I'm also using the Hornady bullet feeder and the Dillion powder check which means one of those have to go if I use two separate dies.

Will using the seat only, crimp separate dies eliminate the indent ring on the soft bullets? I'm leaning towards the Redding competition seater die and Redding taper crimp die, any opinions for or against the Redding?

[Joedirt199]

Helps to seat and crimp at separate stations. Doing it at the same time can crimp before the seating is done. Some harder brass will be tougher to seat and can cause those rings. If you have a wad cutter style seating stem you can use that for hollow points. It has a flat front instead of concave.

 

 

[dillon]

Flare your case mouth a bit more. For plated bullets, we suggest flaring cases to .020" larger than a sized, unflared case mouth measures. Separating seating and crimping is always a good idea.

[DIYguy]

Ordered the Redding Competition seating die with the micrometer plus the Redding Competition crimping die, also with micrometer. Received the dies and did the new set up process. Eliminated the powder check and moved the bullet feeder over a station. Good new is, after initial set-up and dummy load testing, the loads passed all the test (including plunk test) and no indent marks. Haven't run an actual batch yet, the wife and the ta-do list comes first.

Interesting point regarding case belling. Watched a YouTube video I found for setting up the Redding dies and part of the setup was checking the case flare. Stated to flare the case mouth just enough so the case would lightly scrape the seating die when inserted. If it doesn't scrape, not enough flare. Worked.

Eliminating the powder check:  I did do an experiment using an endoscope I have and fit that to the hole in station #3 used with the powder check. Linked the scope to my iPad Pro and tried to set up a monitor to watch the powder levels without having to pear around the press and into the casing to confirm powder. Worked but didn't work. I could get an aligned view of the cases as they progressed but the glare from the lights wouldn't let the camera focus. Have the Inline Fabrication Skylight setup and lights on are too bright, no lights are too dark, get a reflection off the shell plate. Haven't given up yet.