Redding comp seating die inconsistent seating

[Oldhand]

I’m sure someone Has had this problem. I’m getting wide ranges of seating depth in this die from 1.06 to 1.36 everything set up correctly not sure what’s going on?  wanted to see if anyone had an idea.

[HOGRIDER]

4 minutes ago, Oldhand said:

I’m sure someone Has had this problem. I’m getting wide ranges of seating depth in this die from 1.06 to 1.36 everything set up correctly not sure what’s going on?  wanted to see if anyone had an idea.

OLD:

Just to make sure, did you follow the instructions for disassembling and cleaning/lubing the die before setup?  You probably did.....but just wanted to check...........

 

Next, remove the spring and reinstall exactly by the instructions.

 

Also, might help if you share your specific components..........

 

HTHs!

 

[B_Seehawer]

I’ve never been a fan of the heavy spring in the die.  I DO believe improperly sized, brass that isn’t rollsized brass, or just plain old brass that won’t hold tension anymore is to blame. 
 

I think the heavy spring contributes to inaccurate oal if your brass isn’t up to snuff. 

[HOGRIDER]

10 minutes ago, Oldhand said:

I’m sure someone Has had this problem. I’m getting wide ranges of seating depth in this die from 1.06 to 1.36 everything set up correctly not sure what’s going on?  wanted to see if anyone had an idea.

Old:

Recent thread that had a lot of discussion on the Redding Mic Seating Die:

 

https://forums.brianenos.com/topic/288207-lots-of-gauge-failures-with-redding-comp-seating-die-and-blue-bullets-147-rn/

 

 

[Oldhand]

Use a Mighty Armory sizing and decaping die, swage hold down die, Belling die (set to just let the bullet to get positive seat on bullet feeder, I have powder drop only drop powder does not bell, MBF dropper, then the Redding comp  seating die and Redding comp taper die.

 

Cleaned die , made sure that belled brass would not rub inside of die but still get positive sea t(bullet in brass) with die body only, backed off Mic to 1.5 then installed.  When I was setting up the final measurements one at a time no issue and got it where I want one I started to load it then started to set different lengths no matter how fast of slow I pull handle.. 

 

Running 124gr FMJ. set at 1.25.  I put the the old seating die in and no issues ran off a hundred or so.    

[Oldhand]

 Set up my Redding dies the same as in the Video from above.... 

[Oldhand]

[AHI]

Brass all the same head stamp?

Set length with cases in every station?

[Oldhand]

Just once fired range brass, so mixed head stamps and oal set with all stations full   

[HOGRIDER]

13 hours ago, Oldhand said:

Use a Mighty Armory sizing and decaping die, swage hold down die, Belling die (set to just let the bullet to get positive seat on bullet feeder, I have powder drop only drop powder does not bell, MBF dropper, then the Redding comp  seating die and Redding comp taper die.

 

Cleaned die , made sure that belled brass would not rub inside of die but still get positive sea t(bullet in brass) with die body only, backed off Mic to 1.5 then installed.  When I was setting up the final measurements one at a time no issue and got it where I want one I started to load it then started to set different lengths no matter how fast of slow I pull handle.. 

 

Running 124gr FMJ. set at 1.25.  I put the the old seating die in and no issues ran off a hundred or so. 

 

Quote

Running 124gr FMJ. set at 1.25.  I put the the old seating die in and no issues ran off a hundred or so. 

 

I think you were referring to an COAL of 1.125"..........

 

So, this states that you put in your old seating die and had no COAL issues?  What was the min/max on those rounds?  What type of die?

 

You stated above you were experiencing -0.19"/+0.11" which definitely seems excessive.

 

Edited September 7, 2020 by HOGRIDER
sp

[HOGRIDER]

13 hours ago, Oldhand said:

 Set up my Redding dies the same as in the Video from above.... 

Looks like your running a Mark7 press...............

 

Here's a copy of the Redding Instructions in case you need them........

 

Seat Die Instructions.pdf

[Oldhand]

With yes old die they vary +/-  .003. It’s my might armory seating die.   I’m due the difference is in the bullet length for this die.  Not so much the dis it’s self.  I was switching out this die to the Redding as it has the Delron  insert and I have deformed it when the bullet didn’t seat correctly while loading.      

[HOGRIDER]

3 minutes ago, Oldhand said:

With yes old die they vary +/-  .003. It’s my might armory seating die.   I’m due the difference is in the bullet length for this die.  Not so much the dis it’s self.  I was switching out this die to the Redding as it has the Delron  insert and I have deformed it when the bullet didn’t seat correctly while loading.      

IMO, the type of bullet your using should not matter to the Redding die!  I've used them in 9mm, 40S&W, and 45ACp, and they never cared what length or profile of bullet I was using as long as I initially set them up correctly.  That's the beauty of the Micrometer!

 

I'm sure if you call into Redding first thing tomorrow morning someone will work with you to rectify the issue.  May have to send the die back to the factory as it could be defective............

 

Good luck!

[Oldhand]

This Yes, have two Evo’s..  upgraded from 2 1050’s.  Love the Evo there’s super smooth and in the near future want to auto drive them, just wanted to work out the kinks on the new loaders first.    
 

just read last update, I need to turn off the auto check as it keeps changing the words.  

 

I pulled apart the die and cleaned it again, thinking of giving the stem a quick polish as it seems to stick in the die body. 

[Oldhand]

It’s a HUGE variance.  

[HOGRIDER]

27 minutes ago, Oldhand said:

This Yes, have two Evo’s..  upgraded from 2 1050’s.  Love the Evo there’s super smooth and in the near future want to auto drive them, just wanted to work out the kinks on the new loaders first.    
 

just read last update, I need to turn off the auto check as it keeps changing the words.  

 

I pulled apart the die and cleaned it again, thinking of giving the stem a quick polish as it seems to stick in the die body. 

From the Redding Instructions:

Quote

When cleaning becomes necessary' simply
wipe the parts with bore solvent and follow with a light application of quality gun
oil. Upon reassembly, check to be sure that the seat stem slides freely.

 

Remember, the seat stem is "precision ground" and needs to move freely!  I always give the inside of the die a light coating of oil prior to assembly.  Wipe any excess off the mouth of the die.  Keep the area of the stem that contacts the bullet clean and clear!

 

[Hooked]

I run the same micro bullet seater die without any issues. My suggestion (from experience) is to try a different sizing die.

[HOGRIDER]

On 9/7/2020 at 2:23 PM, Oldhand said:

It’s a HUGE variance.  

Old:

This may not be a large enough number of loaded rounds for a true representation............... but after running some rounds for a future ladder test, I decided to take the Starrett digital slide caliper and measure a group's COAL.  There were 45 rounds reloaded in this particular batch.  All Winchester once fired cases, Zero 147g JHP with base COAL set for 1.125".  For this entire group of rounds, the shortest COAL was a -0.0013".  On the positive side I measured a +0.0021" variance. 

 

Over 70% of this batch was within 0.001" of my target COAL. 

 

IMO, when EVERYTHING is working together, the Redding Micrometer Seating Die is capable of producing COALs that meet or exceed our strictest expectations.

 

 

[JKD]

Interesting. I’m having this exact same issue. I’m running the Redding Competition Seating die as well. But I was using a Lee 9mm carbide sizing/decapping die. I bought a Mighty Armory die to try out and as soon as I switched sizing/decapping dies, I started having all sorts of OAL inconsistencies.  I switched back to the Lee and the OALs are all consistent now. But I don’t know why the MA die would cause that issue?

[jtaylor996]

I’m having issues with this die for 40 recently. Was getting .012 variation over 10 rounds. I took it apart and cleaned it, when through the YouTube video to set it up by scratch again (adjusted belling too), and I’m still getting .008. Maybe I’ll try pulling the spring next. 
 

I sure wish forester made micrometer seat died for pistol. The one I have for 300blk is everything you could ever want. 

[Oldhand]

I added the Redding seating die in station 4 to hold brass that is. being primed and that seems to have helped by undersizing the brass a little more and the bullet is now seating at the correct OAL with +/- .002.   For 9mm I can live with that.  Thanks for all the advise especially Mike, you were right..

[jtaylor996]

So I did an experiment tonight. Ran another 10 dummies as is, got 0.011 variance. Took the spring out and got 0.006, which is acceptable. But I noticed that it was the shorter rounds missing from the springless batch. 
 

makes me wonder if the spring causes some additional seating to happen as the round is removed from the die. 
 

moving forward I’ll just keep the spring out. 

[Oldhand]

From the best I can tell the Mighty armory die does not undersize the brass enough and therefore does not have the proper neck tension when using a competition seating die due to the spring inside the die.  When I used a standard seat die (no spring) it made proper OAL but you could still push in the projectile in a few rounds and that can cause over pressure or failure to feed.  Since adding the Redding die just before the belling die everything is back to normal.  I still use the Mighty armory die as the decaping pin is the heftiest I've seen and is excellent.  In retrospect I should have just purchased his Universal decapping die and used the Redding die for sizing brass, could have saved a little money that away.  

[HesedTech]

On 10/23/2020 at 2:20 PM, Oldhand said:

From the best I can tell the Mighty armory die does not undersize the brass enough and therefore does not have the proper neck tension when using a competition seating die due to the spring inside the die.

 

True.

 

I purchased the MA die for 9 MM and unless I use .357 bullets it just doesn't work well. After trying a number of brands and wasting a bunch of money I went back to the Dillon for 9mm. Works perfectly and leaves the loaded cartridges with that "sexy" coke bottle or wasp shape with zero setback! 

 

Overall, and with very rare exception, the Dillon dies just work. It's like someone else already did all the experimentation for me.

 

BTW for bullet seating I fond the Comp Die worked okay but is way over priced. Nothing wrong with the Dillon seating die, but for the money the Hornady with their "micrometer" add on, holds the brass and aligns the bullet almost perfectly. And it cost a whole lot less than the fancy Comp I purchased.

Edited October 24, 2020 by HesedTech

[Oldhand]

I originally went with the MA to get rid of the coke bottle look, lol.  But now running the Redding and the belling die if looks damn close to factory ammo.  I’ll post a pic of the set up and made rounds.  I’ve gone to this set up for 40 and 223, I just use the MA for decapping and the initial under sizing.  It seems easier to do the under sizing twice and my evo has an easier/smoother pull when making rounds. 
 

I did wish this thread was done before and I could have saved some dollars along with the headaches