how to choose the correct seating die

in this week's video we're going to cover how to choose the correct seating die for your application stick around today we're going to go over all the different seating dies that are out there so you can be educated to find the one that's right for your application there are several styles that we're going to go over today everything from basic seating dies to micrometer dies taper crimp dies inline seating dies all the options on the table we're going to cover at some point in today's video make sure you stick around to the end to make sure you pick the one that's right for you before we go into all these dies in detail let's cover the four actual things that we could possibly be doing with our seating die the first obvious thing we're trying to do is seat the projectile to a consistent depth from round around seeing a projectile in the case is one thing but making sure that every single round is the same length is one of our basic goals the second thing we want to make sure when we're sitting our projectiles is not to actually damage the projectiles each one of these has a slightly different style of stem and we want to make sure that stem matches our projectile well so we don't do any damage to projectile during the seating process the third thing we're hoping these dies to do is keeping the projectile as well as the case as concentric as possible during the seating process to make sure we have the highest quality rounds possible and the fourth possibility that we're really hoping depending on their dye type is possibly crimping the dye most of these dyes on our table don't actually have a crimping function but at least one of them does and we're going to cover that in today's video when it comes to the seating dye generically they're all going to be roughly the same they're going to contain a dye body some sort of a stem and sort of sort of adjustment screw to change the distance from the stem to actually adjust our seating height some of our more basic dies might have something as simple as a thumb screw while some of our advanced dies are going to have micrometer capabilities like many other things when it comes to reloading you can spend as little or as much as you want to when it comes to seating dies but as we walk through them let's start off with a more basic dies looking at our dies today going from your right to left we're going to be going from the bottom to the top of our case list starting with one of our most basic dies this is a li which is basically include the die body itself a very basic seating stem as well as the adjustment screw that you can easily turn with your thumb it utilizes an o-ring to provide retention and keep it from moving overall it's a functional die the adjustment is relatively coarse and when it comes to seating stems i couldn't find a whole lot of projectiles that this fit very well but we're going to talk a little bit more about seating stems towards the end of the video essentially that's what's going to come in your lee die this is another very similar die this is the rcbs seating die the seating stem adjustment on this die is slightly different it has a nut lock ring and the threaded rod that goes through the die body to adjust your overall length overall very similar to the lead die one of the biggest differences for this particular die it says tc for taper crimp this die can be operated exactly like the lead die is not providing a crimp but this also has ability to screw it down just a little bit further and once you get your projectile seating depth set you can have this die crimp your case as well if you desire or back your seamson out and do your taper crimp in a separate step i'm always going to tell you to read your directions but it is a possibility when you have a taper crimp die to use a crimp or not i don't want you to think that it's mandatory the next step down our line is the hornady die as far as seating dies goes this is the standard die that comes with a horny custom die set instead of supporting the entire case during the seating process this collar goes over the neck of the case to help keep your projectile and neck aligned during the seating process there's actually a couple upgrades for this type of die and that's why i put it a slight class above the last two dies we've talked about the horny die is very similar to the other dies as far as the die body seating stem and adjuster are concerned except for the addition of the sliding collar one thing i think it's important is talking about the availability of custom dye stems depending on what die set you get either the custom grade or the match grade the custom grade i believe only comes with one different seating stem i believe that the match grade came with two sitting stems but in addition to that horny also sells other seating stems that you can purchase to extend your capability as far as having a good fit with your seating stem most of the manufacturers we talked about today are going to have some type of a custom seating stem service but one thing i'm going to have to hand to for hornady is having them available when you want them is a huge convenience and if you're utilizing a horny projectile you very well may have one that's custom for your application but assuming you can find them in amazon carries them very frequently not always the case but it is a possibility that bonus in addition to be able removing the standard stem and inserting micrometer seating stem into the top of the die making it convertible at a later date and for the price of only like 28 dollars i think is a huge benefit for the hornady die system and even if you're only starting with a custom die set it is a great upgrade path especially if you're using multiple projectiles being able to seek custom die lengths and adjusting very quick is a huge feature that i really like talking about the custom seating stems because i know it's going to be an issue when it comes to 6.5 cremore i was honestly very disappointed with the seating stem that comes with the lee die i've been criticized for it and i'll probably criticize for it again lee does offer custom seating stems i think for like eight dollars a piece which is a very reasonable price when i looked at them the wait time was four weeks last time they updated their website and if that's an option you'd like to go with that's fine overall they're a good value but of all the dies i tried in 6.5 creedmoor i know i was most disappointed with the lee but who knows maybe with that eight dollar sitting stem my entire opinion would have been changed and maybe someday i'll try it out of the other couple i looked in rcbs actually does say they have a custom seating stem but they recommend you call customer service to get a current quote available pricing and lead time so i can't provide you any insight on the cost or availability of custom seating stems for the rcbs hornet offers a similar service as well but they do have quite a few sitting stems that are available so they might just have one for your application very little waiting required hopefully in stock from amazon or your local reloader supply going down the line here the next die we're going to talk about is the forester bench rest die different companies support the cases to varying degrees during the seating process by default but this is one of my favorite features on our next die the forster bench rest die forrester bench rest dies actually have a custom sleeve that actually supports the entire case during the seating process it holds it very tight with very little slop and the projectile is actually well aligned during the seating process as well this allows for very little run out and this is not an upgrade feature this comes with the standard bench rest die like other dies the forster has a lock screw along with an adjustable seating stem for coarse adjustment obviously you might spend a little bit of time dialing it in but once it's dialed in it is locked in and the case support is very good and it's very easy to get good results with this die if you're buying a die set from forester you can usually get the set that comes with the full length size and die as well as the bench rest die for a price it's very very similar to just this micrometer seating die alone so if you can level out the micrometer die you can get the sizing die which is very good as well as the bench rest cedar as well other dies such as reading employ this same feature on their custom dies even forester standard seating die this is what comes standard very high quality i don't know how well it will pick up on camera but there is a reasonable amount of slop that does get smaller as the brass enters the die but keep in mind the seating process is going to start before that happens on the forester die the case is well aligned well before the seating process starts moving on to our next style of die we're going to talk about micrometer dies you're going to recognize this this is a hornady 6.5 creedmoor die just the one like the one we just looked at this one actually came with a micrometer adjustment on it it's actually what comes in the match grade set from hornady you can actually purchase the micrometer seating stem separately for somewhere in the ballpark of 28 dollars and add that to any of the horny custom dies it's a great add-on in my opinion especially for only 28 dollars and you can take this from die to die if you like you don't have to buy multiple micrometer dies you can buy one micrometer adjustment and use it on all your hornady dies just like the last one we looked at it has a custom sleeve so you only get the support around the neck of the case very little on the die body but overall i've been able to produce reasonable results with this die there are several other options when it comes to micrometer dies my personal favorite on the table is the forester other companies like redding's products are very similar to this during the seating process the case is very well supported in line and the obvious big difference is being able to dial in your length with the micrometer how this does vary slightly from other dies a lot of the other micrometer dies you see a full revolution might change your overall length by 50 000 the forester is actually only 25. so it's very easy to precisely dial the exact length you want and it's very repeatable it also has a coarse adjustment so you can have your zero setting wherever you like it with the lowest amount of aggravation and the best projectile fit that i've had out across all the other brands that i've tried this has been my absolute favorite forester does offer custom seating stems but in any of the calibers that i've reloaded for i haven't needed to get one it fits most of my projectiles very very well before we get to the last die that's on the table one thing that i think is probably worth mentioning frankfurt arsenal actually has come out with a universal seating die recently and it's a relatively inexpensive option when you consider all the capability that it has i haven't tried it out and if you're interested in something like that i'll put a link in the description down below along with any of the other products that youtube will allow me to link to but having just one set that works for so many calibers is a very interesting idea i don't know how well it works but it's certainly an interesting product the last type of seeing die before we cover all the pros and cons of all of our dies today is the wilson chamber type cedar this type of dive seems to be favored by various people in the shooting community and may be the most repeatable among all the types we've talked about today this particular model is the micrometer version there is a non-micrometer version of the same style of die that's a little bit less expensive but likely a little bit harder to dial in this chamber seeing style comes with a base the case and projectile are actually loaded from the bottom of the unit insert it into the case bottom and the seating stem which typically you don't need to remove and typically this type of die is used with an arbor press you're not going to be able to use this style of dye in a progressive press but speed isn't what this is really designed for consistency is exactly what the people are using this are looking for and something you might want to consider if ultimate consistency is what you're looking for this comes with a standard seating stem and there's also a vld seating stem available and to be honest i didn't look to see if there's a custom one i'm sure there's a video somewhere over the directions how to make custom seating stems if you really want to get to that level but this is a chamber seating style type that you're going to need some type of an arbor press to utilize and we're probably doing a little bit of work with it upcoming here on the channel from right to left the same as the bottom of the top leigh rcvs hornady forester horny again forester again and the wilson chamber style cedar which one should you pick well if you're using any type of a standard seating press the wilson chamber seater is going to be out again that's going to require some type of an arbor press all these options are probably going to work to some degree i'm going to put a card up for a video that you guys might want to check out so you can get an understanding to see how these seating stems work with different projectiles and what's really important generally speaking some of the standard seating stems don't work very well with high ballistic coefficient projectiles that might be a little pointier the last thing you want to be doing when you're seating your projectile is actually pushing on the tip of the projectile you want to be pushing on the sides and you want to have a long bearing surface if possible so you're not applying all that force to one spot and deforming the projectile no matter what seating die you choose you don't want to be deforming your projectiles during the seating process as far as the best luck i've had the forester dies for me have universally worked better overall i'm sure there's projectiles that don't work as well as others for but it was really hard to find a projectile that didn't fit reasonably well in the forester dies that i've tried good availability on lots of different options a horny is certainly good for that and a lot of times you can get those stems next day on amazon if you have that service available to you i don't know about you but waiting a month for a custom seating stem even if it is only eight dollars uh is something i try to avoid because i'm impatient but if you have more patience there's nothing wrong with that or if you'd like to make your own certainly an option cost is certainly a pro when you're looking at the horny option if you want to upgrade to a micrometer seating die out of all the dyes we talk about the horny die has the best upgrade path you have custom seating stems if you want lots of different seating stem options are typically available being able to add the micrometer functionality for only 28 dollars is just a huge feature next up the forester if you're spending a little bit more on your die set a lot of times i've been able to find the bench rest set that includes the full length die as well as the bench rest die for somewhere in the ballpark of ninety dollars now that's certainly not a cheap die set but the forrester die set is very high quality i've had really good luck with it in my opinion the alignment benefits you get with the forrester die are very hard to ignore and it can provide some very good results the horny micrometer die again it comes in the match grade set it's certainly an option but very similar and has the same features the other horny dive we've talked about our forester ultra micrometer cedar die same benefit to the alignment has the micron on there very easy to adjust very hard dye to beat very similar to the reading competition options as well as other manufacturers out there and unless you're using something like the chamber seeder i don't know how you would possibly get better alignment during your seating process lowest cost of the best upgrade path i'm honestly going to recommend the hornady nothing wrong with rcbs especially if you want to have something like get like a taper crimp die i didn't want to get too far into crimp but like if you get the ultimate die set from lee it's going to come with a factory crimp die so you can seat and crimp on a separate step if you're interested in crimping you don't have a taper crimp die the lee factory crimp die is a great option if you want to go that route if you're looking for the highest quality out of the box the bench rest cedar diet with its great alignment getting the full length size and die which is a very high quality die assuming they're in stock are a great value but if you're going to end up buying them separate you're going to be looking somewhere you know between 90 and 100 dollars for the micrometer seating stem i'm not going to say it is or isn't worth it that's going to depend on you and everybody's different but they work great i've been able to produce reasonable results with all these options overall your budget your upgrade path and the overall quality that you're looking to achieve is probably going to make your decisions for you before you make that decision you might want to check out this video here that shows the various seating stems and the projectiles just so you can get a good idea i think there's something like 20 projectiles we compare in the various seating stems to give you an idea of what you're going to be able to get out of the box if you're not interested in the sitting stem video i have another video i did where we compared all the sizing dies and all the options that are available and i'll link that in the description box below i really hope you enjoyed today's video like subscribe and all those fun things i hope to see you come back next week and until then stay safe in small groups

Channel: Bolt Action Reloading

Views: 37,362

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Id: n9bFsEtNYRA

Length: 14min 50sec (890 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 06 2020