Polymer Tips Being Damaged In Press

[lucozade]

i bought my 204 of richness on here
he has a SHED load of data and trial and error experience with it, am sure he would be happy to send you his data

[Paddy_SP]

i bought my 204 of richness on here
he has a SHED load of data and trial and error experience with it, am sure he would be happy to send you his data

The Good Man has already done so!

[tisme]

I've only just started loading a .204 and any load data would be most gratefully received if you could PM me it.

ATB

[SandyB]

I've an rcbs die set for my .223 the very first bullet I seated had a big gouge out of the side of the tip. This was because the seating tip (screwed threaded bar at the top) was seated too low. I had to raise this so it didn't pjoect below the aperture at the top inside the die, and the lower the die body.

Tell me if I'm wrong, but without the corrective measure a bullet marginally off centre, the tip will get trapped by the seating piece and the inside of the die body. Unscrew the top piece completely and have a look down the die body, this should help in understanding the problem, you'll be able to removed the trapped bit of plastic tip also. I'd read articles / threads about dremelling / polishing the part the seats the bullet, but I've found if correctly seated in the die and the due body lowered there is no need.

It would be good if it was this as its simple to sort. As posted, I bought mine new and thought they were someone's returns / second hand ones when I encountered this, thinking I'd have to return them.

[Paddy_SP]

I've an rcbs die set for my .223 the very first bullet I seated had a big gouge out of the side of the tip. This was because the seating tip (screwed threaded bar at the top) was seated too low. I had to raise this so it didn't pjoect below the aperture at the top inside the die, and the lower the die body.

Tell me if I'm wrong, but without the corrective measure a bullet marginally off centre, the tip will get trapped by the seating piece and the inside of the die body. Unscrew the top piece completely and have a look down the die body, this should help in understanding the problem, you'll be able to removed the trapped bit of plastic tip also. I'd read articles / threads about dremelling / polishing the part the seats the bullet, but I've found if correctly seated in the die and the due body lowered there is no need.

It would be good if it was this as its simple to sort. As posted, I bought mine new and thought they were someone's returns / second hand ones when I encountered this, thinking I'd have to return them.

Sadly, it's not this. The seating part of the RCBS die is a cone with a wider angle than the top of the bullet. Consequently, all the seating pressure goes directly into the tip which results in significant damage.

The Lee version is slightly better, but it still damages the tip if left unmodified. I've now machined mine out so that it seats on the copper in order to load up enough ammo to keep using the rifle until Tony's Redding die arrives.