Trouble shooting help

[jpgm]

I am using a Dillon 550B along with a Redding three die set in 9mm. When I go to seat the bullet, somehow it cants off to the side deforming the brass. It doesn't happen all the time. I adjusted the expanding die from 0010 - 0015 with no success. The brass length is all pret close in length. The whole package only has a couple of thousand rds through it. Any trouble shooting suggestions would be great.

jpgm

[eightmillimeter]

I am using a Dillon 550B along with a Redding three die set in 9mm. When I go to seat the bullet, somehow it cants off to the side deforming the brass. It doesn't happen all the time. I adjusted the expanding die from 0010 - 0015 with no success. The brass length is all pret close in length. The whole package only has a couple of thousand rds through it. Any trouble shooting suggestions would be great.

jpgm

How old are the dies? Even so, if they have been sitting in the stores inventory for a while before you bought them they may have the old seater stem in them. Call Redding. They will ask you the number on the seating stem. If you have the old style, they will send you the new one free of charge. I went through the same thing last summer with the exact same die set (purchased it about 5 years ago and never needed to use them until then). They upgraded the stem to straighten out the long nosed style 9mm bullets better a while back. If that's not your problem, most likely you just need a little more flaring of the case mouth before attempting seating.

[SlimMan]

I agree with the above.

You should have enough flare in the case that the bullet to be seated sits essentially vertically on the case mouth. If it "wobbles" on the case mouth, flare a little more. If the "deformed" rounds pass the plunk test, I wouldn't call it a major issue (i.e., you can still shoot it safely if your powder charge, OAL, and other load parameters are in a safe range).

[jpgm]

Thanks for the replies. My dies are twenty years old so I need to call about them. Maybe I'll try expanding the case a little more to see if that helps.

jpgm

[markm]

NOT enough info here to tell what the actual problem is.

If you're on the 550b are you belling the case mouths? If yes, then the next possible problem is that the seating die it rough/corroded where the bullet tip or ogive contact it.

Those surfaces should be slick enough to straighten out even a pretty poorly placed bullet in the case.

[eightmillimeter]

Thanks for the replies. My dies are twenty years old so I need to call about them. Maybe I'll try expanding the case a little more to see if that helps.

jpgm

http://i1366.photobucket.com/albums/r775/itwillis/IMG_20140620_124551_590_zps081b68dd.jpg (http://s1366.photobucket.com/user/itwillis/media/IMG_20140620_124551_590_zps081b68dd.jpg.html)

Here is the difference in the old and new seating stems in Redding 9mm die sets. The old is on the left, new on the right. The new design is much more accommodating (deeper and more radiused) to the common nose shapes of bullets used in 9mm and will seat them straight every time, even with minimal flaring of the case mouth. If you have the old style, you will continue to get erratic seating no matter what else you do.

Like I said before just call Redding if you have the old stem, they are well aware of the problem and will send you the new one for free.

Good luck.

[markm]

There you go. You had to get an Iowegian to square this away. Time for some post-civil war dies maybe. :sarcastic:

[eightmillimeter]

There you go. You had to get an Iowegian to square this away. Time for some post-civil war dies maybe. :sarcastic:

And there I was reading your other post in the shortage thread and getting ready to PM and offer you a 5 gallon bucket of 1x fired Winchester 5.56 brass...

[markm]

I've yet to have anyone take me up on my offer to relieve them of 5 gallons of brass at no cost to them. :confused: