After having payed VERY close attention to everything stage of our process, we are ready to put a "pill in the poke" or seat a bullet.
If we are using a single-stage press, we are gonna have to install and set our seating die up.
Getting started, we want to take the sizing die out of the press and place it in the box. With the seating die in hand, we are gonna clean it as we did with the sizing die I outlined in the sizing section.
With the seating die in hand, it looks similar to the sizer. However, we notice there isn't a pin sticking outta the bottom of this one. There's a stem on the top similar to the sizer though, this is where we adjust our bullet seating depth. Wipe it down as you did with the sizer, both inside and out. As you do this, back the seating stem out counter-clockwise. This will bring the stem to it's highest point inside the seater.
Seating Die Set-Up-
NOTE- I usually set my seating die up prior to charging my brass
To set our seating die up, place a piece of your brass in the shell holder and bring the handle COMPLETELY down. When the ram reaches the top of it's stroke, simply let go of the handle. We need the ram at the top of the stroke to set up our seating die.
With the ram up (handle down), you should be able to see the neck of the brass protruding up into the body of the press. Take the seating die and carefully screw it into the press, keep going until it stops against the mouth of the case neck. We do this GENTLY as we don't want to mess up our newly sized brass.
On some loads, you may wish to crimp the bullet and we'd set it up during this time. I , however, don't crimp any of my loads and chose to omit that step. If you wish to crimp, follow the die manufacturers guidelines on crimping as it varies between die makers.
Now that our seating die has "bumped" the case neck, as a rule of thumb, back off the seating die a full half-turn. Pull the handle up a tad, we shouldn't feel any resistance as we do with the sizing die. If you do, back the die off another 1/4 turn and try moving the handle back up. The reason we DO NOT want any resistance here is because it means the mouth of the cartridge is bumping the seating die. If we force it, it will jam the cartridge in the seater and flare the shoulder of the cartridge, this is a BAD thing as it ruins the brass. This is where our trimming earlier pays off. If all our brass is trimmed the same length, we know our die set-up will be good for ALL of our brass.
Now that we have our seater adjusted, lock her down. As with the sizing die, hold the seater in place and snug down the locking ring. Again, just snug her down and snug the set screw on the locking ring. This'll make it loads easier later on if we are using a single-stage press.
Bullet Seating-
We are ready to set up for our seating deprth. Again, double check your data for your cartridge OAL (Overall Length). OAL is the Overall Length of the cartridge with the bullet SEATED into the brass. This is crucial, if we seat the bullet out too long, it can cause a multitude of problems.
Seated too long, we can jam the bullet into the lands (where the rifling starts in the barrel). This can and will create higher chamber pressures, possibly to catostrophic levels if we are running near or at Max load density. Not to mention jam an auto-loader "out of battery", leaving the rifle with a jammed round in the chamber.
Seated too short, we reduce the case capacity of the cartridge. If we are near or at Max load density, it will increase chember pressures as well as compress our powder charge in the case. Again, this can lead to catostrophic results. Pay close attention to the OAL listed in the data.
With our seater die set up, take your charged brass and place a bullet in the mouth of the case. Holding both, slide it into the shell holder......
With our seating stem still backed out, gently pull the handle down while holding the bullet and case mouth together. As it the bullet enteres the seating die, you can turn loose and bring the handle all the way down. We can turn loose of the handle now and prepare to adust the stem for our seating depth.
Adjusting for Seating Depth-
With our handle down and our brass and bullet up in the seating die, we are going to gently screw the seating stem in until we feel it stop. This means we are touching the bullet, raise the handle a tad and give it another 1/4-1/2 turn in on the seating stem. Bring the handle back down and you'll feel a bit of resistance, this is the bullet being seated into the case mouth. Bring the handle back up and slide the cartridge out of the shell holder.
With the cartridge in your hand, visually inspect the cartridge and make sure the bullet is going in straight and even. We aren't done yet, but getting closer. The round will look funny as the bullet is seated WAY long at this point. Take your caliper and measure the round and check the OAL, we should be quite a bit off our length at this point.
Now, we are going to screw the seating stem in small increments from here on out. Give the stem a half-turn in, place the cartridge back in the shell holder and cycle your press. Remove the round and measure your OAL again. We will repeat these steps until we get REALLY close to our target OAL.......
You'll keep bumping the seating stem in until you get close to target length in smaller increments. It may take several cycles to achieve your target OAL, so be it, patience pays off here. Go slow and take your time, we aren't in any hurry here.
For my loads, I am loading a 77gr Sierra MatchKing, my target OAL is 2.260". Once we reach our target OAL, we need to snug the locking ring/collar down on our seating stem. Hold the stem and snug the nut/collar down, by holding the stem in place, we assure that our adjustments don't move and will be locked in with the locking nut/collar.
Now that we have our first round seated to our OAL and our dies adjustments are locked in, we are golden. Take the next round and seat a bullet. After I seat the next round, I measure it as well to make sure nothing shifted when I locked the stem down. Normally, I'll pull a random round occasionally and measure it to make sure everything is still adjusted properly and keep trucking.
NOTE ON SEATING- OAL (Overall Length) or COAL (Combined Overall Length) are the common methods used for measuring loaded ammo and what you'll find in your reloading manuals and on-line. As was pictured earlier, it is simply measuring from the base of the cartridge to the tip of the bullet after it is seated.
The other method of determining cartridge length is measuring off the OGIVE. The ogive is the bearing surface of the bullet that actually first makes contact with the rifling in the throat. This is actually a more precise way of measuring as the tips of your bullets will seldom be the same from bullet to bullet. Mind you, we're splitting hairs here but this is the preferred method for precision loads and it's the method I use myself.
To measure length off the ogive, we need a bullet comparator set. You can buy these in a set through most companies that handle reloading supplies. It is a fixture that mounts to your caliper and uses caliber specific (.22 here for the .223) comparators.
Here's a picture of one in use......
After we initally set our seating die, we simply continue the process until we have all our bullets seated. Afterwards, you now have the satisfaction of loading your own ammo and saving good money in the process.
Granted, it costs to get started into reloading but you save money each time you use it. If you shoot any volume at all, the equipment start up cost will dwindle in a hurry. Aside from saving money and the satisfaction of loading your own fodder, it's a good way to pass time on those long winter nights. When cabin fever starts kicking in, a few hours at my reloading bench is like taking a nerve pill. On a plus side, you can tailor your ammo to your weapon for the best possible accuracy. As not only an avid shooter, I love to hunt as well. Whether varmit or big game, there's even more satisfaction seeing your work come together in the field.
We've covered the bare-bones basics here, I hope it sheds some light on the subject for those that have wanted to try it for themselves. Whether from a lack of knowledge or unknowing, it's fairly straight and simple. If I can help anyone out there, feel free to drop me a line. I hope you've enjoyed the "mini-series" here, it was fun for me to ramble about something I love.
Best wishes to all and good shooting!
