Neck tension variations

[PigPknHeat]

Anyone using the hornady eld bullets? For some reason it is significantly harder to seat these bullets vs the SMKs i have ( both 223 and 308). Brass is the same prepped the same but the seating stem dents the bullets with a ring they are so hard to seat.

For what its worth the neck tension "measurment" is .002".

For shits and giggles I pressed one ( .223) into a bathroom scale to see how much weight I could put on it before it would budge and i put 60lbs on one without it moving a hair.

Thoughts?

Im thinking that is too much tension. Probably going to pull the 20 test rounds I made.

 

[edhead35]

Is there a burr on the inside of the case mouth? Do you have a different seating stem for your die that will fit better?

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

 

[PigPknHeat]

No burrs deburred and chamfered with a vld tool

 

[josh2600]

I run them in 6.5 with .002 tension and definitely do not have that issue. I use forster and redding seating dies. Pull one to see if the bullet is all f'd up. I don't see them as being dangerous to shoot or anything but I'm guessing the accuracy may take a hit.


I believe the ELD's are considered VLD bullets, whereas SMK's are not. I've read VLD's sometimes require special dies. I'm thinking that I have not ran into this issue because for the cals I use them in, I bought higher end dies (I only use dillon/rcbs/lee for pistol/plinking AR stuff). I could be completely wrong on this, but I'm thinking that may be why you're having issues. What kind of die are you using?

 

[PigPknHeat]

Hornady custom grade dies

 

[josh2600]

heh, I would assume those would be good to go. Interesting.

- - - Updated - - -

Have you measured the bullets against each other with calipers?

 

[mac1911]

The problem is the seating stem. They make a special one for the various "tipped" bullets
http://m.hornady.com/store/ELD-X-ELD-Match-Seating-Stems

 

[PigPknHeat]

The problem is the seating stem. They make a special one for the various "tipped" bullets
http://m.hornady.com/store/ELD-X-ELD-Match-Seating-Stems

I saw that looking around after posting. I have made rounds with the normal stem previously with no issues. For some reason the neck tension is significantly increased. I even used a little hornady one shot lube on the bullets and necks.

To lube the necks that were very dry after a second wet tumble to remove the lube i sprayed one shot on a nylon brush and brushed each neck reapplying one shot every few cases and even rubbed a little on the bullets as the 1st one showed the "dent" and it didnt really help. Again the SMKs seated and felt good and consistent.

The brass is once fired Lapua meticulously prepped (was also processed before first firing). It was suggested that i stop wet tubmling as the cases might be too clean but before I try that I thought I'd just try lubing the necks. The SMKs were shooting under .75moa for the three groups tested but I felt uncomfortable using the ELDs cause seating them was so tough im already near max pressure and didnt want to get into the danger zone.

Im looking into getting some bushing dies to have only about .001 neck tension to see if that changes things. I feel as though dry tumbling or vibratibg will be too messy.

 

[highscore]

What could it be? Cases are all the same so hopefully you can count that out. Harder jackets ( no compression) or softer jackets( brass digging in) or the lead that is under them is harder or softer causing the same peoblem? Bullets the same diameter (to the tenth)? Pushing the same bearing surface length into the case, some are longer than others. Compressing the powder, longer compresses more. Try a few without powder or primers if you think it could be the powder helping (making it worse).

If you care more about the marks the stem is putting on the bullets, you can either buy a new one as suggested or color yours up with a magic marker and spin the bullet in it and see where it's contacting. Take down the high point until the actual area that's pushing the bullet is pushing a wider area. I've modified most of mine. I lap them in with lapping compound which you probably won't want to buy for one time.