Thread: Seating die for 77gr TMK

My Hornady seating die, with standard or fancy ELD seating stem, doesn't support the jacket of the 77gr TMK very well during seating and puts a bit of a dent in the bullet - worse than I've seen with any other bullet.

What seating die are you using for the 77gr TMK in
223 that doesn't have this issue?

I'll probably just buy a 2nd seating die and leave 1 set up for ELD and 1 set up for TMK (Hornady Lnl bushing press) also because I find it annoying changing die settings between bullets

in the past I have had @Gunworks machine the seating stem to match a provided projectile not a big deal for them and works well

I'm using a Redding Comp Seater. No sign of it touching the tips. Maybe a very slight circumferential mark on the jackets, but that seems to happen with any bullet in any cal. unless I lap the edge of the stem (which I don't bother doing nowadays)

Iv done the same with valve grinding paste and projectile in a drill, it wasn’t a fun job

I use the redding comp as well, seems fine. Gun City had some on special a while ago......

Originally Posted by Gkp

Attachment 271030

Originally Posted by gimp

My Hornady seating die, with standard or fancy ELD seating stem

yup

I use a Lee seating die. It seems to be working allright eg tip damage. Have only loaded 40 so far. I use a lee collet/mantrel sizing die (until the cases need a fls) and the mandrel does not size the case necks quite as a fls.

Buy another seating die

Find a loaded round with a perfect projectile in it that’s also concentric

Put release agent on projectile

Add a small amount of bedding compound ( Devcon 10110) into the seating stem and lower the press ram until the stem sits on the projectile of the loaded round

Leave it there until set

You now have a seating stem that’s perfectly formed for that projectile type

Buy another seating die

Find a loaded round with a perfect projectile in it that’s also concentric

Put release agent on projectile

Add a small amount of bedding compound ( Devcon 10110) into the seating stem and lower the press ram until the stem sits on the projectile of the loaded round

Leave it there until set

You now have a seating stem that’s perfectly formed for that projectile type

Redding competition die

Not saying it will solve it but mine has the 88 eld stem in it.

EDIT: Which is the same so I guess you maybe have a bit more neck tension as im compressing a bit or Varget as you know.

I've used the Forster die which hasn't marked the 77gn TMKs at all. The seating stem has cracked though so it clicks and lodges on the ogive whilst seating.

I used to have the same issue with ELDM, even with Hornady VLD seater. Changed to Redding die and VLD seater and had no more issues.