IndyArms 10,186 Posted October 8, 2009 Report Share Posted October 8, 2009 Cause this die set is kicking my ass... and I need some tips... I think I fucked up about 10 rounds out of 25 or so that I loaded. Had to pull 9 of them... one of them I managed to crush the case at the shoulder, so it wont FIT into the kinetic puller. Guess I dont pull that one... I also managed to dump one case worth of Varget into the little cup of BL-C(2) I was collecting from the pulled ones... mixed powder anyone?!?!? Now I gotta find a fine sifter to sift the two... maybe... To top it all off, I SPLIT the bullet seater thing inside the seating die... now I cant reload ANY till I get that part from LEE Precision... so it will be next week before I can reload anymore... If I DIDN'T flare the mouths, I could seat the bullets perfectly, and they would be nice as you please... If I flare them, I cant get them to fit in the chamber of the rifle, as I dont have the setting correct on the crimp part of the seating die... ( I had all kinds of fun and probably fucked up 2 dozen shells when I was loading 9MM too!!! ) So... Anyways... if any of you kind folks out there who have gone through this before would like to assist my sorry ass... I would be greatly appreciative... Thanks in advance! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
1mile50 102 Posted October 9, 2009 Report Share Posted October 9, 2009 (edited) The only tip I can give you is to find a .458 SOCOM forum. That's what I did when I got my .50 BEOWULF, I located the forum for it. Believe me, the Beowulf can be a major PITA to handload for. Edited after giving your post a 2nd closer read. The following is general info, nothing .458 SOCOM specific. (1) Chuck the cup of BLC2 (2) Get at least 2 bullet seaters from Lee. Better yet, 3! (3) Why flare the mouths? Case neck bulge or other problems if you don't? If you must flare, start with the smallest possible flare to the mouth, increase slightly until correct. (4) To get a correct crimp setting with a taper crimp, or the Lee factory pistol crimp, which I believe your die set has: Raise the press ram with a loaded round in the shell holder. Back off the lock ring and the seater plug on the seating die. Screw die down until it contacts the case mouth. Lower the ram. Make small adjustments by screwing the seater die down until you get the proper crimp when you raise the ram. Small incremental adjustments are the key. Patience is cheaper than exotic brass. When you have the proper crimp, set the lock ring and bullet seater plug to the finished round. Even with just the o-ring as a keeper, the lock ring will hold it's setting,if you handle the die carefully. Get a die wrench or an adjustable that fits your lock rings. Edited October 9, 2009 by 1mile50 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
IndyArms 10,186 Posted October 11, 2009 Author Report Share Posted October 11, 2009 Thanks for the reply!!! In regards to chucking the cup of mixed powders... normally I would agree... however, where I work, I control millions of dollars of inventory of filtration screen... needless to say it was only a few seconds of looking for me to find the proper screen size to filter, sift, and separate the two powders... nice as you please... If anyone else ever mixes BL-C(2) and an extruded stick powder, just PM me for some HF7-7021... its the shiznitz!!! I talked to lee.. they are sending me another seater cup. I have the part number, and as long as the part that arrives matches what I broke, I will call and order two more... a VERY good notion... From what I read on Teppu Jutsu site... there is NO NEED to flare casings... I was not flaring them at first, and they loaded just fine... I went to flaring them, and thats when the troubles started... so back to my original plan... Also, it is claimed that accuracy can DEGRADE with a crimp... so again... I will go back to just shoving the bullet in there, and letting it all work. I appreciate the info on how to seat... and I plan to print it for reference... but I hope to not need it! Another thing I learned, is that some cannelured bullets SHOULD NOT be seated to cannelure depth... that is there because they seat to that depth for OTHER CALIBERS... NOT the .458 SOCOM... Seat to a certain COL, and all is good... ignore cannelure!! LOL Thanks again!!! The Info is TRULY appreciated!!!! :up: Quote Link to post Share on other sites
hawaii five-0 0 Posted October 11, 2009 Report Share Posted October 11, 2009 I saw there was an extensive thread on calguns on this topic Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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