Seating GC's With a Push Through Die

[Paden]

Finger lubing some .45's this evening with "Arctic Wintergreen" for more testing, and running them through a Lee Nose First Push Through Die... Not the first time I've done this. But tonight, some inconsistency caught my eye and upon closer inspection it was evident that the checks were not being seated at full depth, nor in a consistent manner. Most were being drug or pushed back and just catching the heal of the bullet. (Probably from hydraulic pressure of the small amount of excess lube ahead of the check(?)). Results were...not acceptable.

So, I decided to try running them through tail first... Oh, baby; what a HUGE difference! Very, very consistent results. The checks really get wrapped VERY tightly onto the heal of the bullet, and result in an ever so slight convexity to the finished base. Pushing base first keeps the die scraped clean and prevents lube from building up internally. No undesirable deformation of the bullet is detectable. This appears to be a win-win. Can't wait the test these! Will be interesting to see what, if any, detectable effect the tiny bit of convexity has on ballistics.

OOps; should have placed this in the "Tips and Tricks Forum". Maybe someone will move it...

 

[Brad]

It takes more time but try sizing dry to seat the check, then finger lube, then resize to clean off excess lube.
I have found lubing then seating a check is not acceptable for exactly the reason you mentioned. Hydraulic pressure prevents the check from seating well.

 

[Paden]

Have done that too. In fact, I ran a few dry both directions tonight to do a side by side comparison. Gotta say, if visual appearance is any indicator, I think backwards is the far superior way to go.

 

[Ian]

I've run into the same thing and found base-first is better. With rifle bullets, put a lubrisizer top punch that fits the bullet nose into an RCBS shellholder in the ram (RCBS has the correct size hole for Lyman top punch stems, Lees are a crap shoot, I don't have any other brands) and push them into the die with that.

 

[Paden]

Three of these were nose-first, the remainder base-first...

 

[sundog]

That's well and good if the GC fits ALL of the way on to start with. If the GC does not slip on ALL the way then it must be fully seated first. I had this happen recently with a new Lee TL311-150. Solution was to use a GC seating tool and a .311 H&I die in a Lyman 450 with an appropriate top punch to squarely seat the GC. This arrangement was used only for GC seating. After that they went through a honed out Lee .310 sizer just fine (came out at .311).

In you pic above it looks like row 1 - 3 and 7, and row 2 - 5, look like the nose first.

 

[Paden]

In you pic above it looks like row 1 - 3 and 7, and row 2 - 5, look like the nose first.

They stand out like a sore thumb, don't they?

 

[Tazman]

I did that same base first thing a few days ago with my NOE 360-180-FP(SIL). In my case the bases fit into the gas checks perfectly and there were no problems at all.

 

[Paden]

In my case the bases fit into the gas checks perfectly and there were no problems at all.

My checks fit perfectly. They snap on nice and snug and square.

 

[KHornet]

I have done it both ways as a test, and will always as a result seat nose first. I dislike finger lubing, and have not done it in many years. In general I agree with Brad regarding hydraulic pressure.

 

[Maven]

I don't like to apply lube with my fingers either when sizing nose first, but you may want to try swishing the unsized & unchecked CB's around in wire pulling lube (available from Home Depot, Lowes, etc.) the same as you would with Lee Liquid Alox or Ben's modification of it. In short, coat them, apply GC's & size, let them dry or towel the wire pulling lube off, then coat with LLA or Ben's lube: Works very well!

 

[Tazman]

I seat with a Lee push through and either go nose first or base first depending on what is working with that particular bullet. I then lube either with tumble lube or using my Lyman 45 depending on what lube I want to use.
I haven't determined the best lube for my situations yet. I like to experiment and see what works best.

 

[Alstep]

I've always wondered about gas checks being seated squarely with the base of the bullet, or not being fully seated. And I have reservations about the the play and mis-alignment between the die & top punch on lube sizers. I would think the Lee sizers would allow the bullet to center itself as it goes through the sizer. But even if the gas check is not fully seated and square, wouldn't the high pressure of the gas generated when the powder ignites, slam the gas check onto the bullet before the bullet even moves forward in the barrel???
Am I over thinking this??? Your thoughts and comments.