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Old 04-06-2013, 10:20 PM
stephen perry 1 stephen perry 1 is offline
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Default Core Seating

Core seating is an important step in making bullets, most myself included consider it the most important step. When I added 2 more presses to my operation I gave it some thought. I have an RCBS A2 and 2 RCBS Rockchuckers. I consider my A2 my best press so I chose it for my core seating press. My A2 has been cut to allow the linkage to cam over. This is necessary so that as the linkage reaches a TDC it passes over and the same pressure is applied to the core each time. Those commenting if they have a different explanation join in.

WE have allot to talk about on core seating and I welcome good comments. I am learning more each time I talk with you guys.

Punches
When you buy dies new/used you need to get a set of punches for each die. For your core seating die you should have a minimum of 3 punches. Reason being that you want a punch that will seat cores leaving a small ring of lead on top of the lead and not scrape the inside of jacket, easier said than done. The ring around a seated core tells the core is seated propeerly and no air is trapped under your core. The reason for 3 punches is you want a go to punch and one .0005 below and one .0005 above. The high and low punches are for when you get a lot of jackets that have a slight different inside measurement. Keep your punches clean from lead residue.

Lube
Lube on jackets during core seating is something some do I don't. I've been told lubing the jackets keeps them from sticking in the die, mine don't. I've also been told the left over lube on jackets allows you to use less lube in the point-up stage. To me your defeating the purpose of measuring your lube. I want to measure lube one time during the point-up stage.

Press Operation
First thing I do is clean my press checking to make sure all the adjustments are tight. Check my punch making sure there is no residue lead. Give your linkage a light spray of lubricant. Starting with dry cores and in my case dry jackets I arrange everything so I can easily reach everything easily. When I start core seating I go at a rapid pace keeping the die warm. Weigh a couple cored jackets as this is going to be your final bullet weight.

Small Stuff
A big help in making bullets is having a Mentor, especially in setting up for core seating. Your Mentor can probably help set you up in getting core seating punches. Take your Mentors advice on lube and have him visually inspect your seted cores. One last item. I measure my seated cores at the lead line, after 20. Set your first 20 aside for Varmiunt bullets. I do this when making BR bullets to get the die warm. Learned this from Tom Metzger awhile ago. I record my measurements and change core pressure till I get the measrement I'm looking for.

Stephen Perry

Last edited by stephen perry 1; 04-06-2013 at 11:13 PM.
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  #2  
Old 04-10-2013, 10:17 AM
aaronraad aaronraad is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by stephen perry 1 View Post
Core seating is an important step in making bullets, most myself included consider it the most important step. When I added 2 more presses to my operation I gave it some thought. I have an RCBS A2 and 2 RCBS Rockchuckers. I consider my A2 my best press so I chose it for my core seating press. My A2 has been cut to allow the linkage to cam over. This is necessary so that as the linkage reaches a TDC it passes over and the same pressure is applied to the core each time. Those commenting if they have a different explanation join in.

WE have allot to talk about on core seating and I welcome good comments. I am learning more each time I talk with you guys.

Punches
When you buy dies new/used you need to get a set of punches for each die. For your core seating die you should have a minimum of 3 punches. Reason being that you want a punch that will seat cores leaving a small ring of lead on top of the lead and not scrape the inside of jacket, easier said than done. The ring around a seated core tells the core is seated propeerly and no air is trapped under your core. The reason for 3 punches is you want a go to punch and one .0005 below and one .0005 above. The high and low punches are for when you get a lot of jackets that have a slight different inside measurement. Keep your punches clean from lead residue.
Might need a couple more again if you're using more than 1 jacket length in the same dies for different bullet weights.

Quote:
Lube
Lube on jackets during core seating is something some do I don't. I've been told lubing the jackets keeps them from sticking in the die, mine don't. I've also been told the left over lube on jackets allows you to use less lube in the point-up stage. To me your defeating the purpose of measuring your lube. I want to measure lube one time during the point-up stage.
Since I've started washing and cleaning jackets prior to core seating I've found lube to be necessary and use as little as I can get away with. I do have a carbide core seating die in my .264 cal set, which I have to operate lube-free otherwise never it leaves the punch without some persuassion. I've also found J4 .308 cal jackets (>1.150") to taper up to .310 at the mouth on some batches. Really hoping this doesn't present as an issue at some stage because redrawing every jacket isn't very appealing!

Quote:
Press Operation
First thing I do is clean my press checking to make sure all the adjustments are tight. Check my punch making sure there is no residue lead. Give your linkage a light spray of lubricant. Starting with dry cores and in my case dry jackets I arrange everything so I can easily reach everything easily. When I start core seating I go at a rapid pace keeping the die warm. Weigh a couple cored jackets as this is going to be your final bullet weight.
I weigh a couple but you're pretty much stuck with whatever you have made by this stage if you etch the cores. Unless you have another batch of jackets that give you a better target weight?

Quote:
Small Stuff
A big help in making bullets is having a Mentor, especially in setting up for core seating. Your Mentor can probably help set you up in getting core seating punches. Take your Mentors advice on lube and have him visually inspect your seted cores. One last item. I measure my seated cores at the lead line, after 20. Set your first 20 aside for Varmiunt bullets. I do this when making BR bullets to get the die warm. Learned this from Tom Metzger awhile ago. I record my measurements and change core pressure till I get the measrement I'm looking for.

Stephen Perry
I considered taking measurements for each batch, but figured that trying to get the next batch to match was hopeless? The J4 jacket weight was +/-10% batch-to-batch. Are you using the J4's as they come, batching them, or modifying them to confirm? Great post Stephen!

Hat's off to the mentors! The subscript 'L' in my first series of projectiles the G7L's is my tribute to my mentor Gary Little

Last edited by aaronraad; 04-10-2013 at 10:29 AM.
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  #3  
Old 04-17-2013, 07:52 AM
Kiwishooter Kiwishooter is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by stephen perry 1 View Post
Core seating is an important step in making bullets, most myself included consider it the most important step. When I added 2 more presses to my operation I gave it some thought. I have an RCBS A2 and 2 RCBS Rockchuckers. I consider my A2 my best press so I chose it for my core seating press. My A2 has been cut to allow the linkage to cam over. This is necessary so that as the linkage reaches a TDC it passes over and the same pressure is applied to the core each time. Those commenting if they have a different explanation join in.

WE have allot to talk about on core seating and I welcome good comments. I am learning more each time I talk with you guys.

Punches
When you buy dies new/used you need to get a set of punches for each die. For your core seating die you should have a minimum of 3 punches. Reason being that you want a punch that will seat cores leaving a small ring of lead on top of the lead and not scrape the inside of jacket, easier said than done. The ring around a seated core tells the core is seated propeerly and no air is trapped under your core. The reason for 3 punches is you want a go to punch and one .0005 below and one .0005 above. The high and low punches are for when you get a lot of jackets that have a slight different inside measurement. Keep your punches clean from lead residue.

Lube
Lube on jackets during core seating is something some do I don't. I've been told lubing the jackets keeps them from sticking in the die, mine don't. I've also been told the left over lube on jackets allows you to use less lube in the point-up stage. To me your defeating the purpose of measuring your lube. I want to measure lube one time during the point-up stage.

Press Operation
First thing I do is clean my press checking to make sure all the adjustments are tight. Check my punch making sure there is no residue lead. Give your linkage a light spray of lubricant. Starting with dry cores and in my case dry jackets I arrange everything so I can easily reach everything easily. When I start core seating I go at a rapid pace keeping the die warm. Weigh a couple cored jackets as this is going to be your final bullet weight.

Small Stuff
A big help in making bullets is having a Mentor, especially in setting up for core seating. Your Mentor can probably help set you up in getting core seating punches. Take your Mentors advice on lube and have him visually inspect your seted cores. One last item. I measure my seated cores at the lead line, after 20. Set your first 20 aside for Varmiunt bullets. I do this when making BR bullets to get the die warm. Learned this from Tom Metzger awhile ago. I record my measurements and change core pressure till I get the measrement I'm looking for.

Stephen Perry
Stephen what do you mean "I record my measurements and change core pressure till I get the measurement I'm looking for."

What is the measurement you are looking for and how did you determine this measurement?

Kiwi
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  #4  
Old 04-21-2013, 10:28 PM
george ulrich george ulrich is offline
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Ian,I guess I'll try and answer for you. the method I tell my customers is, take 20-30 jackets measure for all to have the same length insert cores figure on other jackets what size punch you need. then take the measured ones and start to core seat when bullet sticks in die measure length they will shorten as die fills out turn die down slightly seat another measure length if shorter seat another so on and so forth until jackets start to stretch. I like between .000-.001 stretch. this is on flatbase only you should have a small ring of bleadby and you should not see a frost line on outside of jacket where lead line ends. if you do you need a smaller punch or less pressure. I do not like the pop a jacket and back off method theres not a real way to repeat. hope this helps george
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Old 04-22-2013, 12:13 AM
Randy Robinett Randy Robinett is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by george ulrich View Post
Ian,I guess I'll try and answer for you. the method I tell my customers is, take 20-30 jackets measure for all to have the same length insert cores figure on other jackets what size punch you need. then take the measured ones and start to core seat when bullet sticks in die measure length they will shorten as die fills out turn die down slightly seat another measure length if shorter seat another so on and so forth until jackets start to stretch. I like between .000-.001 stretch. this is on flatbase only you should have a small ring of bleadby and you should not see a frost line on outside of jacket where lead line ends. if you do you need a smaller punch or less pressure. I do not like the pop a jacket and back off method theres not a real way to repeat. hope this helps george
I [mostly] agree with George - I perfer a full 0.001" of stretch, and often, depending upon the point-up die, my finished bullets exhibit a "frost-line"; on the cored (non-pointed) jacket, there will be a visible difference between the expanded diameter (cored portion) and the empty jacket, above the core, which will become the nose-cavity. RG
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  #6  
Old 04-22-2013, 01:57 AM
MIBULLETS MIBULLETS is offline
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George and Randy- I am curious about this stretch you are talking about. Is the .001 after the jacket has shrunk or .001 longer than the original length? I assume you mean that once the jacket stops shrinking it will start growing and once it grows .001 longer than it's shortest length you have it? Dan
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Old 04-22-2013, 01:03 PM
Randy Robinett Randy Robinett is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MIBULLETS View Post
George and Randy- I am curious about this stretch you are talking about. Is the .001 after the jacket has shrunk or .001 longer than the original length? I assume you mean that once the jacket stops shrinking it will start growing and once it grows .001 longer than it's shortest length you have it? Dan
Yes - this is what one looks for. RG
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  #8  
Old 04-22-2013, 09:34 PM
MIBULLETS MIBULLETS is offline
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Thank you sir!
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  #9  
Old 04-23-2013, 07:20 PM
Kiwishooter Kiwishooter is offline
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George and Randy thanks for the answers, how do you determine the correct measurement for boat tail bullets? Kiwi
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  #10  
Old 04-23-2013, 07:59 PM
george ulrich george ulrich is offline
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Ian, that's alittle more difficult to answer I look at base when radius starts to coin out or radius starts to flatten out I stop again with correct punch with just a small ring of bleedby, I do not want a frost ring on outside of bullet. if you get this either punch is to big or theres to much pressure. hope this helps. george
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