Seating a flat based bullet

[Bad Wolf]

Hi,
Before attempting to seat a flat based .17 bullet, I chamfer the inside edge of the case mouth and bell mouth it slightly - just enough to hand seat the bullet prior to pressing. But, a concern I have with this technique is the potential lack of consistency in neck tension caused by the bell mouthing and the difficulty in aligning the bullet by hand - quite often it ends up crooked going into the press.

An alternative method would be to hand hold the bullet, balanced on top of the case mouth, whilst raising the ram until the bullet enters the die mouth - thereafter relying on the interior walls of the die to hold the bullet in place until it is seated. This technique would not have the potential inconsistent neck tension problem but I don't like the idea of the bullet just wandering into the die mouth.

Does anyone have any tips in seating a .17 flat based bullet for a reloading newbie ?

[Al Nyhus]

You sure don't want to bell mouth the neck. A Wilson hand seater can do wonders for the .17's when it comes to guiding the bullet into the seating stem.

[ray h]

BW, consider getting the K&M tapered mouth reamer. Its 4* per side taper. Theres fingers along the side of the reamer that acts as stops so you can control the depth of the ream or cut. I cut about a 1/16" and flat base bullets rest in the mouth till seated with a Wilson die. I also give the top a slight twist (don't know if that does any good but helps me mentally) before seating in an arbor press. I don't think I'd bell a case mouth.

[Dick Kohles]

Ray
Would a slight chamfer not do the same thing? It's all I do and seams to work ok.
Dick

[TinMan]

I just chamfer the inside of the case mouth. I also use Hornady dies that have a sliding collar on the seaters to keep the bullet alligned as well as possible. Works fine.

[GLWenzl]

BW I got a bunch of brass (used, sized and primed) to load and not sure where they came from but it was the first time I ever saw a bell put on anything but a pistol case. This was a BIG bell I might add… After trying to load that way and ruined a couple cases I finally took the decapping pin out of my die and resized em all. How in the world does one go about putting a bell in a 17 anyway??? It sure baffled me! I would never bell, one unnecessary step (IMO)

I have not done Ray’s technique but sounds like that would work well. I agree with Al and Tinman about using a good bullet seater with a chamfer like you are doing. Still problems then I would however consider the neck being sized a tad bit too much. Might want to look at your expander ball and/or if you are using bushing dies check to make sure you have to correct bussing installed???

[Bad Wolf]

I have found that if I only chamfer the case mouth I still need to hold the bullet in position, using the tips of my fingers, as it moves, on the ram, into the die mouth. Is this technique OK ?

[GLWenzl]

That is one BIG benefit from using a Hornady die. As Tinman was saying the sliding collar on the bullet seater holds the bullet in place for you, once you make contact with the sliding or should I say floating collar. From as near as I can tell the Hornady seaters do a pretty darn good job as far as concentric ammo.

[Alan in GA]

I loaded a LOT of Hornady 17 cal 20 grain Vmaxes into 17 Ack Hnt and Mach IV cases. A couple of guys here offered batches of Hornady's 17 cal 17 grain Vmax used in the HMR and M2 rounds. They were 'blems' but I sure couldn't see why.
Anyway the 17/17 HMR bullet has a nice bevel base,,almost boat tail it could be said. It loads SO EASY that I have wished Hornady would modify their 17 cal 20 grain V Max bullet to have the same base. No more crushed 17 Ack Hnt case necks when in too much of a hurry loading!

[T.Zimm]

Holding the bullet works, but you could get what my buddy calls "magnum thumb" when you forget to remove your fingers in time.....ouch. I got the RCBS micrometer seating die. It has a window in the side. Once your brass enters the die and starts to raise the bushing, you just drop the bullet through the window. It is perfectly aligned and cannot seat crooked. They are a bit expensive, but I use it for three different cartridges. RCBS can provide you with the "guts" for different calibers. The sliding bushing and the bullet seating anvil can be removed and changed. Pretty nifty set up.