I loaded my first rounds last night/this morning. I was trying to carefully follow all instructions from the video series but had a problem with the bullet seating. I set my seating die so that was just barely touching the shell holder as described in the video. After seating 40 rounds that I spent many hours trying to get every step perfect, I noticed at the very end that my seating die had crushed the shoulder and ruined them all. 
Going back and reading the directions on my die set, they recommend backing out the die one full turn after it makes contact with the shell holder. So apparently I had the die too low and that was crushing the shoulders. I’m so frustrated to have spent so long trying to make them perfect and then ruined them in the last step. Videos help with a lot of information, BUT read the directions for your specific equipment.
I did the same thing when I first started reloading. I bought redding bullet seater die, which recommends that I back away from the shell holder one full twist. Full contact will put a crimp on the case. Fortunately, I had decided to test things out on a few empty cases (no powder or primer) where I soon discovered the problem. I then looked over the Redding manual and discovered the issue. I agree, read the equipment manual.
Oh man. Sorry to see that. What die is this? I’ve never had that happen.
I’ll add some text to that lesson to hopefully prevent that from happening to others.
It was the Redding Premium Micrometer die that you recommend in the intermediate loading group.
Erik, i did the same thing when trying to get back into reloading last summer. I feel your pain after doing 40 of them. I am like you trying to get everything right as to not make any mistakes. Apparently crimping a case is done under certain circumstances. The seating die when placed low enough will crimp the opening of the case on the bullet. If the crimp is done too early then pushing the bullet down more will squish the case. Im sure you have figured this all out by now, but i just want you to know that i did it and have seen many others do it too. Cases aren’t cheap.
Yeah, seems like it is a pretty common mistake. I learned a valuable lesson and wanted to help others from making the same mistake.
I’ve done it too. 6 arc and 7 prc when I was first starting.
I did it too, you’re not alone!
Yep, I did the same thing two weeks ago as well. Fortunately I only did it to three cases, and I had no primer or powder it them as I was trying to make sure I knew what I was doing with seating before trying to make actual rounds. Discovered the same thing you did and I had to back my seating die back one full turn from where it touches the shell holder. From what I can tell, when it is touching the case, it crimps the bullet before the seating is done, thus making it impossible for the bullet to keep going down in the seating. This in turn crushes the should down. So, backing out one full turn worked like a charm. The bullets aren’t crimped doing it this way, but from what I can tell, most people don’t crimp on 6.5 Creedmoor anyway.
Perhaps somebody who has a YouTube channel, cough cough, should make a video on common rookie reloading errors and how to avoid them.
Takes an extra minute, but going through the reloading steps (minus powder fill and primer) using a dummy cartridge lets you sort out seating depth, sizing, seating, case mouth chamfer to ensure your not shaving copper during seating, practice chambering on the actual rifle, etc., before you move into producing rounds. Again, it is slower, but go I through a dummy round prototype, then go into full loading, and I only charge 5 cases, and seat 5 cases in a series, then rinse repeat till I get them all done. If your loading for a 9mm to go shoot at the range, then the progressives or faster process can work fine, but in larger rifle cartridges, a more deliberate process has paid off for me. Like the others have said, we’ve all done it. Good luck.
Don’t feel bad, I’ve done the same thing on 300 rum ammo. My fist time ruining an entire trip to the range. Join the club! The other knucklehead club membership is : I made it all the way to sitting in the deer stand before I realized I left the bullets in the truck Club!
Hahaha, How far did you have to travel to retrieve them? That’s hilarious. In the meantime did you miss out on a deer?