Question for Redding competition seating die users

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Or anyone else with knowledge

This may be a dumb question but I’d rather be safe than sorry.

I’ve used Redding competition seating dies with micrometer adjustment on multiple different hand loads and they’ve worked perfectly so far. Just picked a new one up for 300 WSM with plans on loading up some 212 lrx and making a super WSM.

One thing that the proponents of the super WSM have stated is that there’s really no room to play with bullet seating depth. The length of the bullet that’s 0. 308 is very short and if you seat it too deep, you will have the bullet unsupported in the neck as the narrower ogive will be in the neck.

So set up the new die today using the standard instructions and backed the micrometer all the way as high as it could go up. Then seated a dummy round. Even with the micrometer that high the bullet was 0.250 too deep. No way to back the micrometer off anymore without it falling off. I can get a shorter seating stem but if my math is correct that’s only going to give me about 0.180 more length.

Can I back the die up in the ring by a few turns? It’s my understanding that that metal sleeve that is spring loaded that comes out the bottom of the die is supposed to help support the case during the seating process. Want to make sure I’m not doing something that’s going to mess things up by not giving the casing enough support.

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I cannot imaging backing the die up in the ring enough to get you some play in the micrometer will have much affect to the case centering sleeve. However, I’m like you that if something doesn’t feel right it’s best to take steps to mitigate your concerns. So if you have a concentricity gauge you could check it afterwards to remove doubt.

I’m not a seasoned reloader but just helping to logically think through it.

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3

Sound to me like you could adjust the locking ring on the seating die so that it sits up higher in the press.

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I may have worded it poorly but that’s what I was asking above. However I am concerned that with doing that that the case may not be supported during the seating process which could lead to problems.

5

The seating tube hangs down enough I don’t think you will have any problems. Try it out and see how it feels.

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6

I just heard back from Redding today.

Kudos to them for a super fast response time.

They said backing the die up should cause no troubles. I just have to make certain that there’s at least some compression of the sleeve during the process.