Hey guys, hope you all are well. I have a theory as to why, but my Redding 6.5 PRC die is denting the very top of the Berger Elite Hunter (140 gr.) when I seat the bullet. I’ve loaded probably 700 rounds with this before and this is the first time I’ve seen it do it.
My theory is that it is doing this because I just switched to brand new brass (Lapua) and I did not resize the brass before loading. As such, I wonder if the factory set neck tension is just a bit tighter thus creating more tension to seat the bullet, causing the die to have to press in harder when it seats the bullet.
After taking Jim’s course online, I started reloading a while back and followed his advice to start with my collected range brass while I learned before investing in quality brass. Now that I’ve found a few recipes and had some success, I went ahead and bought lapua.
Anyway, any thought about whether or not my theory might be correct?
I think you’re correct that it’s new brass and neck friction is just a bit tighter getting the bullet seated.
With a VLD style bullet like this, you may want to get a VLD stem for your die so it better fits the profile of the bullet and won’t leave this mark.
Having said that, I’ve loaded thousands of rounds with the little mark that I didn’t fix and they will still shoot great. You’ll lose an imperceptibly small amount of BC from the deformation.
Thanks for the reply, Jim! And thanks for the insight. I’m thankful to have a better sense of what is causing this, to learn from the process, and to know I didn’t just mess up a lot of components. I’ll definitely look into getting the VLD stem for my die.
On another front, it’s been fun learning how to do this and I greatly enjoy it. You’ve been a wonderful resource from start to finish!
