Bullet Seating Die ~ 32 Auto

[Ranch Dog]

I've always had a problem with the 32 Auto Bullet Seating die not having enough "authority" in adjustment. Even with the adjusting screw all the way down, the plug is not making contact with the bullet. The instructions say to adjusted the die three turns off shell plate contact. That, as I found, is to prevent the bullet fingers from being damaged on the Load-Master. With that in mind, four turns off the shell plate are better.

What I've been doing with the die on my turret is using it a piece of 3/8" steel stock, forming a two-piece seating plug.

bullet_seating_plug.jpg

I finally decided to get off of my rear end and special order two plugs as I have two seating dies; one for the 732B and another for my Taurus PT132 Pro. They shoot better at different OALs and I'd rather not adjust a single die back and forth.

The special order brings me to the subject of another topic, now tied into this topic; getting rid of stuff. I had some small pieces of bullet tubes from the Load-Master's Bullet Feeder were cut off and I had decided not to throw away. Cast bullets are easily damaged in the mail, so I employed two of these for packaging; one for the required bullets so that the ogive can be matched on the plug, and the other for the cartridge so hopefully Lee will make the plug long enough.

bullet_tube_use.jpg

Foam earplugs worked great for padding, and I just taped the ends of the tube!

[Ranch Dog]

A fellow from Lee called me today concerning my Custom Order Powder Through Expander Plug (the subject of another topic) and this order; the Custom Bullet Seating Plugs had just landed on his desk. In a nutshell, the conversation came down to a question; with the bullet seating plug in the die and the adjusting screw all the way into the die until it stops, does the seating plug rattle?

If it does and you need more seating authority (depth) for a shorter OAL, there is an easy fix. Place a steel ball between the plug and adjusting screw. I asked about diameter, and he suggested a size, but I figured that size of a ball would slip up into the hollow adjusting screw as it was the same size as the extension plug that I'm currently using. So, I drew it on my laptop from the dimensions I measured directly from the die.



My measurements indicate that a 7/16" ball is the fit, and it will give you an additional .35' of adjustment, but there is probably not near that left in the seating plug. Hopefully, there is enough adjust to take care of the need. My initial drawing showed all the dimension, but as I was trying to animate the objects to show seating, I lost a series of images. I rotated it sideways and called it good enough; hopefully, you can make heads or tales of it.

Back to the question. If you screw the adjusting plug all the way into the die but it does not meet your OAL needs, and it doesn't rattle; you will need a custom order die, not plug.

[Ranch Dog]

The steel ball worked.















25 steel balls can be purchased for $5, shipping included in price, with the discount code.

Remember this is more an issue for the Load-Master as the bullet seating die must be at least three turns off the shell plate if the Bullet Feeder is used to prevent crushing the Bullet Fingers. I've found that four turns are better, but that means that the die is short up to .284" worth of adjustment as compared to it being seated against the shell plate.

I also might need this for the 30 Carbine but it has a long plug so the steel ball needs to fit inside the Adjusting Screw. I purchased 3/8" balls to dies that have that need. I run into to this a bit because I shoot case bullets with a 72% of diameter meplat.

[Ohio3Wheels]

And slingshot ammo left over

Make smoke,

[Ranch Dog]

And slingshot ammo left over

I had to buy them as my Mom & Dad took my slingshot from me when I was five and I didn't give it back!

[daboone]

7/16in ball bearings just seem like to easy and inexpensive solution to a reloading problem. Now I'm sure the other red, blue or green companies could figure out a customized option for flattening your wallet. Obviously this Lee method won't / can't work.