Seating Die

[rickOshay]

Not happy with my Hornady seating die. Is the Forester worth the money?

Thanks.

[vfrdrvr]

Not happy with my Hornady seating die. Is the Forester worth the money?

Thanks.

If you can live without the micrometer adjustable spindle, the stanard Forster BR seating die has everything but the micro-top and is not bank breakingly expensive.

I have both the Hornady and Forster. I prefer the Forster.

[hm2 clark]

I too like the micro top Forester seating die.

[second strike]

for me [or maybe my press] the forster tends to give less runout then others with different weight-ogive bullets..as for the micro. option you still have to back off a quarter turn or so if you've gone too deep so as to re-engage the threads in a c/w motion,then hope the hash marks are accurate..in the end the standard spindle works fine and you can use the money saved for more practical things..[more bullets?] regards..s/s

[seatleroadwr]

The Forster is worth the money. If you are going to try a lot of different bullets, get the micro adjust version. You can also upgrade a standard benchrest seater to a micro adjust later. Forster will sell you the upgrade package.

[rickOshay]

Thanks for all the feed back.

[LRRPF52]

I have both the Hornady and the Forster. I use the Hornady New Dimension still on my Grendel, and the Forster for my .260 Remington. I haven't found a need yet to use the Forster on the Grendel.

[LR1955]

Not happy with my Hornady seating die. Is the Forester worth the money?

Thanks.

Rick:

Why aren't you happy with the die? I haven't heard anyone complain about a seating die. Sizing dies -- certainly. Seating dies, you are the first.

LR1955

[Lead Chucker]

I have the hornady, its works but not the best. Was having problems with the seater die, but that was my fault. Im used to using RCBS & had the hornady die setup wrong. Thanks to one of the guys here i fixed it. Hornady dies work ok, but i would jump for the fosters if i had to do over.

[rickOshay]

I struggle with the seating stem lock nut - getting it tight enough while maintaining stem position. They both tend to move together. Maybe I just have two left hands. Plus - I am using a Dillon press - loading one at a time - so the die is located behind the powder measure. I like the idea of setting the stem to approximate depth, lock in place, then be able to make micro adjustments.

[vfrdrvr]

I struggle with the seating stem lock nut - getting it tight enough while maintaining stem position. They both tend to move together. Maybe I just have two left hands. Plus - I am using a Dillon press - loading one at a time - so the die is located behind the powder measure. I like the idea of setting the stem to approximate depth, lock in place, then be able to make micro adjustments.

That's not exactly how the micro adjusters I have work. You don't actually lock the spindle in place and then make small adjustments. I have a micrometer top on my Hornady new dimension and a Forster Ultra (micrometer top). Using the micrometer adjuster on either eliminates the lock nut entirely. The process of initial depth setting is still trial and error, you just reduce the error significantly. I run mine down to get a decent, but long, seat then measure the COAL, subtract the desired COAL from that and adjust the die using the vernier adjuster to what should be about .005 long and measure again. It's usually about .005 long, so i take another .005 out of it, measure one more time and it's off to the races.

I do this for every bullet I use and note the micrometer setting for each COAL I use. Next time I use that bullet I set the die .005 to .010 long, measure, correct and load. If you do this you WILL need to make sure you use the locking screw on the die lock ring.

You may be trying to over tighten the lock nut on the spindle. In my experience a light touch will usually do it. If you get a little over enthusiasitc it will shift.

My beef with the Hornady was some bullet noses would wedge into the seating stem and make getting a consistent depth difficult. A bit of epoxy and some release agent fixed that.