L.E. Wilson Seating Dies

RCrosby

Have been loading for better than 40 years; starting out with Lyman 310 dies and now doing all of my work with a Bonanza Co-ax and combination of RCBS, Redding, Bonanza and Hornady dies.
One of my most accurate rifles is an old Sako Vixen, .222 sporter that thinks it's a heavy barreled bench gun.
Recently I found a Wilson bullet seater and neck sizing die for the .222 and want to try it out, do some accuracy comparisons, etc.
Would appreciate any tips, hints or opinions about using this type of bullet seater. I don't have a press like the kind I've seen used with these dies but have read of folks tapping bullets in with a mallet. Actually it looks like I may be able to just lean on it a bit. That would be for the seating. When I try the neck sizer I'm sure it will be a matter of mallet or press. Might even be able to rig something up that allows me to use the Co-ax.
Ideas? Opinions? All welcome...
Thanks,

mrbruce

Those Wilson die's will make you some of the straighest ammo you have ever made.
A fairly heavy mallet will do the job OK but a arbor press is the way to go.
A press could be made out of wood if your up to it. Just set one up to act as a lever
to seat the bullets. Some folks even use a regular single stage press also....

JustC

arbor presses aren't that much money, and can always be sold to a BR shooter if you decide to discontinue it's use.

Call Ken Markell (sp) at K&M, I use his arbor press and have been very satisfied.

nononsense

RCrosby,

Besides the mallet and hand pressure you can can use a bench vise with non-marring jaws put in place. You end up using the dies horizontally but that doesn't make any difference. Ackley has an illustrated section on using hand dies in his books.

An arbor press is the most used tool for this purpose but anything that provides controllable pressure can be used. You can find some of these as used tools on the various benchrest sites or other shooting sites with tooling for sale. Push comes to shove, I'll bet Harbor Freight or some other Chinese importer has one or more at rock bottom pricing. For small quantity loading, this IS the way to go.

Best.

RCrosby

And then the fun began.....
Decided that my drill press would do for seating bullets until I found a nice little arbor press.
So far so good, but.....
Drum role,
I should have been smart enough to check things out one step at a time. As it is I now have a primed case, 21.3 grains of 2015 BR and a 53 grain Hornady pill all firmly stuck in that pretty little Wilson die. Guess it likes thin necks.
Any suggestions on removal????
Thanks,
Rob

JustC

Not really a problem yet (we hope). These dies are VERY TIGHT in tolerance. Now, first, if these were not made from your reamer etc, then you may have a slightly larger chamber than the die dimension is cut to. The dies are usually tight even for factory chambers.

First, lightly tap the the seater stem/cap up and out of the die. Turning it by hand sometimes breaks the "vacuum" seal that is formed in these dies. Once this top is off, insert a dowel rod or something else that can be tapped on to push the round out of the back of the die.

NOW, I have to run a body die on my 300RUM cases every other round to get them to freely pull out of the Wilson seater die. I also use a slight bit of lube on the lower portion of the case body before inserting them into the seater. This helps the expanded area near the case-head slide out. Use a small screwdriver to SLIGHTLY pry the rim and see if the case breaks free. You will have to experiment until you figure out just how your dies need to be used, but Wilsons are tight dies.

I routinely have to apply a very light pressure to the rim with a small screwdriver to start the case sliding out the back. THIS IS NORMAL. All of my Wilson dies do this. The lube helps tremendously.

Next, also check the bushing size against your neck thickness to see what nk tension you will have. Could be you will need a few bushings to get that .001"-.002" tension.

Try that and let us know.

RCrosby

Next, also check the bushing size against your neck thickness to see what nk tension you will have. Could be you will need a few bushings to get that .001"-.002" tension.

It is what it is. No bushings. Maybe an older die? Definately not made with the same reamer as the chamber (Sako factory). The Wilson I picked up in a gun shop. Figure once I free the case I may have to play with thinning my necks a bit. Will try the little bit of lube as well.
Stay tuned...
and thanks again.

JustC

no bushings in the sizer die?

RCrosby

Actually all I have, in addition to a set of Redding 7X14's is the L.E. Wilson bullet seater and a 1 pc. Wilson neck sizer.

JustC

then try the prying the rim with a screwdriver to remove the case. If the case rim bends and you muff up the case getting it out, just throw it away. Then set your FL die to come down enough to just squeeze the expansion area fwd of the casehead, and add some lube for the next try when seating.[;)]