Nosler bullet problem

Nwcid

I just started loading a bunch of .224 55gr Nosler Ballistic Tip bullets in .223 case. I am using RCBS dies.

The problem I am having is using the seating die I seem to be damaging the tips. They feel like they hang up for a second then sheer part of the tip off at an angle. It seems like they hang up between the die body and seater itself. This seems to be happening on about half the rounds and I have done about 40 right now.

I reloaded close to 1000 rounds of this stuff a couple of years ago and I dont recall having the problem at this scale. I do recall having this happen from time to time. I am using all of the same equipment I used last time.

Any help or ideas?

bpost

Have you pulled the seater out and cleaned it?

There might be something in the hole tipping the bullet. I chucked my seater stem in a drill and used a carbide scribe to make the seater more closely match the profile on the nose of the bullet.

Nwcid

Found my problem.

I using my progressive press. Last time I loaded I used one die to seat and put a slight taper crimp on the round (shooting in an AR).

This time I am using a die to seat and a die to crimp. I had backed the seating die way up so I had to extend the seater way down. This left a wide gap between the die body and seater where the tips were hanging up.

I put the die body down to the point where it is just shy of crimping and backed the seater up a bunch. The die body tapers inside so there is not a gap between the body and seater anymore.