Seating depths

[madang55]

Why am I not able to get consistent seating depth?
Primarily 6.5 Creedmore. Hornady dies, which I'm not fond of... I don't trust the bits that move inside the die.
RCBS press. I've tried Hornady and RCBS shell holders.
Primers are all seated below the case head so there's no protrusions.
A mixture of case brands, Win, Hdy. Cases are all trimmed nicely and consistent. The only difference might be in the case/base thickness, but not to account for the differences in the results. Sometimes way short, sometimes long.
I have the press set up so the ram is at the stop point. (no over travel or under travel)
Driving me nuts. (being polite)

[Duramax]

What bullet? How or what are you measuring? Is it ogive to case base or base to bullet tip? Are case necks annealed and or lubed?
You mentioned different case brands so are you comparing seating depth between same brand or different brands?

[deye243]

Inconsistent neck tension is one of the biggest contributors to this problem especially when using soft jacketed projectiles like hornadys eldm and a lot of varmint bullets

[Damo300]

Are you using a bullet comparator to measure?

[deye243]

Damo300 post has reminded me that not all mesure properly .
Are you mesuring overall length or doing it properly with a comparator .
I use this works a treat

Screenshot_20260925_215920_Chrome.jpg (107.96 KiB) Viewed 78 times

[Wapiti]

I have struck what madang is talking about too, and it's quite a pain.

I get this when measuring rifling to bolt face dimensions to get a consistent number too, using a dedicated comparator tool, as well as the simple tool above that Dye posted up a pic of. I even get it with a OAL gauge set.

Some soft projectiles are just bastards (yes, big name copper jacketed ones), it's so easy to get the long tapered tips to stop in the measuring gauge consistently each time. Especially with the super-accurate dial calipers available now. They pick up this inconsistency every time.

And when dropping a projectile into the chamber and having it stop against the rifling to measure it with the tool... to get the number in the first place...
it's so easy to push a bullet in differently each time. I pick that up using a dial caliper.
This does not make any sense, but when I was using a Chinese electronic caliper, I could NEVER get a consistent number.
Buying a Mitutoyo one made in Japan solved that.
Being numbers nut I much rather use an analogue dial gauge.

When seating, you cannot get a measurement consistency quite often as well, bullet grip (neck tension) is a factor. This changes with older cases as they get harder in the necks.
This is more compounded though, if you have a sharp-edged seating stem that "bites" into the long, soft copper ogives of the bullet designs demanded by visual looks and "long range" long-tipped shapes people use.
The seating stem bites into the bullet differently every time, with the inconsistent neck tensions of each case. No matter how much people screw around with annealing, a waste of time because that in itself gives different hardness numbers between cases. Forget that.

Try looking at the inner of the seating stem. Does the bullet sit in it supported over a few mm, or does it bite into the bullet and actually swage it a little as it seats in a tight case neck? The bullet tip is the first thing to compress, and then spring back differently each time.

I think it was that incredibly experienced LR shooter and reloader, Erik Cortina, who says, YES this is a pain, but you can only get an average number. pretty sure he's often said it's impossible to be 100% consistent with this each time, you can only get an average number and work with what you have. He reconned that this makes no difference, or at least one that is uncontrollable 100% consistently.

[Fester]

Sorting head stamps could be the first thing to try as consistency is what reloaders need when using basic type dies.

I love the feel of gently seating pills in a freshly annealed batch of cases, it just feels so easy, compaired to cases that have been around the block a few times, and can need some force to seat the projy.

Using good lube, and something for inside the necks helps with sizing consistency.

The Creedmoor is one of the easiest cals that I have ever loaded.

I use different brands of batched cases, and recently dropped .4 of a grain of powder but it just always shoots and half MOA capable, despite the barrel being past it's best.

[bigrich]

Why am I not able to get consistent seating depth?
Primarily 6.5 Creedmore. Hornady dies, which I'm not fond of... I don't trust the bits that move inside the die.
RCBS press. I've tried Hornady and RCBS shell holders.
Primers are all seated below the case head so there's no protrusions.
A mixture of case brands, Win, Hdy. Cases are all trimmed nicely and consistent. The only difference might be in the case/base thickness, but not to account for the differences in the results. Sometimes way short, sometimes long.
I have the press set up so the ram is at the stop point. (no over travel or under travel)
Driving me nuts. (being polite)

as others have said , neck tension, brass thickness in the neck . i try to stick with one brand of decent quality brass and have no issues . i anneal after 3rd firing, my 222 gives stellar accuracy on 6 times fired brass . i have to anneal my fire formed 338-06 brass ,sized up from 30-06, as groups dropped off when cases were reloaded. lost the neck tension , actually felt "soft" when seating bullets . initial accuracy with the new resized cases was fantastic . there's a few tricks to this reloading game , just be thankful your not playing with 22 hornet i got great accuracy out of one i had , but i had to learn some tricks first . keep persisting , and most importantly keep asking questions