seating VMax bullets

[ironfoot]

I am reloading .223 Remington ammo. I am using Hornady New Dimension dies. I have installed the Hornady MicroJust on the seating stem. I am loading 55 grain Hornady VMax bullets. When I seat the bullet, it leaves an indenture ring in the bullet brass. I wonder if this will effect accuracy? I don't see how it could be a good thing. Is it because of the thin jackets on VMax bullets? Am I doing anything wrong?

[KN]

I have read that deformations on a bullet tip will have little affect on accuracy, but deformities on a bullets base will be severe. Don't know how much truth there is to that, It's just some thing I read. I have seen a ring on certain bullets that I load but never to the point that I could feel them. I would suggest that you change the edge of your seating stem if its leaving too much of a mark. Find some one with a lathe and cut the angle to more closely match the bullet nose profile.   KN

[Joe Kool]

It sounds like it takes a good bit of force to seat the bullets. Be sure you have a adequate chamfer on the case mouth. Mike the expander ball to be sure that it is .001" under the bullet size (.223"). I've seen the expander balls, in new dies up to .003" too small, they can also wear, from use. Lube the inside of the case necks with graphite or mica. I sometimes clean the inside of the necks by wrapping steel wool around an old bronze bore brush and chucking it in a low speed drill. The bullets will seat smoother, with less force. Try a different brand of case, your cases may have unusually stiff brass in the neck. As KN suggested knock off the sharp corner on the seating stem.  

[ironfoot]

Thanks for the replies.
I emailed Hornady and asked them the same question.
Here is their response:

It was because of the thinner jacket on the nose of the bullets.  you can remove the seating stem and reshape the inside of the stem with some 400 sand paper.  Use it round a wooden dowel rod that you have sharpened in the pencil sharpener.  Or use a pencil but break the point off a little.

[Questor]

It doesn't sound like much of a problem.

If you're just getting a slight ring that appears like a small scratch on the surface, that's normal. If you've got any more damage than that, your sizing die may be too small (unlikely), or your case mouths are rough and afford too much resistance to bullet seating.  There aren't a lot of other possibilities.

[rodgervich]

I have the same thing happen on my .17 cal VMAX's sometimes, but accuracy is not reduced. Some of them get smashed pretty good. Right where the plastic tip meets the copper jacket there is no lead underneath so the jacket gets crushed like you describe very easily. One thing to check is that the "crush ring" is concentric and centered on the bullet. I have polished the inside of the seater stem with 400/600 grit abrasive paper and it helps a lot to reduce the crushing tendency.