.222 seating depth

clivecleaver

Well-Known Member
Hello

I’m not sure if I am doing something completely wrong or just losing the plot!! Probably both!

I have a lee press and have just bought a set of lee deluxe .222 dies. To resize a case after one shot what is the external diameter of the case neck?

I have 55 grain v max bullet heads and at the moment I can not seem to seat the bullet to the depth mentioned in my sierra manual? I think it said 2.125 overall length. I’m putting them through a CZ.

cheers
 
CC: It's hard to say exactly what the dimensions of the neck on a resized case may be. It would depend on the diameter of the expander ball, the hardness (age) of the brass, and of course, the original wall thickness of the brass. Suffice to say that if you resize the brass and can't push a bullet into it by hand, it's probably OK.

As to your seating problem. Is it that you physically can't get the bullet to that length? Or is it that it won't work in the CZ magazine??~Muir
 
The neck size is just tight enough so that they can not be pushed in by hand, they are ex factory loaded Winchester brass fired once, is it worth me buying new brass?

The seating problem is that the press handle runs out of travel before the bullet is seated into the recommended depth. Even with the press screwed down as far as it will go it will fit into the magazine of the rifle though.

It seats as far so you can’t pull it out by hand but not to the length recommended in the Sierra manual.
 
Clive

Do you mean you're currently seating the bullet too deep, or not deep enough?

Don't take this the wrong way, but have you checked out the Lee website:

http://www.leeprecision.com/html/HelpVideos/videos/Pistol/pistol bs die-1.wmv

Also "Make sure that you have the bullet seating die adjusted down so that the shell holder contacts the base of the die when the ram is raised to the top of its stroke. The Deluxe die set comes with the Dead length bullet seating die, which does not crimp the case, and is designed to be adjusted that way to eliminate clearance in the press for a more uniform bullet seating depth."

willie_gunn
 
Clive

No worries.

Hopefully you won't have the same problem I did. My ideal bullet seating depth made the OAL longer than magazine in my Sako 75, so I had to seat the bullets a bit deeper than I really wanted to. Still, it beat having the re-engineer the magazine and action ;)

Good luck with the reloads.

willie_gunn
 
Why the 55 grain VM's? There are better bullets, I think, but I'm not big on 55 grainers in the .222. The 40 grain VM is sweet. Midway markets a 50 grain HP that is excellent.~Muir.

222group5shotsRED072.jpg


This is 5 shots at 100M from my Winchester M-70
 
I have been using 50 grain soft nose up to now and it looks like I can achieve the same sort of velocity 3200 with a 55 v-max so I though id try it. Also they were limited to what was available in the shop.

Has anyone else heard anything about them trying to phase out the .222?
 
Few American companies make .222's anymore so in that light, it's phasing itself out. The ammo will be available for a very long time. If yoiu reload, .223 cases can be used to make it in a pinch.

The Deuce is a very inherently accurate cartridge. The long neck and ideal case capacity helped make it THE bench rest cartridge in the US from it's introduction to the seventies. The best load, used by BR Champ Warren Page and found to be almost "universally accurate" in all quality .222's, was 19 grains of Hodgdon 4198 and any good 50 - 52 grain bullet. If people prized effeciency and accuracy more than pure velocity the .222 would be very popular today, indeed.~Muir.
 
very interesting, so i need not worry for some time to come. i am very please with mine i have been using it for about 3 years and had no problems with it. unlike the .17HMR i have that im sorry is useless!!
 
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