44-40 Bullet Seater Question

[MikeM.]

Ok guys , I'm about to reload some 44-40 rounds and noticed that my seater is for a round nose bullet . I use Missouri Bullet Company #5 bullets . Do I need to get a semi wad-cutter style seater for this since it has a flat nose ??

[Coffinmaker]

  Hi Mike

Not necessarily.  It will depend on the Ogive of your bullet and the Ogive contact in the Die.  You may be able to adjust the contact of the die to seat a semi-Wadcutter.  Now.  Are you loading for a handgun??  Or a Rifle??  That really will make a difference.  I admit I haven't read this whole thread.

[MikeM.]

Pistol and rifle actually

[Coal Creek Griff]

I doubt that you'll have an issue, but the test will come with loading a number of cartridges and examining the bullets. If you see damage, you'll have to decide if it is significant enough to make a difference for your purposes. Unless you're after long-range accuracy, a ring around the bullet ogive will probably just be cosmetic. For me, it was just a cosmetic issue, but I still didn't like it. I removed the seating plug and sanded off some of the outer edge where it cut into the bullet, checking it with an unloaded bullet periodically. I only took off the sharp edge and it stopped marking the bullets. There are other possible solutions (such as using epoxy or JB Weld and forming it with an oiled bullet to make a custom seater or just grinding the seater flat so that it's pushing on the meplat of the bullet), but this worked for me.

Griff

[MikeM.]

Thanks for the info guys

[Coffinmaker]

  Hey Mike

The BIG reason I asked what you were loading for, Handgun or Rifle, is your choice of bullets. For most Lever Action Rifles, Semi-Wadcutters will NOT feed reliable.  Semi-Wadcutters will JAM the gun consistently.  Perfectly acceptable for Hand Guns but you should shop Round Nose Flat Point for Rifle.  Flat Point is especially the choice for Tube Feed Magazines as used in CAS. 

[MikeM.]

My bullets are Missouri Bullet Company # 5 bullets which are RNFP

[Hair Trigger Jim]

So basically you're wondering if your RN seater will be fine for your RNFP bullets, or if a SWC seater would be better because of the flat point?

[MikeM.]

Exactly