Reloading Done Right

When it comes to reloading, bullets are a bit like kids; if you start them off right, upright, and centred, they will go forward straight and true. The significance of properly aligning your bullets in the cases before seating them is often underestimated.

Concentricity
Concentricity is the quality or state of having a common centre, and in reloading, that means aligning the case mouth, the bullet, and the bore of the gun barrel as closely as possible with each other. If these components all share a common centre, then the bullet will stabilise and travel far more consistently and effectively.

Take a seat
Depending on how you sequence your reloading, you can either have your primed and powder-charged cases sitting in the reloading tray and then place a bullet on top of each one before moving them one at a time to the press, or you can place a bullet into the case mouth when each case is sitting in the press. Either way, it is worth taking a second or two to actually position each bullet consistently and straight in the case mouth. With presses where the bullet seating die is located at the back, requiring you to reach around, it can be challenging to position the bullets consistently and accurately. Bullet feed dies help, and they will actually improve consistency. On single-stage presses, you can easily take each case and introduce the bullet into the mouth correctly before you put it in the shell holder.

Sitting comfortably?
When a bullet is put into a case’s mouth, it is important that it is straight and vertical, with the sides of the bullet parallel to the sides of the case. It is also worthwhile pushing the bullet into the case as much as you can so that it doesn’t topple or move before seating starts. This is much easier with bullets that have bevelled or boat-tail bases, as their slimmer rear allows them to enter the case with minimal effort.
Flat-based bullets are harder to start into the case mouth because they are that much wider at the rear than boat-tail bullets, but it is still possible to start them into the case correctly.
With straight-walled cases, you can apply a slight flare to the case mouth to widen it, making it easier to position the bullets correctly. The flare must then be removed when the bullet is seated or when a crimp is applied. It is important that the base of the bullet is not damaged by applying too much force when you are trying to start it into the case’s mouth. Soft, lead bullets are very easy to damage when you are trying to start them into the case, making a flare particularly important.

Assisted alignment
There are dies that can help with starting and aligning bullets correctly. Bullet feed dies automatically drop a bullet into each case on a progressive or turret press with every cycle of the handle. This automation ensures greater consistency, as each bullet is securely held and precisely placed into the case through a straight-sided, precision-engineered cavity within the die.
There are also bullet seating dies with a side window in the die body, allowing you to insert a bullet, which is then held straight and positioned directly above the case mouth. When the ram of the die is raised, the case rises to ‘collect’ the bullet before pressing it against the seating stem and securing it within the case. Because the bullet is already inside the die and held securely, it is started into the case very straight and consistently.

Consistency
Consistency is vital in reloading, and when it comes to starting bullets in the case, this is particularly important. Positioning all bullets straight and true is obviously the best option, but if that is not possible, it is actually better for them to all have the same degree of ‘wonkiness’ than to have some wonky and some straight. Such is the nature of consistency.

Bearing surfaces
Some types of bullets have very short bearing surfaces, particularly those with both boat-tails and longer ogives, and they are harder to start into the case mouth straight. The amount of surface available to engage with the case and align with it can be so short that they tend to lean and even seat out of line.

Correcting
If you are unable to start your bullets off consistently, and so have poor concentricity, there are tools that can help to correct the problem afterwards. Concentricity tools work by measuring the amount of deviation from the centre and then pushing bullets into line with the centreline of the case. They have a noticeable effect on the quality of your ammunition and are worth using to monitor and improve the performance of even your best ammunition.

Conclusion
The process of simply positioning a bullet in a case mouth is not something that generally gets a lot of consideration, but it is well worth doing right. Taking just a few seconds to stand the bullet upright in the case will make a difference to your ammunition’s performance. Going even further, by checking and correcting concentricity, does take a little bit more time, but it can yield good results and is well worth the effort. If your reloading setup does the bullet placement for you, this will give you the consistency you need, but it can still be worth checking and correcting ammunition produced this way. Investing this extra time, getting your bullets positioned correctly in the case mouths before they are seated, is definitely time well spent.