Download our Android App!
Sage's Android App
Download our Apple App!
Sage's Apple App

Donate to Sages

Page 1 of 3 123 LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 26
  1. #1
    JeffreyDeGraff's Avatar
    Title
    Premium Member
    Join Date
    Jul 2018
    Location
    North Texas
    Posts
    2,367

    Frankford Arsenal Universal Seating Die

    My Frankford seating die showed up today. I’m excited to try and use it. The only foreseeable problem would be having to adjust the lock ring for different cartridges, making the micrometer setting not repeatable. But may be it will be fine. I will report more as I use it.



    JTD

  2. #2
    That's an interesting seating die. The die portion looks like a Vickerman seater. Having a senior moment forgetting names. but this die ,overall, is similar to a Lyman bench rest die from some years back. I don't think there is anything really new here. I'm reluctant to do business with any of Midway's companies based on past experience.

  3. #3
    JeffreyDeGraff's Avatar
    Title
    Premium Member
    Join Date
    Jul 2018
    Location
    North Texas
    Posts
    2,367
    I’m not familiar with the vickerman dies. Where I see the most similarity is with the Hornady seating die. Hornady uses generic die bodies with caliber specific inserts, that along with the bullet window that rcbs uses on their match seating die. I got a really good deal on it, so if it turns out to be trash, no big loss, but it will definitely be fun to try out.

    Ive not had any bad experiences with midway, and I’ve been very happy with all my new frankford arsenal stuff, I’m hoping this will be good also.


    JTD

  4. #4
    JeffreyDeGraff's Avatar
    Title
    Premium Member
    Join Date
    Jul 2018
    Location
    North Texas
    Posts
    2,367
    I seated 18, 223 75gr hpbt this morning. Was nice as far as I could tell. I locked the lock ring down, and set the die body high and mic kinda low for 223, in hopes that I will have the range of adjustment I need for longer cases without having to loosen the lock ring.


    JTD

  5. #5
    Flyeralan's Avatar
    Title
    Premium Member
    Join Date
    Jul 2018
    Location
    SE PA
    Posts
    404
    If you do have to end up changing the lock ring, put a Hornady lock ring on, I believe them to be simpler to use and more consistent. I see your point on losing the advantage of the mic option, but still would be nice for working up loads, especially when looking for optimum OAL. I am interested in your thoughts on this as you learn.

    Quote Originally Posted by JeffreyDeGraff View Post
    I seated 18, 223 75gr hpbt this morning. Was nice as far as I could tell. I locked the lock ring down, and set the die body high and mic kinda low for 223, in hopes that I will have the range of adjustment I need for longer cases without having to loosen the lock ring.


    JTD
    "Long range shooting, It's like golf, but for men"

  6. #6
    JeffreyDeGraff's Avatar
    Title
    Premium Member
    Join Date
    Jul 2018
    Location
    North Texas
    Posts
    2,367
    Quote Originally Posted by Flyeralan View Post
    If you do have to end up changing the lock ring, put a Hornady lock ring on, I believe them to be simpler to use and more consistent. I see your point on losing the advantage of the mic option, but still would be nice for working up loads, especially when looking for optimum OAL. I am interested in your thoughts on this as you learn.
    You must be reading my mind. I fully intend to use a Hornady lock ring if I need to change the lock ring depth every time.

    I was also thinking the same about load development. It will be very handy for that, if nothing else.

    As I use it I will keep updating this post. I’m hoping to use it on 257roberts and 257 Ackley, soon.


    JTD

  7. #7
    JeffreyDeGraff's Avatar
    Title
    Premium Member
    Join Date
    Jul 2018
    Location
    North Texas
    Posts
    2,367

    Frankford Arsenal Universal Seating Die

    I measured all 18 223 rounds that I loaded. They range from 2.240 - 2.254”. I got a little concerned with the .014” variance so I measured them all with the comparator. 2.829 - 2.830”, so the seater was definitely consistent.


    JTD
    Last edited by JeffreyDeGraff; 12-06-2020 at 08:52 AM.

  8. #8
    JeffreyDeGraff's Avatar
    Title
    Premium Member
    Join Date
    Jul 2018
    Location
    North Texas
    Posts
    2,367
    I used the Frankford seating die on two more calibers. I loaded some 257 Ackley with 117gr SST, last night. They turned out great. This morning I loaded some 7.5x55 with 178gr ELDX. I used the medium length seating stem for both the the 257 and 7.5, because I was going off of case length and desired over all length. Frankford recommends the short stem for .308, but says using the other is ok. The only issue I ran into using the medium stem on the 7.5, was having to make sure the bullet tip centered in the seating stem. Not a big issue just something to remember.

    The micrometer adjustments seem to be spot on and has been very easy to adjust to my desired seating depth.


    JTD

  9. #9
    JeffreyDeGraff's Avatar
    Title
    Premium Member
    Join Date
    Jul 2018
    Location
    North Texas
    Posts
    2,367
    I loaded some 257 Roberts with the Frankford seating die.

    Years ago I had a great load for this rifle. 117gr Hornady btsp over 42.8gr of H4350. But for the life of me (and my ex throwing away all of my load data notebooks) don’t remember the seating depth. I believe it was close to the lands but am not certain.

    Ive loaded this load with the bullets .020” of the lands, and although it was plenty accurate enough to hunt with, it wasn’t as accurate as my original load.

    So today I loaded some at .020” off the lands and then .015”, .010”, and .005” off the lands. The die worked perfectly. I moved the micrometer .005” for each load and checked each with the comparator and they were perfect. Beats the hell out of trying to adjust my 1976 vintage rcbs die each time.


  10. #10
    JeffreyDeGraff's Avatar
    Title
    Premium Member
    Join Date
    Jul 2018
    Location
    North Texas
    Posts
    2,367
    The only thing I’m really curious about is concentricity and runout. I don’t have a concentricity tool at this time, but I can’t see it introducing any more than any other mid priced die. Anyways, just a random thought running through my head.


    JTD

Similar Threads

  1. Frankford arsenal m press
    By JeffreyDeGraff in forum Equipment Discussions
    Replies: 9
    Last Post: 10-26-2021, 07:44 AM
  2. Frankford Arsenal intellidropper
    By JeffreyDeGraff in forum Equipment Discussions
    Replies: 3
    Last Post: 10-01-2019, 04:20 PM
  3. Frankford arsenal wet tumbler
    By Guns4545 in forum Tumbling Brass
    Replies: 8
    Last Post: 09-28-2019, 07:30 AM
  4. Frankford arsenal precision case trimmer
    By southbraves1983 in forum Equipment Discussions
    Replies: 1
    Last Post: 04-28-2019, 04:55 PM
  5. Frankford Arsenal trays
    By CodySPowell in forum Pistol Reloading (General)
    Replies: 2
    Last Post: 09-28-2018, 12:35 PM

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •