more problems with Forster dies

[Tnslim]

I purchased 6BR Forster neck, full length and seater dies recently and so far have had nothing but problems. To start with, the neck die badly scratched the necks of new Lapua brass and the seater die left a ring around the bullet about 3/16" from tip. I sent them back for repair at the cost of around $30.00. They returned them near 3 weeks later telling me I hadn't champhered the necks on the new brass. Wrong there as I did the inside and outside of the necks....no burrs felt. The die still slightly scratched the necks so I used a bore mop chucked in a drill along with a bit of polishing compound and finally got satisfactory results. The seater die no longer leaves the ring on the 107gr Sierras but when I loaded some 85gr Sierras seating them at .015 jump I had problems repeating the seating depth. I miked each round and found a variance of .012 seating depth among 30 rounds. This is my first and probably last set of Forster dies due to the QC and customer service. I use Lee dies on all my other calibres and have yet to have the first problem other than I recieved the wrong shell holder which they sent the correct holder with no questions asked along with a letter of apology. Next step is to send a couple of fired brass to Lee and get the neck and seater die set. I'm not trying to change anyone's fellings towards Forster products, just reporting my own observations.

[GaCop]

I've found that bullets can vary as much as .006" from base to ogive and even more from base to tip. Verifying overall lengths drove me nut until I discovered that. I now measure the bullets I'm going to load and segregate them into lengths giving me good OAL's on loaded rounds.

[helotaxi]

Sorry to hear about your experiences. I've had nothing but stellar experience with Forster and they have become my go-to die brand.

[gotcha]

Hi Tnslim, Yes, have had the same issues w/ Forster Micro seater. And had to do some polishing on my F/L die as you did. But, I've had several dies from other Mfg's that required polishing even though they were thoroughly cleaned B-4 use. I don't care for the skinny seating stem that makes contact close to the tip of the bullet rather than close to the bearing surface at the lower part of the ogive as it should. The closer to the bearing surface the better for consistent bullet/ neck alignment. I'd also like to see Forster offer a carbide expander. That idea has fallen on deaf ears for many years. I've done a lot of reading over the years and haven't found that a small indentation from the seating stem on the bullet would have any effect on accuracy. But, if you don't like the mark, why put up with it ;)........... Still can't help but wonder how the impression from the seater stem would effect thin skinned varmint bullets ??? On the other hand I've never had a Forster die give me anything but perfect neck to base alignment. My .02 cents

[Luckus]

I agree with GAcop. Base to ogive length can and does vary, sometimes by as much as .010 in the same box. If you use them for match use they have to be measured and sorted. I have had no problems with any Forster dies as yet.

[Bamboolongbow]

Maybe I should have done a little more reading before I called Midway. I just purchased the Forster Ultra Seater die after going rounds with my Hornady seating die. Ever since I put a micrometer on top of that Hornady seater it has given me inconsistent results.
Maybe I should have gone to the Redding Competition die?

[bootsmcguire]

To the OP, you can make your own set of Collet Dies for 6BR pretty easy.

The Collet Die for 6PPC works great on the 6BR. And for a Seating die, I used a 243 Dead Length Seating Die and just put it in the lathe and shortened it the appropriate amount. Just strip the die and measure the OAL of the die body and shorten accordingly. Works like a champ. I did the same thing to a set of 308 Collet Dies to make 30BR. Worked great, but for the 30BR I had to modify the Collet die also. That really wasn't hard either.

If you don't have access to a lathe yourself, most small machine shops would perform the task of shortening a 243 seater for you and I can't imagine they would charge more than a few bucks.

Hope that helps or at least gives you another option.

Good Shooting.