I have Redding's seating die in 7mm-08 Rem, the competition die with the flaoting stem. 1st time using today, I could not get die set by adjusting at the top of ram stroke with shellholder in place. Ram to the top of stroke with shellholder in place, and I set the die body until it was firmly touching the shellholder...by the time I had the seating stem screwed all the way in...I was still short on adjustment. With stem adjusted to end of it's travel for adjustment, I was still short .02's of where I wanted to be. Was trying to seat SMK, 168 gr, HPBT. Is it possible that I need a longer/different seating stem for this bullet?

Any ideas?

I pulled the shellholder out, set die off ram without shellholder, then replaced the shellholder and had enough travel to get the job done.

Novice here, and I think I'm doing something wrong, 'eh?