Any tips to make sure SWC bullet seats square when loading a 9mm?

First topic message reminder :

I'm loading 140gn cast SWCs in 9mm, and trying to figure out the most reliable way to get the bullets to go in straight. I have three different seater stem styles: Redding flat stem, Redding conical (that fits XTP's angle), and an old RCBS hemi.

I'm loading on a single stage, Forster Co-ax.

Using any one of the three doesn't seem to work well enough; at least not in single motion.

Conical doesn't quite fit the shape of my SWC's nose, but seems to get the bullet most straight (but not every time); However because it's different shape from the bullet's nose it deforms bullet's lead a bit, and I don't get uniform OAL.

Hemi doesn't get the bullet straight more often than the conical, but produces the desired OAL more reliably than conical.

I haven't used the flat as I'm worried that it doesn't really guide the bullet toward square.

I've figured a trick that works mostly OK, but it's kind of fiddly - I sit in two stages, first with the conical, in three motions of increasing depth, slightly rotating round between each press, and then finish with the hemi to the final depth.

Has anyone figured a decent reliable way to do this? Thanks

Take one of your stems and chuck it up in a drill and hollow it out with a file so that the seater hits on the rim of the bullet only. That way the stem hits the highest part of the bullet and pushes it straight into the case.
 Another solution is to take JB Weld and put it on the seater. Then take a bullet and form the JB Weld to your bullet profile.

Kermit Workman wrote:Take one of your stems and chuck it up in a drill and hollow it out with a file so that the seater hits on the rim of the bullet only. That way the stem hits the highest part of the bullet and pushes it straight into the case.
 Another solution is to take JB Weld and put it on the seater. Then take a bullet and form the JB Weld to your bullet profile.

I did hollow out one of my seaters so it presses on the shoulder, and found it wasn't sufficient for whatever reason - bullets still had more runout than I'd like. Rotating round and repeatedly applying seater helped, but I'm not sure I like how much time it adds to the loading process..

PhotoEscape wrote:
Yes, definitely.  NOE Expanders is a good solution, especially for jacketed bullets.  They have expander step sufficient for proper bullet insertion.  Down side for lead bullets (cast or coated) is insufficient depth of expansion.  Base of the bullet gets swaged, which is major factor affecting accuracy.  If your RR testing provides you with adequate / desired accuracy, that is all you need, IMO.

AP

I'll need to check if the bullets I use do get swaged down or not. They are pretty hard, so there's chance they don't, but good point to check to make sure.

Expanders can also be made deeper, with little machining

The times I had problems with improperly seated 9mm bullets was from me placing the bullet at an angle on the brass. First step was to slow down to ensure I placed it better in the brass but once I bought an oversized expander from Photoescape the problem went away completely. With the oversized step in the brass the bullet feels like it "clicks" into place. If I don't feel that click I know it's not squarely into the brass and I re-seat it. 
I guess these NOE parts do the same thing but the oversizing ring makes all the difference in feel.

Apologies for reviving an old topic, but I've gotten to the bottom of this problem and thought I'd post in case someone else ends up in a similar situation.

Long story short: I've "lucked" into getting a wearplate of subpar quality when I got my Forster Co-Ax. They had a period when their laser cutter partner couldn't get the usual tempered steel sheet that they make these wearplates from (they look blued). Instead they used some soft steel, which looks like wears out significantly after around 2,000 rounds or so.

The wearplate wears out unevenly which in turn causes cases to not sit square, with all that follows.

Anyway, Forster is back making the plates from the good steel, and my good replacement is in the mail. In meanwhile I've turned my worn out plate over to the side that's still good, and all my bullet sitting problems have magically gone away.