Ammunition and explosive-charge making – Ammunition loading – Bullet setting
Reexamination Certificate
1999-12-28
2001-06-12
Tudor, Harold J. (Department: 3641)
Ammunition and explosive-charge making
Ammunition loading
Bullet setting
C086S023000, C086S024000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06244154
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to the reloading of firearm cartridges and, in particular, to a seating die for use in a reloading press.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Many avid hunters and competitive target shooters prefer to reload their cartridges in an effort to attain greater accuracy. A reloading press is conventionally used for this purpose. Typically, the press contains a stationary head for supporting one or more dies used in the reloading process and a coacting movable ram for moving cartridges into and out of the dies. One important aspect of the reloading press is the ability to properly seat a bullet within a shell casing to attain a desired depth of penetration of the bullet into the open casing. It is important that the bullet be axially aligned with the casing as it passes into the neck region of the casing. Any misalignment between the bullet and the casing will result in the casing material becoming distorted and the bullet being improperly seated in assembly. This, of course, results in inaccurate firing of the bullet and oftentimes damages the casing to a point where it cannot be again reloaded.
There have been many attempts to improve seating dies for use in a reloading press. U.S. Pat. No. 4,862,567 to Beebe, which is incorporated herein by reference, teaches of a seating die which includes inner and outer guide members that are disposed within a housing. The inner guide member is slidably contained within the outer guide member and moves axially between a home position and a stop position. The inner guide member has a contoured upper chamber for receiving a bullet therein. The outer guide member further includes a contoured lower chamber for receiving a shell casing and the lower chamber communicates with a smaller upper chamber of the inner guide member that receives the bullet therein. As a ram moves the bullet and the casing into the die, both the bullet and the casing become firmly seated in their respective chambers. Further movement of the ram causes the inner guide member to contact a first stop, thus arresting the upward motion of the bullet. The second guide member and shell casing, however, are permitted to continue their upward progress until the outer guide contacts a second stop at which time the bullet is well seated within the neck of the shell casing. Although this seating die works quite well for large caliber rifle cartridges with shell casings having a bottle neck configuration, it is not adaptable for use when seating small caliber handgun cartridges wherein the shell casings generally have a straight wall configuration
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore an object of the present invention to improve seating dies used to load cartridges having straight wall casings of the type commonly used in most handguns and some small caliber rifles.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a seating die having a simplified construction and less moving parts when compared to those presently found in the prior art.
It is yet another object of the present invention to improve the accuracy or reloaded cartridges having straight wall shell casings.
These and other objects of the present invention are attained by a seating die for handgun cartridges for use in a reloading press that has a ram for supporting a straight wall shell casing and an unseated bullet in axial alignment with a die and a mechanism for producing relative motion between the ram and the die whereby the two move toward and away from each other along a common axis. The die includes an elongated housing having a chamber passing therethrough so that a cartridge mounted on the ram can pass into the chamber through the bottom opening in the housing. A seating stem is slidably contained in the chamber for movement along the axis of the housing and having a contoured opening in the bottom thereof for receiving the ogive of the bullet as the ram and die come together whereby the seating stem is moved upwardly in the chamber. A stop is mounted in the chamber and is arranged to arrest the movement of the seating stem whereupon the bullet is seated within the casing. A coil spring is mounted within the chamber and acts between the seating stem and a cap mounted in the top of the housing to place a continuous biasing force upon the seating stem as it moves within the chamber to axially align the unseated bullet with the shell casings and maintain the two in alignment as the bullet is arrested against the stop.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3440923 (1969-04-01), Purdie
patent: 4385545 (1983-05-01), Duer
patent: 4836078 (1989-06-01), Lee
patent: 4862567 (1989-09-01), Beebe
patent: 4869148 (1989-09-01), Tucker
patent: 366482 (1938-12-01), None
Beebe Richard W.
Ryan Patrick T.
Redding Hunter, Inc.
Tudor Harold J.
Wall Marjama & Bilinski
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