ok so I got the .17 remington on a savage axis about built and have a good supply of bullets I have 20,25 and 30 grain to hand load. How in the heck can you keep these bullets straight enough going into the die Ive ruined 2 out of 5 cases trying to load these .Share your tricks if have some please,

Just curious on the type of press and die brand you have? I have RCBS 50 press and RCBS dies and don’t have any issues I guess. no I don’t have small fingers either.

I don't load 17 but I have fat fingers
have you tried belling/fairing the case mouth slightly ? then they will sit in them and slide in you close it back up with the crimp

Check the diameter of your expander ball on the decapping pin. Should be .001 to.002 smaller than bullet diameter. I personally think it should be .001 under. With spring back I would expect .002 neck tension.

Expander mandrel possibly?

Did you chamfer the case mouth?

I played around with expander mandrels for a while. They work quite well but I graduated to neck turning and full length bushing dies. I set the sizing die to give the shoulder a .002 bump back and can play around with neck tension by simply changing bushing diameter. Rounds chamber smoothly the same every single time and my groups admittedly are slightly smaller. I don't dink around at 100 yards. I check group size at 200.

THIS^^^^^

Maybe you could hold the bullet with a pair of hemostat on it’s way into the die

Spendy, but the RCBS match master seating die is the cats meow for small diameter bullets. My opinion of course.

champher the case mouth, start to seat your bullet, when its started, back the ram up, spin the case 90 degrees, seat it a bit more, back it off spin the case another 90 degrees, and finish seating it. This also keeps runout to a minimum.

Same set up
yes I did

ill look at those if they make it in a .17 Remington I'm spending my xmas money lol.

Vickerman seating die.

This is the way to go. I use one for 17 Rem and 17 Hornet.

RR1960, has some good advice!!
It sounds too me like Your bullet seating die is not adjusted Right?
You want the brass too ALMOST bottom out!!
After you get the case depth set.
Then you can adjust the bullet seating depth.
Be gentle with those small bullets.
RCBS dies for me!! Good Luck!!

Ever heard of a Wilson seating die?


Of course you'll need an arbor press.

Skip ahead to the 2 min mark.

The smallest Matchmaster seater I have seen advertized is .204.

That vickerman die looks like what I need.I’ll have to call them in the morning and see what it takes to order one.