Bullet seating and crimp grooves

[Hotshot10]

I'm relatively new to reloading, and I ordered some 158-grain, plated .38 specials from Rocky Mountain Reloading. These bullets have a crimp groove in them.

When I seated them, I used the same OAL as I did with my Rainier bullets. About 1/4 of the crimp groove is covered by the brass, while the other 3/4 of the groove is above the case mouth.

I have two questions:

1. Should I have seated them deeper?

2. Are the ones I loaded okay to shoot or do I have to pull them and redo them?

 

[helotaxi]

Unless the bullet is the same dimensions, seating to the same OAL is nothing more than a WAG. I would seat to either the middle of the cannelure or to the point where almost all of it is in the case mouth and apply a very light crimp. Being that its a different bullet you'll ideally want to rework your loads.

 

[Walkalong]

Seat the bullets so the crimp rolls the case mouth fully into the crimp crimp. That is the correct OAL for that brass length and bullet.

.38 Caliber

.44 Caliber