Did I screw up bad?

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agshooter

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SO I was setting up to do a ladder test for my .223 loads and loaded 9 different rounds. Once I finished, at midnight, I realized I screwed up. Instead of setting my OAL to 2.260" I went 2.260". The pisser is, I thought man, those bullets lok deep but didn't dawn on me I was being dislexic with my numbers. ughhh.

So I imagine I have greatly increased the pressure potential to an unsafe load. I guess, I will just save the rounds until i get a puller to break them down.

Guess my rant is more of a reminder to really pay attention to your measurements and numbers.
 
yeah we can't help you much unless you fix that little typo. However, if you haven't seated them beyond the body of the bullet my bet is that you haven't hurt a thing. Most cannelures on .223 bullets are right before the body tapers off to the point.
 
HAHA see I can't even get it right to describe teh situation.

Desired OAL = 2.260"

what I did 2.226"
 
I load most loads for .223 at around 2.257 for ARs and usually longer for bolt guns.
I also shoot a lot of factory stuff in ARs that are seated even deeper than those you did.
A far worse situation would be to load.. lets say 26.2 grains of a certain powder when ..say..22.6 grains was a max load.

Yep. Paying attention is vital!
 
So would these be OK to shoot?

I guess the results wont be too helpful or could I still find my barrel harmonic grouping? and then properly seat at 2.260" for the refined ladder test?
 
'Can't tell you if they're safe w/o knowing what loads/powder/bullet you're using. But even then they're of no use to your ladder test.

Go get a hammer/inertial puller. And then don't pull them, just hammer them out enough to move the bullet forward in the case. Then run them back into the seater to correct OAL for good test results.

`Shouldn't take long at all.
:D
 
So would these be OK to shoot?

Prolly yes. Bullet seating depth is not as critical in bottlenecked cartriges with a medium to large bore to capacity ratio.

When deciding on an OAL, imagine the inside of your chamber. Then imagine your finished round sitting inside the chamber. You want the neck to have a firm grip on the bullet. You want the bullet as close to the lands as possible. You want your round to have both qualities: firm grip on the bullet and the bullet as close to the lands as possible. This is a compromise and most of the time your OAL will be shorter than 2.260".
 
Loaded a new batch today. Going to shoot the screw ups just to compare, at least I will get some data from it.

Using R-15 and Hornady 75 gr BTHO match with LC 09 once-fired brass.
 
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