Bullets can vary in length. The seating stem works on the ogive of the the bullet. If you have different length bullets the OAL length of the loaded round will vary (if you're measuring from case head to bullet tip). Just for kicks, measure a handful of bullets before loading them to see if their length is consistent.
Getting pretty frustrated with inconsistent bullet seating depth.
- Thread starter Jim K III
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CQB45ACP
Member
I have done just that in the past with both Berry’s & Xtreme not much difference in a lot but sometimes noticeable.
For pistol—the seating via ogive then immediately taking that cartridge and measuring via the tip made no sense to me. You are at the mercy of the bullet maker.
So, I took a couple of Redding stems and using JBWeld “converted” them from ogive to tip. Worked fine but you lose (or reduce effectiveness) a key feature of the Redding die—keeping bullet and case carefully aligned.
Edit: hold on, you tricked me! Only when bullets are “pushed down” into the case from the ogive would there or could there be any variation. If from the tip, neither the bullet nor case nor die nor calipers know how much bullet precedes it into the case.
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CQB45ACP
Member
Agree completelyYup. I’m guessing about 75% of these problems come down to how you measure and the other 90% are the result of getting in a hurry and not paying attention to detail
Yesterday I measured the COL of some Remington & Magtech factory 45acp 230gr RN cartridges.
Most were 1.260” (which is what I always shoot for as well) but some were just a little under. I wouldn’t care to bet my measuring was better than their loading.
GeoDudeFlorida
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You also really can’t compare rifle and pistol measures. Like posted above, varying degrees of pointy vs varying degrees of blunt.
With rifle loading, there’s no issue (in reality and being perfectly honest) until you start seating the ogive into the throat where leads become grooves - “jam”. If you’re loading to commercial length or staying inside the limits of a magazine length where you have the rim and tangent to the ogive within a few thousandths of each other, then plus or minus that few thousandths is irrelevant. If you’re loading to jam then plus a few thousandths is a no-go and minus a few thousandths might change POI at a couple thousand meters.
Who here is using the cheapest mass-market dies to load for shooting over a thousand meters?
Bueller?
irishlad
Contributing Member
CQB45ACP
Member
I never do compare pistol anything to rifle anything. I know they’re different. With some similarities
Always fact-specific your honor.
243winxb
Member
https://support.leeprecision.net/en/search?query=Dead+length+seating+die
Lee makes a Dead Length Seating Die. Its made to contact the shell holder or plate, acting as a stop. It removes slop & flex from the press. It does NOT crimp. May be worth a try?
Those actually work really well when it comes to seating bullets straight, not going to make OAL measured to the tip any better.
I use the Sinclair version.
I had the exact problem and did 2 things - bought a companion single press and started measuring by ogive, not case base to tip of bullet. You can have a lot of differing measurements with bullet tip length but the ogive is all the same. Get the tool to measure by ogive.
CQB45ACP
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Since 2012 they say.
Click_Here
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LCT. Good luck with consistency. You have to be consistent with the force of operation. Too light, too heavy, too fast, too slow, multiple slow taps etc. will throw your OAL’s.
Maybe you’ve noticed it. The turret plate literally has vertical play. Probably in the range of your OAL.
Maybe you’ve noticed it. The turret plate literally has vertical play. Probably in the range of your OAL.
irishlad
Contributing Member
For me a comparator(or something to measure ogive) is a must have on my bench. Bullet tips just vary too much.
CQB45ACP
Member
Good reminder
Just two days ago I broke down a couple of my old rounds and one had an obvious protruding primer. Have no idea how it passed my inspection when I primed it originally. Fixed now.
Although I also use a Hornady ogive measurer, I have noticed two problems. When trimming a case, it's common to
to have the edges be slightly a different level than the center. No matter how you trim them, measure the center of
the case for best results. I've found that if one is not very careful, one can vary the measurements with the Hornady ogive
device as well, though it is more accurate with plastic or lead tipped bullets.
to have the edges be slightly a different level than the center. No matter how you trim them, measure the center of
the case for best results. I've found that if one is not very careful, one can vary the measurements with the Hornady ogive
device as well, though it is more accurate with plastic or lead tipped bullets.
PWC
Member
When you measure case length after trimming, rotate the case and measure at 3 points. I've found that sometimes a microscopic burr whisker is left, and another in & out deburr cleans the lip up and reads correctly.
Varminterror
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Another useless and unhelpful comment. You are at least consistent.
Guess I better buy some lotto tickets...
Just curious, are those first run bullets or did you get them from Shooters Pro Shop?
longdayjake
Member
There was a time years ago that we got large batches of the Nosler 175s. They had very inconsistent ogives. Very inconsistent ogives translate to very inconsistent OAL when loaded.
Another good point. I've noticed the same with factory seconds. I use a lot of Hornady 168HPBTs and new ones are consistent but not the seconds.
Well, seconds are seconds for a reason. Maybe it took them awhile to get the dies adjusted and they dumped the production while they were doing that.
But I've shot tons of Shooters Pro Shop and Midway factory seconds with great results. Most of the time I can't find anything wrong with them. Sometimes it's quite minor. At half price I'll live with that. I've noticed Midway seconds aren't polished any more, no biggie.
Looking at the OP's load data, they look like Garand fodder or similar. The minor OAL difference isn't going to amount to a hill of beans.
But I've shot tons of Shooters Pro Shop and Midway factory seconds with great results. Most of the time I can't find anything wrong with them. Sometimes it's quite minor. At half price I'll live with that. I've noticed Midway seconds aren't polished any more, no biggie.
Looking at the OP's load data, they look like Garand fodder or similar. The minor OAL difference isn't going to amount to a hill of beans.
