16in50calNavalRifle
Member
- Joined
- Mar 7, 2009
- Messages
- 355
Started to load first test/dummy 38 special rounds tonite, but immediately came up against a big question (probably easy): using HP-38, Missouri Bullet 125 grain LRNFPs, the COL in the Hodgdon data is 1.445.
Seating my very first bullet to start the process of adjusting to desired COL, it is clear that if I seat the bullet so that a roll crimp can be applied where the groove on the bullet is located, my COL will be quite a bit shorter than 1.445.
In a thread two years ago, several of the experienced reloaders here answered a question from a newby concerning 38 special bullets, COL, and crimping groove/cannelure. rcmodel wrote (others wrote similar answers):
Revolver bullets have either a crimping groove if lead, or a cannelure if jacketed.
You seat to that, and crimp them.
That is your OAL for that bullet, and you don't need to measure them to get it right.
So in revolver ammo there is no question about pressure and COLs shorter than provided in the data, if needed to line up the case mouth with the crimping groove? And I should just set the seating die so that this MBC bullet takes a roll crimp in the groove?
I certainly like the idea of just seating so that that the case crimps nicely into the groove, regardless of recommended COL. Just wondering if that is something to do only in low and middle-range loads - don't plan to do a lot of max loading, but obviously I want to be clear on the fundamentals here.
The Hodgdon online data, like some others, maddeningly lists a COL without specifying whether it is "minimum" - unless I missed something.
Seating my very first bullet to start the process of adjusting to desired COL, it is clear that if I seat the bullet so that a roll crimp can be applied where the groove on the bullet is located, my COL will be quite a bit shorter than 1.445.
In a thread two years ago, several of the experienced reloaders here answered a question from a newby concerning 38 special bullets, COL, and crimping groove/cannelure. rcmodel wrote (others wrote similar answers):
Revolver bullets have either a crimping groove if lead, or a cannelure if jacketed.
You seat to that, and crimp them.
That is your OAL for that bullet, and you don't need to measure them to get it right.
So in revolver ammo there is no question about pressure and COLs shorter than provided in the data, if needed to line up the case mouth with the crimping groove? And I should just set the seating die so that this MBC bullet takes a roll crimp in the groove?
I certainly like the idea of just seating so that that the case crimps nicely into the groove, regardless of recommended COL. Just wondering if that is something to do only in low and middle-range loads - don't plan to do a lot of max loading, but obviously I want to be clear on the fundamentals here.
The Hodgdon online data, like some others, maddeningly lists a COL without specifying whether it is "minimum" - unless I missed something.
