Should I hunt with these?

[slowr1der]

I was reloading a few rounds tonight for my hunting rifle. I noticed after doing a few that the seating plug must have gotten out of adjustment since the last time I used it as it was now seating the bullets about .010 deeper than I wanted. I made several shells like this. So once I got it properly adjusted I put the rounds that were seated deeper than I wanted in my kinetic bullet puller and gave them each a good wack. This of course just brought the bullets back out some, but not all the way. I then ran them through the seater die again this time seating them to the correct length. The only reason I question this is that I didn't pull the bullets all the way out and resize the brass again. Should this matter or should I be fine? I did crimp them after loading them btw.

I'm just wondering if these are going to be okay to trust while hunting, or if I should just mark them range only use. The bullets I use are pretty hard to find, or have been lately, so I'd really like to be able to hunt with them, but I don't want to wound and not kill an animal if they shoot several inches off. This rifle isn't a sub moa rifle, so 1.5" groups are about all it does. So if it his within an inch or so of the others, it really wouldn't matter as I wouldn't be able to tell a difference. However, if these are going to shoot several inches different, that's where the problem would come in.

Has anyone else done this? Has it changed how they shot?

 

[918v]

Usem. Factory ammo varies in OAL more than that.

 

[BADUNAME37]

I would think one one-hundredth of an inch is not much. If it were one tenth of an inch, that might be a different story.

Any way to test several at a target, or at anything the distance that gun is sighted in for?

As mentioned above, FACTORY AMMO would most likely be worse than that as for conformity.

 

[slowr1der]

Well, I like I said, I ended up putting them in the bullet puller and giving them a wack so that the bullet came partially out of the case. I didn't knock the bullet fully out, just enough that I could re seat it. So that's what I did and I reseated it to the correct OAL. I just wasn't sure how it would do with the bullet having been seated, then pulled out slightly with the bullet puller, then seated again and crimped. I wasn't sure if this mattered or not, or if it would stretch the case pulling the bullet out, or anything like that.

 

[788Ham]

Naw, smoke'm! That won't hurt anything, cosmetic more than anything possibly, as long as they're minute of deer, Boom!

 

[gamestalker]

I just did the same thing with some 7 mag. loads. I had forgotten that I had loaded with a different bullet prior to seating these, and ended up significantly deeper than could be used. I knocked them out some with the puller, and then reseated them to desired depth, and they're just fine. There isn't any detectable neck tension difference. I put 3 in the magazine and then single loaded and fired 8 or 10 other rounds, while leaving those in the magazine to expose them to recoil. After firing those single loaded rounds, I then measured the 3 in the magazine, and all of them were still at the exact same OAL.
I too was concerned about them changing OAL which is what inspired me to give them the test. Your good to go, and need not worry unless there is something already typical of that cartridge's normal neck tension to consider.
By the way, what cartridge and bullet are you working with?