Finally reloading - now I have questions

[ScubaSigGuy]

Thanks to some highly appreciated assistance from HighVelocity I am up and running with my 650 . Now comes the questions...

C.O.L. / OAL - How can two reloading guides be so far apart on the same bullet? What is the acceptable variance in C.O.L. when using mixed brass? Shouldn't the seating depth be the same on every round loaded, providing a pretty consistent OAL? I am seeing a variance from 1.186 to 1.212. The majority are coming out around 1.205. Is this acceptable, and I am just worrying too much?

I just loaded 100 rounds with mixed brass, CCI std (not magnum) primers and 4.8 grains of Bullseye, with a 185gr FMJWC. I think that this is going to be a pretty light load. A had about 10 rounds where the primer was forced in sideways and another 5 or 6 that were not seated completely. I made certain to run the handle throught the complete range of motion, so I am not sure what the problem is. Any ideas?


I plan on using TiteGroup after I finish up this Bullseye, as I will be loading only 9mm and .45 for now. Any thoughts or feedback on this powder choice would be appreciated.

Also, how important is it to own a Chronograph?

[longtooth]

For some the crono is imperrative to get their loads w/in 25FPS of what they want.
Others of us have never had one, only seen them at the range, cant spell it so use the abbreviation above. You can go a long time w/o one. your loading data will will give you velocity pretty close.

Those that swear by them will give you different oppinion.

[MoJo]

I usually seat all my bullets to the maximum OAL listed for the cartridge. Too short OAL can lead to feed problems.

Your primer problems may be an adjustment problem check your loaders manual.

Titegroup, Bullseye use the powder you have the best results with.

I have a chronograph and rarely use it except to verify power factor.

[ScubaSigGuy]

I usually seat all my bullets to the maximum OAL listed for the cartridge. Too short OAL can lead to feed problems.

Your primer problems may be an adjustment problem check your loaders manual.

Titegroup, Bullseye use the powder you have the best results with.

I have a chronograph and rarely use it except to verify power factor.

Are you using a progressive press, and is every bullet coming out at the same OAL? My real concern is the variance and how I can reduce it, or is it acceptable?

[gfmun]

I use a Dillon XL650 and get almost no varience on OAL at all from round to round. I measure about every 100 rounds just to be sure, but no varience. So far I have been loading everything in both 9mm and .45 acp shorter than what I read.

On OAL, it seems to be more important on 9mm than .45 acp and will vary from bullet to bullet. I also have found that everyone seems to have their favorite OAL. After reading and reading, I asked a very knowledgable shooter at one of the matches and showed him my reloads and he said to lengthen it out about .15 so I did. Problems went away and fps went up.

I am pretty new at reloading so I weigh about every 100 th powder charge, measure OAL about every 100 rounds and use a case gauge for every round. Anytime I change something, bullet, powder, OAL, anything, the old Chrony comes out and away we go to the range. My main problem so far has been a digital scale that went nuts and drove me nuts before I isolated the problem.

On powder, I use Clays for .45 acp and have been using Titegroup on 9mm and am happy with both.

I am sure no expert, just sharing experiences. Hope this helps.

George

[MoJo]

I usually seat all my bullets to the maximum OAL listed for the cartridge. Too short OAL can lead to feed problems.

Your primer problems may be an adjustment problem check your loaders manual.

Titegroup, Bullseye use the powder you have the best results with.

I have a chronograph and rarely use it except to verify power factor.

Are you using a progressive press, and is every bullet coming out at the same OAL? My real concern is the variance and how I can reduce it, or is it acceptable?

SSG,

I'm using a Lee Load Master progressive press. There will be small variances in OAL with any press system. Check a box of factory loaded ammo sometime. A difference of a couple of thousandths won't make any difference I doubt a difference of a couple of hundredths will cause problems. Now, tenths - - - that's a whole 'nother story.

[Opie]

Check your leade to see what your maximum cartridge length is in the particular gun your loading it for and try to load your cartridges about 2 or 3 thousandths less. Their is a procedure for measuring by dropping a dowell down the muzzle with just a bullet (not cartridge) in the chamber and marking the length from the bullet tip to the end of the muzzle and then putting an empty non-primed cartridge (with a bullet pressed in) in the chamber and measure where the tip of the bullet comes to and comparing the difference to the one with the bullet only in there. Comparing the two will tell you how long you will be able to load your cartridges. I hope I said that all correct. I found on my AR that the factory loads were extremely short compared to what I could actually load to fit. So I'm looking for longer bullets to load to get closer to the leade.

[bent sights]

If you attempt to follow book OALs as if they are a "rule", you will have troubles.

You need to understand that a book's OAL is just what the loaders who wrote that book used, it's not an absolute for the rest of us. Seat your bullets where you want them, develop your load and you wil be fine.

Later, minor variations to test different bullet-to-lands jumps, with depth changes varing as much as .050" won't affect pressures enough to be concerned about. That is, unless you go hard into the lands and even that shouldn't change pressure very much, not enough to transform a sane load into a gun buster!

[ScubaSigGuy]

Thanks for the advice guys. It turns out that I had a ring indexer that was on it's last leg and was causing the some issues. now most of my variations can be attributed to different headstamps.

[Jeremae]

With a progressive press you should strive for the most consistant handle stroke possible. In addition to using the same stroke length, you should strive to use the same speed of stroke and force applied during the stroke as well.