Can I decrease OAL on loaded rounds?

[wrightcrew]

I have a question for the experienced reloaders out there...

I have started to load some for my Taurus 1911, and I loaded several 230 JHP rounds to an OAL of 1.260. The loading data I have shows a min OAL of 1.200 and a max OAL of 1.275. The rounds I loaded to 1.260 will not feed properly in my magazines, so I need to have a shorter OAL. I'm using Lee equipment and used the factory crimp die after I seated the bullets. My question is......is it okay to shorten the OAL on the loaded rounds using the bullet seating die? If so, should I run them through the factory crimp die again after the adjustment?

Thanks in advance!

[nuparadigm]

If I wanted to shorten the OAL of already-crimped rounds, I would do it in the way you suggest .... and I'd re-crimp afterwards.

[Tom]

My question is......is it okay to shorten the OAL on the loaded rounds using the bullet seating die? If so, should I run them through the factory crimp die again after the adjustment?

Thanks in advance!

I have done just that, more than once. I have had mostly OK results but on occasion, when there was
a heavy crimp, seating deeper has caused lead or jacket material to peel back a bit. In that case I pulled
the bullets.

Try seating a few to see if you encounter any problems due to the crimp.
If not then you can do them all that way.
And as suggested, recrimp them at the new depth.

But if you do have problems with the jacket then you may have to pull the bullets, save the powder,
re-bell the case mouth, reload the powder, reseat to new depth, and then crimp. Not horrible but a bit of
work.

Good luck and let us know how it works out.

Kind Regards,

Tom

[longtooth]

I had to do this once too. You are in some very good company. Me.
It was a pain but they sure did feed good after I did it.

[wrightcrew]

Thanks for the feedback. I'll try it and let you know how it turns out.

[wrightcrew]

Decreased OAL with the bullet seating die, recrimped, and everything worked out good. Thanks for the feedback.

[KBCraig]

A cautionary tale about OAL:

http://www.thegunzone.com/glock/setback.html

It's important to note (as the article points out) that .40S&W is a factory "+P+" round, with very high pressures. The .45 ACP is much less at risk for these kinds of failures.

More important is the reminder to shoot your carry ammo regularly. Not to mention, the incident would have been avoided if the policy didn't require repeated loading and unloading. Lesson learned: keep your gun loaded!

Kevin

[Houston1944]

KBCraig makes a very good point regarding OAL and bullet setback.
I think it is important to remind folks often about OAL. We need to remember that it is the area under the bullet that defines the pressure. Bullets of different lengths seated to the same OAL will develop different pressures. This is not a big issue for the 9mm and 45acp but it is a huge issue with the 40S&W.

[HighVelocity]

The best way I know to adjust OAL is to fire them downrange.

Seriously though, good info in this thread. I'm sure I'll be referring to it later when I get into reloading.