Inconsistant bullet seating depths...why?

[kdsd731]

What would cause my bullet seating depths to be inconsistant? I did one round until i hit my target of 2.508" then proceeded to the next rounds. I checked each round as I pulled it out and found some as low as 2.501" up to 2.515". I have a new Hornady single stage press and Hornady dies and don't see how it could vary. Since I'm still somewhat new at this and have only been doing it for a few months is there something that I am doing that could be causing this?

[bruce381]

the seating die seats on the ogove? spelling which is down from the tip and mfg tolerances add up so OAL will vary unless you use primo high dollar boolits.

[kdsd731]

That makes a lot of sense. Thanks I appreciate it. These are some cheap gun show big white box no name rounds I purchased for plinking. And now that you mention it, I didn't have this issue with the Hornady bullets I had before.

[bruce381]

on my cast pistol loads i get about 3-5 tho variation OAL

[Munk]

If you use a wadcutter seating plug, you can eliminate that variance. Only use it on rounds that have a flattened hollowpoint, or that are FN , or actual wadcutters. If you use it on spires or RN, you'll crush or bend the tip.

[Quinc]

You can try separating the bullets first by weight and see if they come out a little closer.

[ZakAttackMan]

If you measure your bullet length from the bullet ogive you should notice less of a difference than when measuring the COAL. It is possible to get serious variations in bullet shape.

[erik_26]

No expert, but I think that unless the cases are all trimmed uniformly and the bullets are of high quality, your OAL will vary.

For most hand guns it doesn't matter if they vary by a few thousands to even 1 hundredths (as long as you aren't packing hot loads).

On a precision riffle, well that is a whole different animal. If you are going for super consistent high accuracy, you will need to be very diligent and order/make high quality bullets and trim all the cases.

[Diabolus]

No expert, but I think that unless the cases are all trimmed uniformly and the bullets are of high quality, your OAL will vary.

For most hand guns it doesn't matter if they vary by a few thousands to even 1 hundredths (as long as you aren't packing hot loads).

On a precision riffle, well that is a whole different animal. If you are going for super consistent high accuracy, you will need to be very diligent and order/make high quality bullets and trim all the cases.

+1

I spent hours upon hours trying to get my OAL the same for 9mm. I realized it couldn't be done without using quality new brass and boolits which was almost double the cost. In the end, the accuracy was the same and I didn't care at that point.

It was time well spent as I better understand the reloading process.

[ronas]

Even with SMK and Nosler Custom competion the ogive of some of the bullets will vary slightly.

If you want the loaded rounds to be as consistant as possible much from base to ogive. I use a Sinclair bullet comparator, easy to use and cheap.

[shmeddie]

Looks are you loading for rifle? Are you using hollow points? OAL should not be measured. Measure from the base of the cartridge to the ogive because that is what matters. The tip of the bullet never touches the rifling but the ogive does and that is what needs to e consistent. if you are that worried about seating depth buy a bullet comparator or a rcbs precision mic for your specific caliber. Why do you want such a consistent seating depth? for accuracy? You wont get that with cheap gun show bullets.

[30Cal]

The seating die will do a good enough job of keeping the ogives in the same place. Fussing over keeping it consistent is deep deeeeep down in the noise; even for the most rigorous of applications (i.e. I think you'd need to fire a good 1k rounds+ to statistically be able to detect that it makes even a subtle difference).

So set your OAL and pull the handle. Check the first and last rounds. Also, deliberately trying to hit a number between 0.005" increments is... not really adding value.

[johnny1290]

I sharpie an arrow on the top of my seating die to give me a visual reference if anybody has monkeyed around with it or its gotten moved somehow.

Of course I found it not in the direction I thought I left it in, so I had to double check my OAL. Good 'nuff! Thousandths don't give me concern on my 9mm.