Seating bullets?

[A.M.]

How do I go about seating bullets? My lyman manual gives me no info about that. Does it have info anywhere on that? How deep, etc.?

Weird.

[troysland]

It's refered to as OAL. Over All Length, also COAL, Cartridge Over All Length. You may need to loosen the die so it seats high, then adjust until you reach your desired depth. What are you loading?

[bitethebullet]

Your Lyman manual(assuming 49th edition) should have COAL(combined overall length) or OAL(overall length) listed as a guideline for your particular cartridge and bullet combination. Every gun likes a different OAL, but the manual is there to get you started on your load development. If for some reason you need your seating depth, just subtract your case length from the OAL. Which cartridge/caliber round are you reloading?

[gunboat]

The best way to determine overall length is make a dummy round --
In general you want the bullet to end up about 15 thou short of the lands.
Seat the bullet in the dummy a bit long and keep fiddling till the breech closes. Then shorten it a few more thou --
Be mindful that different bullet shapes can seat longer or shorter -
A very sharp pointed bullet will go father into the chamber/throat than a fat round nose.
Sometimes a seating depth that is proper for the chamber will be too long for the magazine -- shorten it or single shot --
Older manuals used to provide a seating depth for each bullet which gave a better starting point --

[A.M.]

I'm going to be doing 223, 40sw, and, farther down the line, 308.

I had seen the OAL specs... does that mean I just keep playing with it until the caliper shows it as being X inches long? Then I'm good?

[bryant]

remember you not gonna get same size on all your ammo build. every bullet and brass length are different so you will get .005 to .015 different on each. as long as you don't pass your maximum magazine length, you ok

[Bill Steele]

How do I go about seating bullets? My lyman manual gives me no info about that. Does it have info anywhere on that? How deep, etc.?

Weird.

There are a couple OAL specs for a loaded cartridge.

The OAL you see in a drawing of the round is the maximum length. This is used by manufacturers of guns. For guns with magazines, the COAL in the drawing will assure the rounds will fit in the magazine and feed, as well as chamber properly, etc.

In load data the OAL (or COAL) is the minimum length the round should be loaded to using the specific powder and weight, bullet, etc. In general, this just means the person who developed the load data didn't seat the bullet any deeper in their tests, so you don't know how a shorter OAL will affect pressures. This dimension is generally more important in handgun calibers where the faster powders really affect pressures. You should observe this OAL in the load data and not seat a bullet deeper than this minimum OAL specificed in the load data you are using. Longer is OK (until the round won't feed or chamber) but shorter is a no no, at least until you become very familiar with the caliber you are loading, the powder, the bullet, etc.

For guns that have a magazine (and you want to use it) you want an OAL somewhere between the load data minimum and the cartidge spec maximum (the drawing of the finished round). For a revolver, use somewhere between load data minimum OAL and the round not protruding enough to inhibit the cylinder turning. Many times for revolver rounds, their is a cannelure in the bullet that you can use for a roll crimp. When present and you use it, the cannelure pretty much sets the final OAL.

For a single shot gun (or for a gun you will single feed), again at least as long as the load spec minimum OAL and short enough that it will chamber. For instance, when I want to single feed one of my bolt action rifles, I load to an OAL that gives me a distance of the bullet to the lands that the gun likes. My Remy 700 in .308, likes .050" of jump to the lands in my best load. This OAL is far longer than the .308 Winchester maximum cartridge OAL, so they will not fit in my magazine, hence the single feed. In this gun if I load to 2.805" (the maximum length OAL that will feed in my magazine), I have about .150" jump to the lands, so my groups are slightly larger for my best hunting load (where I use the magazine), than my best paper punching load (about .100" longer than the magazine will allow).

I hope all that made sense.

[diveRN]

I'm going to be doing 223, 40sw, and, farther down the line, 308.

I had seen the OAL specs... does that mean I just keep playing with it until the caliper shows it as being X inches long? Then I'm good?

On a side note:

I'm no metal cartridge reloading guru, but I've found that a bullet puller is very handy. I've recently started loading .40s and have had to knock a few that I set too deep. Because it's a high pressure round, the margin for error in OAL resulting in overpressure is narrower than low pressure rounds like the 9mm and .45acp.

Kinetic pullers are cheap: +/- $20 for a kinetic puller at your favorite supplier. Got mine off Amazon for about $18.

As mentioned, start high and work it down. I've loaded enough .45acp that I can set the die and get it to where I'm either right at or just over the printed OAL spec. It's easier to set it a little further in than to knock it and start over. Figuring out the .40 the same way is just a matter of time on the press.

We will now continue with your regularly scheduled programming.

[bryant]

me , i don't follow a single manual i always check powder and bullet site that i will used. sample on lyman 49th edition on .223 remington 75 gr j a-max their oal is 2,390 but my ar magazine max is 2260 so always double check on other site or manual