Cast bullet seating depth, a little deeper

[gemini1]

Is it safe to shoot bullets that sat deeper but was not crimped?

I was loading cast bullets for my 9x18 Makarov. Advertised OAL was 0.955"
I noticed afterwards, that about 20 rounds were seated way deeper, and decided to pull it out and do it again. After resizing the brass and just belling it a tad, I managed to get all but three to sit correctly. Three three odd rounds still went in deeper by 0.010" so I didn't crimp it, wondering if I should just pull it again and discard the bullets, or go shoot it, if its safe to do so?

Cast bullets is Missouri Bullet Co. I usually bell the brass a little wider, to keep it from scraping the bullets when seating, I guess there were a few brass I didn't bell wide enough as I did see lead scraping from the bullets I pulled.

[TomReloaded]

Ive done it. Worst case they lead the barrel a bit more. Shaved bullets seem to be the same story.

If they're seated within spec, and have a reasonable (also in spec) powder charge, you're safe. They might not shoot as accurately or as cleanly, but I dont see a safety issue.

[JTROKS]

If they will feed without seating the bullet any deeper it should be fine, the problem is how would you know if the bullet is setback too deep that it will raise the pressure spike to catastrophic level. If you are going to shoot just crimp them and find out if the accuracy is bad.

[gemini1]

Up to how much deviation from advertised OAL is considered safe? I think I read somewhere that its +/- 0.005? but Im not sure. Also the problem is, when I tried to crimp it, it sits even deeper, even when the adjustment knob for the seater is all the way up?
Im thinking of just loading it manually one at a time, to avoid further set back.

[TomReloaded]

Ive loaded tons of rounds listed at 1.120, but actually seated them at 1.135. No problem at all. Over is fine if it fits the mags and guns, going short is where you need to worry. I wouldnt shoot any ammo even 0.0001 under spec, it throws my safety margin out the window.

[TomReloaded]

Looks like spec for that round is 0.984 (25.0mm). Sounds like youre already on the short side by quite a bit!

[JTROKS]

Why is he bullet getting seated deeper if the seating stem is not engaging the nose of the bullet? If you have an inertia bullet bullet just knock the bullets longer then seat them without crimping. Remove the seating stem completely and apply the crimp.

[TomReloaded]

I think his bullets are inserted past the base and into the taper. When you try to crimp on the tapered part of a bullet itll set back into the case.

[gemini1]

@ Jtroks. Not really sure, Im guessing when I seated and crimp the first time, there were some lead scraping around the brass edges. It wasn't belled wide enough. After pulling the bullets, I resized the brass, and noting that the area the went in the brass has been scraped already, I belled the brass by just a bit. When I tried seating it again, the bullets sat to where I wanted it (0.955"). But when I turned the die 1/2 down to apply the crimp, and turn the seating knob up by two full turns, it crimp the brass but also push the bullet down to 0.950"
Anyway, I've decided to just pull it out again and just used it as my dummy round. Even though the load was at the lower end, no point risking a C&R pistol to KB.
I'll probably just go with plated bullets on next order, these cast bullets are dirty anyway.

[JTROKS]

You may have lead build up inside the die. I get that when loading certain bullet brands of hard cast lead SWC. Sometimes the lead rings come out clean, but I suspect they get stuck inside the seating die due to the lube acting as glue. My seating and crimping are done with separate dies.