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Reloading Help

jnagel32

jnagel32

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Joined
Sep 22, 2015
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516
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Pennsylvania
I am fairly new to reloading. I have a RCBS Rock Chucker and use standard RCBS dies. I am trying to hit a COAL of 2.880" and have a dummy round that I use to set up my dies, which is 2.880". When I reloaded some rounds I was getting various results for my COAL. It ranged between 2.874" to 2.881". Is this an acceptable range of deviation? Am I doing something wrong?
 
The difference you are getting is about the thickness of a couple pieces of paper. Hit the range and don't sweat it. You're not doing anything wrong. Take a dozen bullets and just measure them. You'll see different readings on both lead and plastic tipped bullets.
 
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I knew it was the difference of only a few thousandths, but wasn't sure the level of accuracy and consistency I should be looking for. Thanks Lefty315
 
I think that's acceptable as long as they're not over the MAX COAL for a beginner. If you're just reloading for hunting you're fine. If you're trying to shoot some serious bench rest competitions or something you're going to want to invest in some more tools.

Not to confuse you but, for precision you should be measuring from the bullets ogive (which is the area of the bullet that contacts the rifling) not the tip. To do that you can use a tool such as this https://www.midwayusa.com/product/2...ad-bullet-comparator-basic-set-with-6-inserts I also use this tool regularly with the caliber specific cases in order to customize my loads for my particular rifles https://www.midwayusa.com/product/570611/hornady-lock-n-load-overall-length-gauge-bolt-action. This allows you to adjust your bullet seating depth to get as close to the rifling of your particular rifle.

I'm far from an expert but I've been reloading for a while, feel free to PM if you need anymore advice.
 
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What bullets are you reloading? If you are loading vld's or ablr there is a chance that the bullet tip is contacting the bottom of the seater before the ogive resulting in truly inconsistent seating depth. If you are loading a bullet with a traditional ogive like accubond,partition,sierras, than I would just average 10 rounds to the seating depth you want and call it good.
 
MJE2083 said:
I think that's acceptable as long as they're not over the MAX COAL for a beginner. You'll see differences because your brass might not all be the same length. While you should try to trim your brass all to the same length is usually nearly impossible to get every single one the same unless you're willing to invest in some serious equip.
Click to expand...

Please explain how case length can have any effect on cartridge overall length.

prcstpdagrmcseprp.jpg
 
MJE2083 gave you good advice. If you were to measure those same rounds to the ogive, I would bet good money you will find much less deviation round to round. Just for grins, grab 5 random bullets from the box and measure them from the base to the tip and see what kind of difference you find in them.
 
I get similar results, but never really worried about it, because there are a ton of micro variances in equipment, components, YaDa-Yada.

If you want them all the same COAL, just seat long on the 1st run through and then micro adjust the die on each the 2nd/3rd time.

Probably a waste of time for hunting purposes.
 
I reload with a Very similar RCBS Press, one thing that I noticed, when you go to seat your bullets, try to have a point of reference to be able to apply consistent pressure on each stroke of the press when seating slugs. I noticed that when I concentrated on applying consistent pressure each time seating a slug I would tighten up seating depth differences from about .010" per 20 rounds to less than .005" per 20 rounds. Consistency is key in reloading, and that was one thing that helped me.
 
Thanks for all the replies guys. I'm reloading Accubonds for a 300 WSM and I'm working up a new load. It's 2.900" to the lands so I am trying to kick it back 20 thousandths. Just wasn't sure if I should be expecting more consistent overall lengths.
 
jnagel32,

Small variability in COAL is common when measuring from the bullet's tip to the case head. This is due to the slight variance in tip shape/length from bullet to bullet (I've noticed that polymer tipped bullets tend to have slightly less variability). As others have pointed out, your case length has nothing to do with COAL. To be honest, for huntin' loads, I wouldn't worry one bit about those small differences. As a new reloader, let me caution you: reloading can be as complicated as you let it be. Especially for huntin', I wouldn't get too bogged down in the details. The biggest concern that should never be over looked is safety.

As an aside, I would wager that if you were to seat bullets with your dies locked at a certain position, you would measure some variance in COAL when measured from tip to case head. However, if you were to measure those same loads with a comparator, you would find them to be nearly identical.

In my worthless opinion, getting bogged down in the details of reloading takes away from the enjoyment from a huntin' standpoint. For example, people these days turn their nose to a load that shoots 2". However, at ethical distances that will do the job just as well as a .75" load that took 3x as much money to develop. But hey, to each his own...
 
Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but I'm having the same experience as the OP, except that I'm measuring base-to-ogive with a Hornady bullet comparator. My press is a Lee (I actually have two Lee's that were loaned to me, and the bigger/stiffer one is the one I'm using to seat bullets), and my dies are the standard RCBS 2-die set that I picked up at Cabelas.

Measuring base to ogive, I'm getting an SD of 0.002" and an ES of 0.007". I'm brand-spankin'-new to reloading and I imagine for hunting that's an OK variance. However, I'm still a little baffled by what might be causing the difference. 1-2 thou and I would write it off as the inaccuracy of my Kobalt calipers or the bullet comparator digging into my e-tip bullets or something. But 7 thou seems like a lot...
 
yakimanoob said:
Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but I'm having the same experience as the OP, except that I'm measuring base-to-ogive with a Hornady bullet comparator. My press is a Lee (I actually have two Lee's that were loaned to me, and the bigger/stiffer one is the one I'm using to seat bullets), and my dies are the standard RCBS 2-die set that I picked up at Cabelas.

Measuring base to ogive, I'm getting an SD of 0.002" and an ES of 0.007". I'm brand-spankin'-new to reloading and I imagine for hunting that's an OK variance. However, I'm still a little baffled by what might be causing the difference. 1-2 thou and I would write it off as the inaccuracy of my Kobalt calipers or the bullet comparator digging into my e-tip bullets or something. But 7 thou seems like a lot...
Click to expand...

More than likely it’s the RCBS dies. The seating stem is most likely contacting the tip of your bullet and not the Ogive of the bullet.
You can check this by coloring the tip of the bullet with a sharpie and then seating it and checking for contact on the bullet tip.
Its a pretty simple fix also if you want to do it. You remove the seating stem from the die and drill out the stem with a small drill bit and then insert a bullet into the stem and check how it fits. Keep stepping up the size of the drill bit until your stem is contacting the Ogive and the tip isn’t in contact with the stem.
 
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