Bullet Seating

[preachertim]

I am very new to reloading so try not to make fun of me while logged off. What would you consider to be to much when seating the bullet while reloading. I know there is a OAL listed but i m worried about uniformity and consistency and not blowing my hand off. LOL Any suggestions from you guys? Please

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[HotGuns]

I just load to whatever the book says the overall length is.

Take a pair of dial calipers and measure the OAL and check them against each other. A few thousanths of an inch either way wont matter.

You really do need a pair of calipers when reloading.

BTW, what part of Ar. are you from?

[preachertim]

Star City. Got the Calipers just worried I might seat the bullet to far in. Plus looking for consitency and unform production.

[Bud White]

never go belove what the book says is MIN OAL i usae a progressive so i set mine a tad long and it it runs in the gun then they get left that way

[rocky]

As Bud said, keep above the min. and you will be o.k.

[mcp1810]

I always go a little long, and spot check several times during each "run". Something to be very careful of is lube build up in the cap of the seating/crimp die if you load lead bullets. If you load lead and they have a waxy lube as opposed to a "dry" lube you should pull the bullet seating stem and clean it every so often. If you start loading long and do the routine check you can extend the cleaning interval a bit.

[P95Carry]

Yep - err on longer OAL but also as I have mentioned before I think - make the seating stroke in a press consistent. If a very fast stroke is made it can cause a slight extra seating depth due to inertia. 9mm is one to be very cautious with as even a small increase in seating depth for a given powder charge can up pressures quite dramatically.

Oh and as mcp points out - yeah, if Alox in abundance then check for build up within the die - usually a warning sign is rounds coming out with a noticeable bit of spare lube on the bullet or crimp area.

[willowdog]

You did not specify if you are loading for handgun or rifle. The procedure for rifle (looking for accuracy) is much different than for handgun.

[preachertim]

Handgun

[P95Carry]

OK - handgun.

Well - OAL is important as stated re pressures ....... so load to book OAL but maybe minus a thou or two .... main thing is feed reliability. But just remember that pressures do increase fast when seating goes too deep.

With revo's it is often possible to extend OAL a bit but still IMO at early stages of reloading to try and achieve close to book dimensions.

Altho rifle is much more critical re bullet ''jump'' - same applies in part to handgun loads. The small distance a bullet travels before engraving rifling (freebore) is a time period (tho short) when peak pressures can be contained more easily.

If you go by the book and stay below max loads you should be on safe ground. Uniformity is good of course so until you are confident - measure every few rounds to check for consistency.