Armory Sponsor
Posted: 4/27/2012 2:17:09 PM EDT
|
I just started my first batch of 5.56. I have some SS109 pulls and once fired LC 556 brass. I'm trimming with a WFT trimmer. I trim to about 1.72. When I was setting up my seating die, I was seating to 2.260. Well, at least the very first round was 2.260. After that the OAL was all over the road. Is this because case length is different from case to case? Should I be concerned? Each bullet has a cannelure and they're all showing so it's not like I'm seating the bullets overly deep. Any words of wisdom here? I'm not looking for precision, I'm just loading up some blasting ammo. Thanks in advance. |
|
How much variance in OAL are you getting?
If I am not mistaken, I don't think the case has much to do with OAL. I had a similar scenario with Win. 55g FMJ. I line up about 5 bullets and could see they were not all the same length, cannelure in different spots. so my thought was, and I could be wrong, the ogive varied too, giving me different OAL. I only bought 100 of them and the remaining I had, I sorted by bullets that were similar and adjusted my die as needed. With the Hornady 55g FMJ, Waaay more consistent. Someone might be along with a better answer than me. |
|
To get consistent OAL measurements it's best to measure off the Ogive of the bullet with a comparator. Measuring off the tip can vary OAL quite a bit.
What kind of OAL spread are you getting? I'm wondering why do you trim to 1.720? That's pretty short when the "Trim to Length" is 1.750. |
|
you probably have a variation in projo length.
I am loading some hornaday spire points and with the soft lead point there was a variation of the projo length of about 0.015" between the longest and shortest. I set the die to seat the longer ones to the recommended oal and all of them sat to the same point in the cann. Sounds like you trimmed your brass a bit short. |
|
Quoted: I just started my first batch of 5.56. I have some SS109 pulls and once fired LC 556 brass. I'm trimming with a WFT trimmer. I trim to about 1.72. When I was setting up my seating die, I was seating to 2.260. Well, at least the very first round was 2.260. After that the OAL was all over the road. Is this because case length is different from case to case? Should I be concerned? Each bullet has a cannelure and they're all showing so it's not like I'm seating the bullets overly deep. Any words of wisdom here? I'm not looking for precision, I'm just loading up some blasting ammo. Thanks in advance. I'm thinking you mean 1.752. No matter, seat SS-109 bullets to mid cannelure. As long as the OAL is less than 2.260 you will be fine. Crimp is optional, I lightly crimp my SS-109 loads. Remember these are 2 moa bullets, don't except super tight groups. OAL is determined by the bullet seater and where is contacts the ogive of the bullet. Bullets vary, so will the OAL. Don't worry, seat to mid cannelure and all will be well. |
Ok, I'm seating to mid cannelure. I took 5 random measurements. I'm getting anywhere from 2.258 and 2.263. Is that acceptable? Like I said, I'm not trying to get cloverleaf groups, it's for plinking really. As long as that's good to go, I'm going to go finish my batch of primed brass so I can finally start my SHTF stockpile   |
|
Quoted: Ok, I'm seating to mid cannelure. I took 5 random measurements. I'm getting anywhere from 2.258 and 2.263. Is that acceptable? Like I said, I'm not trying to get cloverleaf groups, it's for plinking really. As long as that's good to go, I'm going to go finish my batch of primed brass so I can finally start my SHTF stockpile 2.263 is technically too long. But if they fit in the magazine, it's fine. I try to get the longest ones right @ 2.260. I usually seat to the very top of the cannelure. ETA: I just looked at some I loaded the other day, and they're more like upper middle of the cannelure.
|
|
Quoted:
Ok, I'm seating to mid cannelure. I took 5 random measurements. I'm getting anywhere from 2.258 and 2.263. Is that acceptable? Like I said, I'm not trying to get cloverleaf groups, it's for plinking really. As long as that's good to go, I'm going to go finish my batch of primed brass so I can finally start my SHTF stockpile That's a 5 thousandths range. Barely the diameter of a hair. The bullets probably vary that much, and your thumb on the caliper is worth up to a thousandth. You're trimming cases way too short at 1.72 inches. They should be 1.75 to 1.75 inches long, 1.74 when setting up for an X die or when you just have to load short cases. The necks on .223 Rem cases are short and ought to be held as long as possible for best neck tension. The bullet seater stem bears on the ogive of the bullet during seating. This means each bullet is the same depth into the case; after the cartridge overall length is set to magazine length, that is more important than the minor variation in COAL. |
|
Quoted: Alright, thanks guys. I'll readjust and see what happens. Thanks again. Quoted: Ok, I'm seating to mid cannelure. I took 5 random measurements. I'm getting anywhere from 2.258 and 2.263. Is that acceptable? Like I said, I'm not trying to get cloverleaf groups, it's for plinking really. As long as that's good to go, I'm going to go finish my batch of primed brass so I can finally start my SHTF stockpile That's a 5 thousandths range. Barely the diameter of a hair. The bullets probably vary that much, and your thumb on the caliper is worth up to a thousandth. You're trimming cases way too short at 1.72 inches. They should be 1.75 to 1.75 inches long, 1.74 when setting up for an X die or when you just have to load short cases. The necks on .223 Rem cases are short and ought to be held as long as possible for best neck tension. The bullet seater stem bears on the ogive of the bullet during seating. This means each bullet is the same depth into the case; after the cartridge overall length is set to magazine length, that is more important than the minor variation in COAL. ETA: went and checked, yeah, that was a typo. I've been trimming to 1.752 because I'm a tard and can't figure out how to get my WFT trimmer dead nuts zero.  |
Armory Sponsor