.223 oal

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waynesixgun

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I know this has been asked before...:redface:I am reloading .223 using 55gr fmj bullets.
The bullets vary in length from .730 to .750. My data calls for an COL of 2.223, but because of the inconsistent bullet length my finished OAL is all over the place.
I cant seat to the cannelures because they vary as well, so i have my seating die set so that the rounds stay just over the COL. From reading some of the other posts I guess this is normal for el-cheapo bullets. Accuracy is not a huge concern these are for my AR for plinking. So I guess my question is... how do you set up the seating die with inconstant bullets?

Sorry..I should have mentioned I am using Lee dies and a turret press.
 
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This can happen with more expensive bullets as well.

The seating die seats the bullet by pressing on the ogive (curved upper portion) of the bullet. If your reloading setup is working well, the seating depth measured by ogive should be consistent. One way to measure this is to buy a hex comparator from sinclair, which is essentially a large hexnut with ogive-shapes for different calibres cut into it.

With regards to the COL, I suppose it's best to make sure that the shortest COL is no shorter than 2.233". This will avoid any possible pressure problems. When you are working with slightly longer bullets and want to remain in mag length, make sure the longest COL is no longer 2.260".
 
I agree with agent mango, unless the bullets are bugered up some how. Not having used lee dies can`t say if they use a different style of seating stem. A well known gunnut will be along and tell you to get rid of that cheap Lee crap.:D
 
The die seems fine..these are pulled bullets so that may be part of the problem. If they did not have a cannelure...they would look fine..I think what is happening is that the die contacts the bullet ogive in different spots and pushes some bullets in farther and some not as far. I have some other bullets that I will try and see if I can achieve some consistency.
 
Setting the Lee die is actually easy - it's a dead length seater. Get a factory loaded round with the same weight bullet and profile (FMJ, SP etc), put it in your case holder, unscrew your seater all the way and raise the factory round. Then tighten the seater stem until it just touches the factory round. Done.
 
enefgee said:
Setting the Lee die is actually easy - it's a dead length seater. Get a factory loaded round with the same weight bullet and profile (FMJ, SP etc), put it in your case holder, unscrew your seater all the way and raise the factory round. Then tighten the seater stem until it just touches the factory round. Done.
Click to expand...

Thanks I will give that a try, that will set a length..but the cannelures will still not be consistent..the rounds that I have loaded shoot fine and feed fine in my Norc, they just look funny....
 
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