how have i managed to screw this up ?

measure your cartridges with a comparator.

COALTOOL.jpg


This is a piece of barrel that has been touched with a throating reamer. It sits on the ogive of the bullet. If you measure from the base of the case to the top of the "hat", the measurements should be very consistent. the hat is sitting on the ogive - the same place your seater was pushing.

Measuring OAL to the tip of the bullet would be like measuring people including the hairdo.
 
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I would lean towards bullet concentricity as well, possibly a deformity in the seating cone but I doubt it.
I have small variations in all my calibers but not quite to that extent.
Try seating in in progressively deeper strokes and rotating the cartridge 90 degrees each time and see if that helps.
I seat mine half, turn and finish and by doing this I improved my OAL consistency by 5-8 thousandths.
 
Here we go again!
Most of the trouble that new reloaders have is connected to that completely useless figure given in reloading manuals, Cartridge Over All Length.
IGNORE IT!
It serves no purpose whatsoever, except to confuse newer reloaders, and sometimes not so new reloaders.

But , what If a guy don't have this Ogive tool yet ?

COALTOOL.jpg


This is a piece of barrel that has been touched with a throating reamer. It sits on the ogive of the bullet. If you measure from the base of the case to the top of the "hat", the measurements should be very consistent. the hat is sitting on the ogive - the same place your seater was pushing.

Measuring OAL to the tip of the bullet would be like measuring people including the hairdo.

Interesting ^ Must learn more about this
 
What type of die to size the neck?

How much neck tension?

How often do you anneal? How many firings on the neck?

What type of seating die are you using?

Do you outside neck turn your necks?

How often to you chamfer the case neck?

What type of press?

Case OAL (base to tip) is a useless number except when you need to stuff into a mag.

Jerry
 
I'm kind of embarrassed to say that i didn't about know this until now. What comparator tool do you guys recommend with price being a consideration?
 
The hornady comparator is reasonably priced.
I have the Hornady comparator but I would suggest purchasing the Sinclair comparator which uses stainless steel inserts versus the aluminum inserts of the Hornady.
ht tp://www.sinclairintl.com/reloading-equipment/measuring-tools/bullet-comparator-inserts/sinclair-insert-style-bullet-comparator-prod34014.aspx
Remove the space between the ht tp.
 
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