Newbie reloading question - 303 Brit

[nithburg]

This is my first attempt at reloading so I bought a second hand lee loader to see if I like it before investing hundreds in real reloading equipment.

So my question is this, how far into the brass do you seat the bullet, and what do I do if I shoved them in too far or not far enough? I am using Hornady 303 Cal .312 150gr InterLock bullets to use in my Lee Enfield.

Any advice is appreciated

Thanks

Gary

 

[stevebc]

I seat mine to give an overall length (OAL) of 3.075. If you seated some too far, you'll need to take them apart and try again: I use an RCBS inertial bullet puller (looks like a big green plastic hammer). If you don't have one, get one- you will make mistakes from time to time and this is the cheapest way to deal with them. If you didn't seat them far enough, simply reset your seating die until you get the proper OAL, and run the "too-shallowly-seated" cartridges through it. Yes, this is safe to do.
You may want to make up a dummy round or two to find the proper depth. I do this with all my reloads, and keep them as a reference.

 

[rookie wildcat]

If you don't have a puller and haven't crimped the bullet too much, then you can use a pair of vicegrips with the jaws covered with fabric to keep them from marking the bullet and just wiggle them out. Another way, but it involves ruining an empty case, slide the empty case over the seated bullet. Wiggle the empty case until you loosen the seated bullet and it will pull right out with your fingers. I have done this and have dedicated the same case to several removals. Just run the case back into the die after each use and you can get about a dozen removals (if you haven't crimped them too hard) before the case mouth splits. With the Lee Loader, you must have a cannelure to crimp into. I seat my bullets until the top of the cannelure is even with the top of the case mouth (experience taught me that ALL of the cases must be the same length of crushed brass results), then adjust the die until the crimp shoves the case mouth into the cannelure. I never worried about OAL when I was using my Lee Loader. If your brass is the correct length and you crimp to the cannelure, you will never be over your OAL. Good luck, I loaded hundreds of rounds with my Lee Loader, but donn't use that dang scoop. I have never found them to be consistent enough to group well.

 

[mooboy76]

I seat mine to give an overall length (OAL) of 3.075. If you seated some too far, you'll need to take them apart and try again: I use an RCBS inertial bullet puller (looks like a big green plastic hammer). If you don't have one, get one- you will make mistakes from time to time and this is the cheapest way to deal with them. If you didn't seat them far enough, simply reset your seating die until you get the proper OAL, and run the "too-shallowly-seated" cartridges through it. Yes, this is safe to do.
You may want to make up a dummy round or two to find the proper depth. I do this with all my reloads, and keep them as a reference.

I would also recommend starting with a dummy round - if only to compare the length of your loaded rounds to later. Start with the Lee Loader mostly unscrewed, Drop the bullet in and seat. Measure the cartridge length and if it's too long move the loader down a turn (or whatever seems appropriate) and tap again. Repeat as necessary.

When you find the right cartridge length, tighten the collar and measure the length of your lee loader - write it down. Next time you load those bullets just adjust the lee loader to that length, tighten the collar and you're good to go (double check your first cartridge though ). That way you won't have to go through the exercise every time you switch between bullet types/weights that you've already loaded.

That's what I do anyways.

 

[sunray]

"...how far into the brass do you seat the bullet..." To get the OAL given in your manual. Like stevebc says, 3.075" is max OAL.