OAL vs Lee Seating Die

S

ShootingNewbie

Regular
EE Expired
Rating - 97.7%
43   1   0
Location
Vancouver Island
Issue: I'm getting a fairly large range for OAL values using my (new) Lee seating die in .223. The bullets I'm seating are Lake City 55gn soft points, and I'm seeing OAL values from 2.218 thru 2.235 without any changes to the die.

Question: Could the issue simply be due to the lead points being vulnerable to bumping during transit and some bullets being shortened by repeated brass-vs-lead contact?

I assume that the seating die attempts to seat the bullet to a constant length from cartridge head to ogive, not cartridge head to bullet tip; however, I don't have a bullet comparitor (it's on the list...), so I can't test out if this is actually what's happening or not.

I'm new to reloading, so this may be a non-issue, but thought I'd raise the question anyway.

Many thanks for any light you can shed!
 
You are correct with the length to the ogive. I wouldn't fret over it too much. I always use Forster micrometer seaters but I have shot some stellar groups from loads made with Lee seaters.
Keep in mind you are also shooting bulk projectiles so length may vary.
 
Okay, sounds good - thanks for the feedback.

One more quick question: what would be the bullet diameter at the ogive for a .223 round? If I can drill the correct-sized hole in a piece of steel, I can save myself ~50.00 or so after shipping/duty to get something that will give me the same measurement.

Thanks again!
 
A comparitor is sort of crucial to check what you're trying to achieve here. I've had lots of soft-point bullets that vary in length from base to tip, but base to ogive should be consistent with any decent quality bullet.

ETA: I also use Lee dies. The only thing to note is that the die must be fully seated in the press so there's no movement between die and press when the bullet enters the mouth.
 
Last edited:
Thanks everyone for the quick and useful feedback on this!

redryder: I'm off to see if I have a bit that's in the .213 area... might need to start small and file it up a bit with a round file to get it there. Failing that, I'm visa-surfing to brownells, I guess... I'm curious - did you get your comparitor up here, or did you get it down south? Cabelas.com carries them, but not Cabelas.ca - argh.

Silverado: I keep the locking nut snugged up on the die/press when I'm seating bullets; is that what you're referring to?
 
Not sure how close you would have to be to that exact size. Seems to me that for measurements, just so long as you are getting closer to the ogive than to the pointy end, you should be good to go. Mine is a Stony point Over all length guage. I think mayb they have been bought out by now. I bought mine 100 yrs ago.;)
 
ShootingNewbie said:
Silverado: I keep the locking nut snugged up on the die/press when I'm seating bullets; is that what you're referring to?
Click to expand...

Yes, that's what I meant. You can get a comparitor, OAL gauge etc. from site sponsor Mystic Precision, or from Higginson's Powder (also in Canada.)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom