C.O.L Question

[BigFrank]

Hi, reloading my first .223 cartridges. Cases prepped and primed and loaded with N 130. Bullets are 55gr V Max.
C.O.L in the hornady manual is 2.250 for these bullets. Using my Lee classic press with the Lee die I adjusted the seating depth in small increments to get 2.250
ran the next cartridge through and it came out at 2.232?? I just assumed that once I had set and adjusted the die all cartridges would come out with the same C.O.L……?.?

 

[Steff]

Bullet tips differ. The ogives not, on good bullets that is.
Set your COAL with a reference bullet which has the nominal length specified by the manufacturer or simply chose a bullet which represents an average. Don‘t worry about resulting differing COAL‘s on the ready made cartidge.

 

[BigFrank]

Bullet tips differ. The ogives not, on good bullets that is.
Set your COAL with a reference bullet which has the nominal length specified by the manufacturer or simply chose a bullet which represents an average. Don‘t worry about resulting differing COAL‘s on the ready made cartidge.

Many thanks.

 

[Foxyboy43]

If you measure just a handful of the bullets themselves you might be surprised at the variation - especially with lead tips. Remember your die sets the bullet depth by contact not with the tip but with the ogive so if all bullets were identical length then so would be the loaded round.
In my experience Vmax however are usually pretty uniform so will not readily account for a difference of 18 thou.

 

[Laurie]

First check that the bullet tip isn't bottoming in the recess in the seater die stem. It is vital for the tip to be clear of the stem cavity and that the stem's sides are bearing evenly around all 360-degrees of the gilding metal bullet nose jacket further back. If the stem is acting on the point of the tip, you'll never get anything approaching consistent COALs as well mas risking breaking tips off. This isn't an issue with HP or FMJ bullets in the lower weights, but sometimes can be with V-Max and similar due to the extra length produced by the plastic tip section.

 

[BigFrank]

Problem identified..a faulty Lee bullet seating die!! Brand new!,….only started reloading and this is the third faulty Lee component in 4cweeks.

 

[User00040]

Problem identified..a faulty Lee bullet seating die!! Brand new!,….only started reloading and this is the third faulty Lee component in 4cweeks.

Faulty how? If there is a fault/manufacturing defect, Lee will sort it.

A poor workman blames his tools...

 

[Precision123]

Couldn't get on with Lee dies. RCBS competition for me.

 

[BigFrank]

Faulty how? If there is a fault/manufacturing defect, Lee will sort it.

A poor workman blames his tools...

This part has not been machined properly..you can see it clearly in the photo.

 

[Bowland blades]

Lee specialize in cheap not good ! length to tip is irrelevant past fitting in your mag. Indeed with 99% of hunting ammo you wont find anything particularly" Jump intolerant " . Sure you can be too deep into the case or too far out but nearly every load i have built with hunting bullets and factory guns i just made sure i was definitely off the rifling and at least a full caliber deep into the case minimum .

 

[75]

This part has not been machined properly..you can see it clearly in the photo.

Hard to tell from the photo but looks like some tooling marks - bit rough around the edges but not sure how that gives you the inconsistency? Once it's set then it shouldn't move.

If you want to ensure consistency buy a comparator and measure to ogive not tip.

 

[plumber01]

As above with Bowland bades, I used to take a lot of time measuring out to thousands off the lands etc, after testing, invariably going to the manual or SAMI length seems to get pretty much the same results, and with a lot less work ( could be my poor shooting ability !) Also some "long target type "bullets seem to need to be set quite deep into the case, and when out to the lands from my experience with a 6.5 , only get worse for accuracy.
I think as long as every bullet is the same length, and isnt extreme short or long, you should be fine. Most rifles are made with quite long chambers, and its common to see target shooters using single feed in rifles that take a 10 round mag, simply because they make up their bullets ( target ones are relatively long) out to the lands and they are too long for the mag
good luck

 

[BigFrank]

Hard to tell from the photo but looks like some tooling marks - bit rough around the edges but not sure how that gives you the inconsistency? Once it's set then it shouldn't move.

If you want to ensure consistency buy a comparator and measure to ogive not tip.

Thanks…I’ll buy a comparator. Henry Krank are replacing the die set but I have ordered a set of RCBS.

 

[Muir]

There will always be some variance in seating depth unless you have very good bullets. ~Muir

 

[BigFrank]

Update…..had a chat with Spud at 1967spud.com…..ordered a set of RCBS dies in .223. My first time using them was a great success…the seating die, once set, correctly sat 53gr V Max repeatedly to the same OAL.