bullet length

[dinger]

I am working with some salvaged bullets( 250 gr. nosler h.p.) from .45 Win. mag. Bullet length runs from .677" to 7.01". The  difference seem to come from distortion of the noses when they were originally loaded. I am loading them in .45 Colt cases for an H&R BC Carbine. Load development was done before this issue was discovered. Powder is Lil' Gun and oal is 1.73". Sticky extraction occurred at 26.1grs. I planned on loading hunting rounds at 25.6 grs., but now I am hesitant. Any thoughts on this would be much appreciated. Thanks. dinger.

[stimpylu32]

dingler

What seating die are you using ?

The reason I ask is that some seat with the nose of the bullet and some seat with the Ogive , by seating with the Ogive you will get a more consistent seating depth as it changes very little as compaired to the soft nose of the bullet .

Your total COL will very a bunch by seating with the Ogive because of the flattened nose as you have found BUT your seating depth will be a lot more in line with what you need to insure proper case capacity from round to round .

As far as the 25.6 grain load you should be fine with that load .

stimpy

[dinger]

Stimpy; It's a Lee 3 piece carbide set. If they seat on the ogive i'm good, yes? If not ,then pressures will vary given a constant o.a.l. The longer the bullet, the smaller the "combustion chamber" , the higher the pressure over a given powder charge. Thanks, dinger.

[stimpylu32]

Yep , that about covers it , most of the Lee pistol seaters have a flat seating plug , since your not needing a crimp on these rounds you could just mark the bullets and seat them a little at a time till you get them were you want them and keep the depth more consistent .

It will take longer that way but in the long run they will do a better job for you .

stimpy