Bullet seating consistency

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oldfox
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.204 Ruger Guns: Ruger American Predator
Location: Maine

Bullet seating consistency

Post by oldfox »

Is there an accurate method on seating bullets to a consistent C.O.A.L. ? It seems that no matter what caliber I load, when I check them with dial calipers, there always seems to be a few thousandths difference in the COAL.. Is this normal or am I doing something wrong?
skipper
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.204 Ruger Guns: Remington XR 100, Custom build Lilja/Panda/Shehane/Jewell
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Re: Bullet seating consistency

Post by skipper »

When you measure case overall length (COAL) do you measure from base to tip or do you use a comparator that measures closer from the base to the ogive? Your seating die operates by pushing on the ogive so there may be some variance. That variance will show up if you measure from base to tip. Get a comparator. It won't resolve all your problems, just minimize them a little.
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oldfox
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Posts: 45
Joined: Wed Jan 14, 2015 4:30 am
.204 Ruger Guns: Ruger American Predator
Location: Maine

Re: Bullet seating consistency

Post by oldfox »

skipper wrote:When you measure case overall length (COAL) do you measure from base to tip or do you use a comparator that measures closer from the base to the ogive? Your seating die operates by pushing on the ogive so there may be some variance. That variance will show up if you measure from base to tip. Get a comparator. It won't resolve all your problems, just minimize them a little.
I have a comparator and will check them with that. I notice it a lot when loading 9mm, when using 124 gr RN.. I bought a micrometer seating plug for the 204, and that seemed to help with that...
Thanks skipper for the info..
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TEXAS222
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.204 Ruger Guns: custom build AR 15-Rem 700 .204 VARMINT- .204 Kimber Pro Var
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Re: Bullet seating consistency

Post by TEXAS222 »

+++1 on the comparator. Haven't measured coal in a long time, I measure the base to ogive, BTO, and get great results. Jim D
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