SmallCaliberCentral

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?

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.

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..

+++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