I've been reloading for about a year now, so I'm just a beginner. I've had really good success loading for my 1895G .45-70.
How important is OAL? I've loaded 405 grain cast bullets and have no problem seating the bullet to 2.550 OAL. I am trying to load some new 305 grain cast bullets and am running short on the OAL.

If I seat to the crimp groove in the bullet I get an OAL of: 2.440.

If I seat the bullet right after the last grease groove I get an OAL of 2.54 but the crimp groove is exposed. Is this a problem? I'm looking at pushing this bullet to about 1800 fps for whitetail hunting.

My two questions are this.

1. If I seat the bullet to the crimp groove with an OAL of 2.440 does that cause any problems?

2. If I seat the bullet to 2.540 (right beyond the grease groove) but leave the crimp groove exposed does this cause any problems?

Does either situation cause any difference in pressure levels?

All brass is trimmed to a uniform length of: 2.100"

Any help would be greatly appreciated,

Your oal is individual for the rifle you are loading for, push a bullet in to the lands with a cleaningrod push the rod trough the mussle to meet the bullet and make a mark on the rod. Take out the bullet and close the bolt push the rod to the boltface and make a new mark. THE DISTANCE BETWEEN THE MARK -0,5mm IS THE AOL FOR THAT PARTICULAR BULLET.Make sure the magazine and action can take the round.

1?

shorter OAL is not a problem

2?
if the bullet tuches the lands it can result in higher pressure.
A non crimped or lightly crimped cart. can in guns with high recoil change the seating depht.
That can result in higher pressure.

Kimmo

Kimmo,

Thanks, exactly what I was looking for.

One more thing, on a tube feed magazine, putting a round in that is too long can cause a major (no kidding on the major) gun jam.

One concern I'd have with leaving the crimp groove or lube channel past the end of the case is that it could collect an errant piece of dirt, sand, whatever that will end-up putting a groove in your barrel as the bullet travels down it.
Just a thought -

KY: If I've said it before, I'll say it again. Seating depth, seating depth, seating depth!!!
I've been working on my .270 Win. and to make a long story short, I screwed up the crown & had to have it recrowned. Went to the range & it still didn't shoot as well as it had. I finally double checked the seating depth on the cartridges and the bullets were seated about 0.016" deeper than they should have been. I did it but don't know how I was off that much. I reseated the bullets 0.010" off the lands & the accuracy came right back. Thank goodness too, I need it next week for a sheep hunt into the Brooks Range.
When developing a load, I start with the recommended powder & charge in the Sierra book & load 5 cartridges each in 1/2 gr. increments above & below the recommemnded charge going +/- about 1 1/2 to 2 grains and seat the bullets to SAAMI specs. When I find the accurate powder charge, I then load 5 cartridges up with bullets seated 0.020", 0.015", 0.010" and 0.005" off the lands. I then go with this load assuming it feeds thru the magazine. I also use the Stoney Point gauges and always measure to the ogive. In short, I think that seating depth is almost as important or maybe more so than powder charge.Hope this helps. Bear in Fairbanks