Hi everyone. Been reading around a lot here. Lots of good info, but this is my first post.

My father has been reloading for years and I am really just starting to get majorly hooked by the bug. I just bought a Savage 12BVSS in 22-250 and have been tinkering with some test loads.

Using Remington once-fired brass that was given to me. Full length sizing them the first time with a Redding FL sizer. Then seating 52gr Sierra Matchkings and 52gr Hornady AMAX's ahead of 35.2 gr of IMR 4064. The seating die I am using is a Redding Competition seating die with the micro adjust top. Which seems WAAAAY better than the plain ol' RCBS dies my father has used for years.

My problem is, it seems I get some pretty wild variations in length when seating the bullets. And its worse with the AMAX than it is with the Matchkings. I might seat 3 or 4 AMAX at 2.095 comparator length, and then out of the blue get one that is 2.091. And most of the time it seems I can't get 2 in a row within a thousandth of each other. It just seems like its all over the place.

Is that pretty common? I would have though this type of seating die to be more consistent, but maybe its the bullets....I dunno.

Any comments?

quote:

Is that pretty common?

yup.....you're doing fine!

Lum

What you need to do is measure just the bullets to see if the Ogive is consistant. Take about 10-20 and measure them. If the bullets are measure the same using the comparator then something is going on with the seater die.

But my guess is that the ogives are not the same. Could be that they were pointed up on different dies and they are off 0.004". In hunting terms it will not make a difference.

Since you are not loading for a BR competition I wouldn't worry about it.

Lastly, for someone who is just to get into reloading it seems that you have had some good teaching. Most do not know how to use a comparator let alone know what it is.

Mike

quote:

Originally posted by vapodog:

quote:

Is that pretty common?

yup.....you're doing fine!

roger

OK guys thanks for the replies. I have been obsessing over perfection I guess. Obviously I won't be doing any BR shooting with the 22-250, but plan on doing some long range varminting this summer. So I have really been striving for perfection for long distance accuracy.

And I do have a decent teacher actually. One of my father's friends has been helping me with things and he seems to be an "old pro". No more valuable teacher than one one with actual experience.

quote:

And its worse with the AMAX than it is with the Matchkings. I might seat 3 or 4 AMAX at 2.095 comparator length, and then out of the blue get one that is 2.091. And most of the time it seems I can't get 2 in a row within a thousandth of each other

If I am reading you right you are finding a variation when useing a comparator? I have found with some plastic tipped bullets they don`t fit the seating plug properly and the die then seats off the bullet tip instead of off the ogive. If so take a small drill and deepen the seating plug 0.005-0.010" and your troubles should go away. The Redding dies are one of if not the best production dies out there. They should seat your bulllets with better then 0.004" variation.

So dids you get a chance to measure your bullet? Just interested to see what your findings are.

quote:

If I am reading you right you are finding a variation when useing a comparator? I have found with some plastic tipped bullets they don`t fit the seating plug properly and the die then seats off the bullet tip instead of off the ogive. If so take a small drill and deepen the seating plug 0.005-0.010" and your troubles should go away. The Redding dies are one of if not the best production dies out there. They should seat your bulllets with better then 0.004" variation.

Excellent point Ol' Joe! If the bullets ogive are good, the seater plug is the next item to address.

I'm not sure whether my seating method effects OAL consistency, but I do this for truer alignment. I don't just pull the lever once. I give a partial pull and then rotate the case about a 1/2 revolution and then pull it again all the way.