I am loading a 223 Laupua brass all trimmed to the same length. Seating is done with a Wilson hand seater. Out of 100 rounds, 10 are about 5 thousands longer, 2 are 3 thousands longer, and 2 are 2 thousands shorter. What gives! The only thing I can think is maybe the bullets 40 grn V-Max. What do you guys think? and should I adjust the seater to make all the long and short ones the same length as the rest. This has got me scratching my head!

You've just discovered reality in the world of bullet making. Most varmint and hunting bullets will be off those numbers. Actually, your's seem pretty good. I've seen them average closer to .015" in disparity. You can determine this just by checking each box of bullets by whatever means you use. In the final analysis, it probably won't make that much difference. Look at it as having a vast majority quite consistent.

Here is something to think about. I figured out a long time ago that lead bullet tips deform and hollow point bullets can be any where up to about 0.020" difference in length, truth be known? someone told me to watch out for funny numbers.

I, being the smart one, made up a measuring device out of alum and/or steel. I started measuring from an arbitrary point on the ogive as close to land diameter as I could get without getting all anal about it. In the old days I just drilled a hole deep enough for the bullet to go into without touching and a few thousandths smaller than the bullet diameter and made it 1" long. Today Stoney has a bunch of neat little dod-dads that do the same thing and work great.

Now, with the Stoney thingys in my hot, sweaty hands, I started measuring everything I could get my hands on that looked like a bullet or a case, just because they were so neat to use. I knew from past experience with my home made devices you couldn't depend on the ogives either. A new box of 25 cal, Speer 100 gr HP were the worst I measured and had 78 out of the 100 that were consistent and the rest jumped around like a frog in a frying pan. Nosler, Sierra, Hornady and CT all had at the most 5 in a box out of whack, with Nosler being the best with one or two.

This could explain why I had more "fliers" from Speer bullets on targets than the other bullet makers, but they still shot OK in the field, for the most part.

I use Wilson, Forster, RCBS and Redding seaters with micrometer adjusters and go with the ogive point as my definitive measuring point, average out the OAL and keep the settings at 005" jumps just to make it easy to write down. None of my store boughts know the difference. My benchresters and varminters can get picky and show a difference in 0.001" but that only holds for a few hundred rounds when they have fresh barrels and gets to be a pain to mess with, now. Mostly I use 0.005" resets about every 500 rounds in the bugholers and the rest whenever I decide I'm missing too many and shoot a check target. Anything below .600" I don't worry about, anything above gets the chamber remeasured and the bullet seated out until it straightens up, usually around 5 to 10 thou about once a month during digger season.

When I really want to get anal I measure each bullet and segregate them. The ones with the same numbers go back in the box and the others get put in baggies for foulers. Hornady 53 HP match used to be real bad 30 years ago, but not anymore. It really depends on what your shooting, benchrest for glory or diggers for fun. I haven't seen a digger yet who complained the bullet wasn't perfect and wanted an alibi shot.

Yes, Welcome to the world of "Too many ways to shoot down an alibi". I like all the new tools coming out and the high quality of the components we have available today. Makes getting to those bugholes a little easier.

Makatak