OAL bullet seating frustration

[trapper10]

When I seat ballistic tips the OAL varies driving me nuts. If I use a bullet comparator it will give me the oal based on where the meplat or shoulder of the bullet is, correct?
Given that, how do I parlay that to seating bullets so that the distance to the lands is always the same?

 

[wvbuckbuster]

Measuring from the ogive is more consistent than from the tip. Tips can vary somewhat but I haven't had any major issues with them. You can sort your bullets by measuring them, then put into separate groups. Load each group separately not combining them. Same as weighting them. Depends on what degree of accuracy you are wanting to obtain. Dan.

 

[Dr. Vette]

I always use a comparator to measure to the ogive, and ignore the location of the tip, so to speak.
It's the ogive that will hit the lands, not the tip, so if you keep the ogive in the same place you're doing the right thing.

The only time I pay attention to the tip is when I load a dud sample round to be sure it will fit in the magazine.

 

[Salchi Papa]

Use a chamber measure from Hornady or an empty case and put a lose bullet in it. Get a chamber measurement by measuring the ogive of the bullet then shorten it by .02 and see how that shoots and adjust if needed

 

[trapper10]

Understood. The question is how do I adjust the seating die to seat bullets on the ogive. The seater does so where it contacts the bullet closer to the tip.

 

[Salchi Papa]

Some does you can get different seater plugs for VLD type boolits. I know Hornady makes them but not sure who else

 

[RL338]

Some brands of dies have a VLD seating stem as an option. You may find the bullet tip is bottoming out in the stem giving you a variant in measurement. This is where a VLD stem will help.