New to reloading, before I even go out to the range I would like to hear if others here see what I see from their presses.
I'm loading 44 mag. I am using Nosler JSP 240gr.
I recently took a 10 shell-random sample of my favorite factory ammo and found +/-0.0045. I must say there, on one of the shells, the bullet was even a little out of square with the case.
I can't seem to do any better than about +/-0.006 in. OAL, and based on my results sorting components won't reliably change that much. So it is all my dies, press and their installation. Should I accept that? Any suggestions?
Here is why I say that sorting won't help:
I recently experimented with the effect of component variation on final OAL. For 10 samples, I measured case length after trimming, case weight, bullet diameter, bullet length, and bullet weight. I then assembled the cases and bullets without powder or primer, measuring case length after sizing and expanding as well as final OAL. I ran the results in XL and SAS, and beleive me when I say that I couldn't find any significant effect from any of the case or bullet characteristics on either case length after sizing or final OAL. As might be expected, there is a small, marginally significant tendency toward longer OAL when the biggest bullets are paired with the heaviest cases. I can post my component tolerances and models for their effect on OAL elsewhere, if anyone is interested.
Thanks for any comments and advice.
I'm loading 44 mag. I am using Nosler JSP 240gr.
I recently took a 10 shell-random sample of my favorite factory ammo and found +/-0.0045. I must say there, on one of the shells, the bullet was even a little out of square with the case.
I can't seem to do any better than about +/-0.006 in. OAL, and based on my results sorting components won't reliably change that much. So it is all my dies, press and their installation. Should I accept that? Any suggestions?
Here is why I say that sorting won't help:
I recently experimented with the effect of component variation on final OAL. For 10 samples, I measured case length after trimming, case weight, bullet diameter, bullet length, and bullet weight. I then assembled the cases and bullets without powder or primer, measuring case length after sizing and expanding as well as final OAL. I ran the results in XL and SAS, and beleive me when I say that I couldn't find any significant effect from any of the case or bullet characteristics on either case length after sizing or final OAL. As might be expected, there is a small, marginally significant tendency toward longer OAL when the biggest bullets are paired with the heaviest cases. I can post my component tolerances and models for their effect on OAL elsewhere, if anyone is interested.
Thanks for any comments and advice.