Lee Loader

Hi Guy's

I just did my Bi-weekly Reloading and have a question about OAL
I going for an OAL of 1.060

My finished cartridges measure anywhere from 1.057 to 1.070

Is this normal for mixed head stamped cases?
They all shot fine.

Thank you for the replies!
Sonic

You didn't say what bullet, weight or profile ... makes a big difference.

I've loaded nothing but cast round nose in 9mm, both 115 gr and 124 gr. These have been between 1.10 and 1.16 oal. Most anything seated deeper would tend to put the case mouth dangerously close, or into, the ogive for what I've used. Jacketed HP's are a different thing altogether, and I've never spent the money to punch paper with them.


jd

edit to add: I forgot to mention the potential danger of seating too deep into the case itself.

I don't think bullet type would matter concerning the variance from case to case in OAL.

To me 0.013" variance is too much for a small high pressure case like 9X19 regardless of the bullet.

What kind of press? On my Loadmaster I had the same thing until I was able to set up my dies correctly with a little help from Ranch dog. This is a link to that string, OAL on a Loadmaster press, ( https://www.lee-loader.com/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=3526). I still am not perfect,+-.002, but I think it may be operator error not putting the same pressure on the arm each time. Hope this helps! Happy reloading!




SWBuckeye

Stay low to mid in charge for the chosen powder and you are safe as long as the targeted length of 1.060 is correct. Make sure your seating die is correctly setup and the seating stem/plug is clean. I have three different stems for 9mm as I found the one that came with the Lee die didn't work well with certain bullet profiles. It actually made ridges on cast bullets. Avoid slamming the bullet home when operating the handle of the press. A slow steady approach seems to work much better.

SWBuckeye wrote:What kind of press? On my Loadmaster I had the same thing until I was able to set up my dies correctly with a little help from Ranch dog. This is a link to that string, OAL on a Loadmaster press, ( https://www.lee-loader.com/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=3526). I still am not perfect,+-.002, but I think it may be operator error not putting the same pressure on the arm each time. Hope this helps! Happy reloading!




SWBuckeye

I use a Lee Value Turret Press with Lee Dies.

I'm loading mixed 9mm cases with Xtreme Bullets Copperplated HP 124 Grn (recommend OAL 1.060)
I use 5.2 Grn of CFE Pistol Powder and CCI 500 Primers

The turret does raise up a bit when in use. It does have a little play in it. This could be what is causing the
Different OAL's. I will try to raise my dies up and lower the seating knob a bit.

Thank you all for your replies! Happy Reloading!

sonic306090 wrote:

SWBuckeye wrote:What kind of press? On my Loadmaster I had the same thing until I was able to set up my dies correctly with a little help from Ranch dog. This is a link to that string, OAL on a Loadmaster press, ( https://www.lee-loader.com/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=3526). I still am not perfect,+-.002, but I think it may be operator error not putting the same pressure on the arm each time. Hope this helps! Happy reloading!




SWBuckeye

I use a Lee Value Turret Press with Lee Dies.

I'm loading mixed 9mm cases with Xtreme Bullets Copperplated HP 124 Grn (recommend OAL 1.060)
I use 5.2 Grn of CFE Pistol Powder and CCI 500 Primers

The turret does raise up a bit when in use. It does have a little play in it. This could be what is causing the
Different OAL's. I will try to raise my dies up and lower the seating knob a bit.

Thank you all for your replies! Happy Reloading!

I'm just asking .... where did you get the recommended oal of 1.060 for the Xtreme 124 gr 9mm bullet?


jd

I received the OAL from the Xtreme Bullets Loading manual. 124 GRN. Copper Plated Hollow Points = 1.060
My reloading of these shoot fine, But I don't know if that 0.013" in OAL variation affect accuracy.

But, I think you guy's opened my eyes to the problem, being that up & down play in my turret as I'm seating the bullet. Thank you!

Just a couple thoughts; the play in the turret to frame fit is necessary because the turret moves in the frame. Mass produced parts and using a normal industry standard tolerance, smaller "slop" would produce some binding turrets. But yes, the turret moves up with pressure but it moves the same amount every time. Any movement is easily adjusted for with the die adjustments.

As for OAL and mixed brass; over all length is measured from the case head to the bullet nose. Regardless of what's in-between, the distance is determined by how far the bullet is seated and how far the nose is from the head. Warped/bent case heads/rims, high primers, burrs can be reasons for variations. Variations in OAL are mostly from the equipment or user. Sometimes variations in bullet ogive will produce variations in OAL too (I bought 250 plated 9mm bullets not long ago, just in case, and couldn't get less than .010"-.012" variation in OAL using same methods and tools I could often hold .004" variation with premium bullets. Close inspection showed some differences in the radius of the ogive, like they had been struck with two different dies.).

I used an old style Lee turret with 11 different calibers mounted in 11 turrets, mostly Lee dies and I was occasionally the main reason for variations...

UPDATE: I ordered a Custom LEE Seating Pin to replace the Standard one in my 9mm Seating Die.
I ordered it to seat my Xtreme 124 HP Copper Plated Bullets.
I would say now that my COAL varies within 0.5 of each other. Used to be within 1000th to 1.5.
I don't know if I'm stating the measurements correctly but It's almost spot on.