by DANM99 » Thu Mar 29, 2018 2:36 pm
Umm, no cases ever shorten after firing. No surprise that your cases don't match SAMMI specs, and OAL is an individual thing, and firearm specific. Freightman has the right of it. Casting your own bullets is the best way to actually save money reloading. If you buy projectiles, savings go way down even if you buy bullets in lots of 1k. The extra bonus you get by casting your own bullets is that they can be more accurate than anything you can buy factory. As for sticking to a specified sammi OAL, that is over rated. I determine OAL with a 'plunk test' and then checking magazine fit. With barrel in hand, drop a known factory bullet into the chamber and note how the head sits flush with the back of the chamber area. Make a bullet that is obviously a bit too long, and plunk it into your chamber. You will see that the case head sticks out farther than the factory one did. Slowly crank down on your seater die adjustment, running the test round back thru it, and rechecking chamber fit with each quarter turn. Stop reducing OAL when your test round seats flush like the factory round. Make sure your test round drops free easily. At this point, make a half dozen or so, and test them in your magazine. They could still be too long and bind in your mags. If they bind, then reduce your OAL till they run smoothly thru your mags. When satisfied, lock down your seater die and leave it alone till you change bullet style and then you will have to retest. If you are loading for multiple pistols in the same caliber you will have to test your first bullets in each pistol. Likely, you will be OK for all, but you need to be sure. I have no trouble making the same rounds for all four of my 9x19 pistols but it is possible that one pistol will have a tight chamber or magazine, and you will have to make all your bullets to fit that one, or make a special batch for the tight one. That is pretty much how I determine OAL for pistol bullets. There is, of course, a lot more to the reloading process than I mentioned here. You should have at least two good manuals and follow their recommendations carefully. Enjoy!
PS....I did not even mention crimping. Most, but not all seating dies will apply enough crimp to lock your bullets in place during feeding. You don't need a lot of crimp, just enough to keep your bullets from moving in or out during the firing process. I really like the Lee factory crimp dies for semi auto ammo.
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