Help quick! OAL question

[Husker95]

I just finished loading a little over 100 rounds of 230 LRN rounds for practice this weekend. Long story short, when I finshed and was QC'ing random rounds, I noticed that somehow, something drifted and a bunch of my rounds are between 1.277 and 1.280 OAL. Max for 45 acp is 1.275. Are these still OK to fire? or should i go back and try to tamp them down another .005? If it matters, my load is 4.0 grains of WST and I am shooting a full-size SA loaded. Thanks!

[ErikW]

They probably won't fit in your magazines.

[TBF]

Making loaded rounds shorter should be fine.

Just seat them again.

.020 clearance to the mag ( with the rounds in normal position ) is enough to not cause them to " stick ".

Travis F.

[uscbigdawg]

I'm for seating them again, IF they don't cycle into the gun (advise major caution on testing this away when not on a range).

Personally, I think you'll be fine (especially if it's just practice).

Rich

[warpspeed]

Seat them and crimp them again. You'll be fine.

[Husker95]

Thanks guys. On reflection, it was probably a dumb question. Whenever something weird happens to me reloading, I am still in the mode of fearing I will blow myself to he**. After thinking about it and reading your replies, I think my new rule of thumb concerning OAL is:

OAL too short ~ too much pressure; might blow yourself to he**

OAL too long ~ wont fit in magazine; wont run in gun

[Rising Sight]

It seems like the seating depth for a .45 ACP varies alot. I just finished loading my first batch of .45 last night. Mine were loaded with 4.5 of TightGroup ,230 FMJ and a OAL of 1.199. The max OAL was listed at 1.200. The dillon video I watched when I set my machine up showed that they set their OAL just under the max,so thats what I did. Usually when a dimension in brought out three decimal places you are allowed a +/- .005 tolerance. So in my case I should be allowed anywhere from 1.195 to 1.205. And you should be allowed 1.270 to 1.280.

[Rising Sight]

I have a few boxes of Winchester 230 grain FMJs. I just opened a box and picked a few random rounds to measure. Here is what I got,1.267,1.2625,1.265,1.2675,1.266 .....apparently OAL isn't all that important. I know mine are all alot closer than that and this was my first time reloading ever.

[D.carden]

Gear Head,

Check your die settings with the brass in each stage. In my 550 the friction with brass in each stage ( crankin em out ) can be slighlty different than just die-setting with one only.

Dan

[Rising Sight]

D.carden,

Sorry, I guess I should have said that those numbers came from a 100 round box that I got from Wal-Mart. Those weren't numbers from the ones I loaded. I just measured some of mine and they only vary by .002 . I should see if there is anything I can do to get that number a little tighter.

[Husker95]

Gear head,

sounds like you are doing great to me to hold that tight of an oal spread - regardless if you are a beginner or not. open up your calipers and take a look at what .002 looks like between the jaws. its like a human hair. i doubt it affects you at all. also, that oal can be affected by differences in length of the case, bullet, etc. and i have yet to read of a reloader on this forum who trims high-volume pistol brass to length.

[short_round]

Whenever something weird happens to me reloading, I am still in the mode of fearing I will blow myself to he**.

I don't think you should ever get out of this mode. It doubt it takes very long from when someone stops thinking this way before they actually do it.

[Rising Sight]

Husker95,

I have a Dillon 550, are these machines supposed to hold tolerances within .002? There isn't anything on my machine that feels sloppy enough for it not to be able to hold those tolerances. I wasn't in a real hurry so I just took my time while I was loading these. Maybe thats the key. I really don't know for sure though.

[Husker95]

Gearhead,

i also am loading with a 550. i think the machine will probably hold to tight tolerances, but I think you also have to take into account your components and dies as well. Even in new brass I find minute differences in length and that holds for bullets as well; especially lead bullets which is what i shoot. probably the only group that gets super concerned about screwing it down to gnat's a** 4 places to the right of the decimal are the bench resters. and they are trimming every case, sifting powder, weighing primers and probably loading 2 rounds a night on a coax single stage press. when i am loading pistol rounds, i verify max oal between both of my manuals and try to load as close to max length as possible. when i refill the primer magazine, i will also run about a dozen rounds through my case gauge to make sure they drop. when i am done for the night, i will check a sample for length with the calipers. i will usually see extreme spreads in oal of up to .004, which i think is within safe bounds.

husker95