Tired_Eyes Posted October 27, 2021 Share Posted October 27, 2021 Guy's, I'm trying to hold a close tolerance on my 40 s&w reloads but I'm still getting a wide variance. My oal varies from 1.1355 to 1.1301 is this normal on a Dillion or do I need to tighten the base shell plate tighter? I'm using a Redding micrometer bullet seating die with a Lee carbide factory crimp die. Any other place I need to look at? I would like to hold the OAL at 1.134 if possible. Dave.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boomstick303 Posted October 27, 2021 Share Posted October 27, 2021 You can take the spring out of the Redding Seating Micrometer die. It helped for me. Also you are talking about .005 variance. What type of bullets are you using? With coated bullets you most likely will not get a better variance. Take you micrometer and measure .005. I doubt this will cause any issues. If 1.130 is too short then you may want to bump to 1.137 - 1.140 if the chamber allows. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cuz Posted October 27, 2021 Share Posted October 27, 2021 I can’t remember what my OAL variance was the last time I loaded 40. But over the last 10 plus years loading 9mm I get a +/- 0.005. I use mixed range brass and accept that OAL variance can be as much as 0.01. It makes no difference at all. It was like that on my 550 and it’s the same on my 1100. Usually, I’ll just measure about 50-75 in the first batch of 500 I load and take the median of that as my OAL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tired_Eyes Posted October 27, 2021 Author Share Posted October 27, 2021 Thanks guys, I appreciate your answers. I'll try removing the spring out of the Redding and I guess I'll accept the .005 variance. I'm not qualifying with this ammo I'm just using it for practice. I just wanted to see how close I could hold the tolerance on my bulk reloading. I load 500 at a clip just like Cuz but I figured stepping up to a Dillion I could expect a little tighter tolerance than .005. I'll have to try a hundred or so in my Rebel and see what that press will do. I just bought it to run the 40 thru the bulge buster. Next on my schedule I'll be switching over to 10mm and I'll see how they fair. In those I'll be using strictly Hornady 165 jhp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davsco Posted October 27, 2021 Share Posted October 27, 2021 i'm not even a year old on reloading but if there is anything i don't like on the dillon 750, it's the shellplate play. trying to get that shellplate play down while not having it bind up while rotating seems to be a difficult battle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirty_J Posted October 27, 2021 Share Posted October 27, 2021 It’s not PRS ammo… it just doesn’t need that resolution of consistency. Send it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ddc Posted October 27, 2021 Share Posted October 27, 2021 (edited) I think most 9/40 reloaders would be happy with +/- 0.005. If I understand your data you are talking about a max spread of 0.005 which is twice as tight. I may get close to that (maybe) on the majority of my rounds but I can't meet that criteria consistently 100%. Edited October 27, 2021 by ddc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AHI Posted October 27, 2021 Share Posted October 27, 2021 Mixed brass? There are variations in bullets, brass hardness. How you operate the press,calipers etc. .005 is pretty good and well with in acceptable tolerance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cuz Posted October 28, 2021 Share Posted October 28, 2021 So I just went back and checked my notes. From the last batch of 9mm 124gr JHP ammo, I measured 123 rounds. They ranged from 1.070 to 1.085 with the median at 1.079 so that’s what I label them. This week I loaded up 1200 precision 9mm 125gr RN. I measured 55 of them and they ranged from 1.052 to 1.058 with a median at 1.055 so that’s what I labeled them. All of the above is with mixed range pickup brass. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ddc Posted October 28, 2021 Share Posted October 28, 2021 1 hour ago, Cuz said: So I just went back and checked my notes. From the last batch of 9mm 124gr JHP ammo, I measured 123 rounds. They ranged from 1.070 to 1.085 with the median at 1.079 so that’s what I label them. This week I loaded up 1200 precision 9mm 125gr RN. I measured 55 of them and they ranged from 1.052 to 1.058 with a median at 1.055 so that’s what I labeled them. All of the above is with mixed range pickup brass. I think that would be excellent with a single head stamp let alone with mixed pickup brass. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tired_Eyes Posted October 28, 2021 Author Share Posted October 28, 2021 This is with mixed brass. After reading your comments I guess I should be happy with the .005. Or maybe I just got lucky? Sorry, I just thought it should hold within .002 to .003. I run the shell plate bolt snug with a Hit Factor bearing. Maybe I'll try and put two dial indicators opposite each other on the shell plate and check the deflection to see if that may be some of the variant? Again I didn't realize that .005 is a good number. Thanks for all your advice.. Dave..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cuz Posted October 28, 2021 Share Posted October 28, 2021 If you’re sweating the variance in OAL, just wait until you check the powder charge weight on every 10th round or so for a batch… Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yeti Posted October 28, 2021 Share Posted October 28, 2021 OAL variance of 5 thousandths? With mixed brass?! You are doing better than most of us and being a bit too myopic. Carry on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tired_Eyes Posted October 29, 2021 Author Share Posted October 29, 2021 Cuz, I checked the throw weight every 10 and the variance there was .3 to .4 using a Lee auto drum with #7 which I was very disappointed in. May go back to using a Dillion powder thrower. Had a buddy using the Lee and told me it was tight. I'm not liking this #7, first I tried it. I like using HS6 in 40 but my local dealer was out. He suggested the #7. Luckily I only bought 4 pounds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ddc Posted October 29, 2021 Share Posted October 29, 2021 (edited) 3 hours ago, Tired_Eyes said: Cuz, I checked the throw weight every 10 and the variance there was .3 to .4 using a Lee auto drum with #7 which I was very disappointed in. May go back to using a Dillion powder thrower. Had a buddy using the Lee and told me it was tight. I'm not liking this #7, first I tried it. I like using HS6 in 40 but my local dealer was out. He suggested the #7. Luckily I only bought 4 pounds. That seems a bit much I've loaded a small amount of #7. It's been awhile but my hazy recollection is that it metered fairly well. That was using the Dillon powder measure. No experience with the Lee auto drum. Edited October 29, 2021 by ddc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boomstick303 Posted October 29, 2021 Share Posted October 29, 2021 On 10/28/2021 at 5:19 AM, Cuz said: If you’re sweating the variance in OAL, just wait until you check the powder charge weight on every 10th round or so for a batch… So wrong....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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