C.O.A.L. hornady manual vs speer reloading manuel

[RussellJohnson]

I m loading 9m 115 grain JHP montana gold bullets, in the hornady reloading manual it gives a coal of 1.10 in the speer reloading manual it gives a coal of 1.35. any advice on the subject is appreciated.

[Duane Thomas]

I normally load to 1.150", if that helps.

1.110"? 1.135"? Really, why sweat the 0.025"? Yes, that's 25/one-THOUSANDTHS of an inch. Unless one or the other feeds significantly more smoothly and reliably for you, I'm really not seeing a whole lot here to get wrapped around the axle over.

[fltbed]

Why not set your OAL to your gun.

I read this a long time ago and it sure works for me.

Things you’ll need:

1. Dowel rod that fits down your bore. (cleaning rod will work in a pinch)

2. Exacto knife, razor blade or scribe.

3. Dial calipers

With the action closed, insert the dowel rod through the muzzle till it’s resting against the breach face and scribe a line on the rod at the muzzle.

Now insert the bullet you plan on loading into the chamber and hold it against the rifling with something. (another piece of dowel rod, cleaning rod, etc.)

Reinsert the dowel rod till it’s resting against the nose of the bullet and scribe another line on it at the muzzle.

Measure the distance between the two lines and you now have the maximum OAL for that bullet in your chamber. I normally back off my OAL another .010 or, if it's real long, to the max OAL that will function through the magazine.

I know there are other ways of determining OAL that are more precise and more expensive, but I’ve always found this method more than adequate for my needs.

Hope this helps.

Jeff