Originally Posted by synolimit

Why the red thing on the caliper?? I have noticed if I compress a load I deform the tip of the hollow point making the OAL longer. Other times when I don't deform the tip my OAL can still very with the calipers even though my settings never touched. I'd say my loads can range from 2.240-2.258.

And PS I thought I was anal and loading and sorting.

Originally Posted by Rusty

Best way to describe it.

Effects of COAL and CBTO | Part 2 | Berger Bullets Blog

The red thing on the caliber is how you measure the bullet ogive.

If you are compressing your loads to get the AOL, and deforming the bullet tip. You GOT PROBLEMS! I would switch to a faster burning powder that took less to get the velocity you want. Are you using bullets with a cannelure or smooth sided? Also, I gave up on compressed loads. Not worth the trouble. Especially if you are shooting with a semi-auto. Alot of times, the bullet will move out of the case with it being slammed into position by the bolt.

Long time ago. I ran into the same problem you have now with AOL. Found out if I sort through the bullets and group them. I eliminated the problem.

Originally Posted by synolimit

Well the hornadys have a lot of hollow point so to deform the nose isn't hard as its hollow copper. I've even done it if the case isn't 100% smooth with the burs removed or tapering the neck.

If you recall I tried that AA4068 or whatever it was and at 24gr it was up in the neck. Now I picked up RL15 and I can't do 24.9gr which is the max for 2850ftps. At 24.5gr it's a hair lower than the AA at 24gr. So it's a compress ever so lightly. But after testing I think I'm gonna use 24.1gr and hope for 2800 flat.

Hornadys are smooth wall. I've always tested a few at home ejecting the rounds to see if there's any movement and i test again at the range. I'll fire a round off, pull the next round and measure. So far it's been all good. My die seems to do a great job making the neck tight.

Ok after I test these 3 sets of charges with RL15 ill measure all the bullets and sort them before mass production. Then Im guessing I'll have to adjust the die to achieve 2.250 OAL for each set of bullets? Obviously it wouldn't be good to adjust longer rounds as that increase pressures by pushing the bullet down in further?

Originally Posted by Rusty

You still load the bullets to the AOL. But now since you have them sorted out by the ogive. The distance from the ogive to the rifling is now uniform with each batch. I've been told that .003" difference between the ogive length is ok. What I found out with the 2000 bullets I sorted. Had a total difference of .012" in the ogives. Have some batches with less then 100 bullets, and one with over 300 bullets. So I will reload with each batch.