Aloha everyone new reloader here!

So I’ve ran into a problem with variances in me seating depth after locking down the seating die. From what I gather so far is that my lee seater stem seats off the ogive and not the tip and since there are variances in bullet length the COAL will be off. If there are variances in bullet length how do I know what is the right COAL? I know that I can buy a comparator that measures based off the ogive but load data is based off the bullet tips right?

Not that it matters, but what gun, caliber, and exactly what bullet are you attempting to load?

Not that it matters, but what gun, caliber, and exactly what bullet are you attempting to load?

I’m loading for my lever action marlin 30-30. I’m using Hornady 160gr FTX.

I’m wondering if I’m making too big a deal with the small variances in the seating depths. I just took apart the lee stem and I can reverse it to the flat part to measure off the tip of the bullet. I’m thinking I’m just gonna load to the specified coal in the load book. I’m not shooting out to a 1000yds so I doubt the small variance will show at 100-150yds.

I’m loading for my lever action marlin 30-30. I’m using Hornady 160gr FTX.

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buy a box of factory Hornady 30-30 160 FTX ammunition and measure/copy it.
The small variations in oal from round to round should not make much, if any, difference in your case.

===
buy a box of factory Hornady 30-30 160 FTX ammunition and measure/copy it.
The small variations in oal from round to round should not make much, if any, difference in your case.

What if I’m loading for a bolt action? Do you guys throw the COAL from the loading data out the window and seat off the lands?

What if I’m loading for a bolt action? Do you guys throw the COAL from the loading data out the window and seat off the lands?

Don't seat off the lands unless you work up to the max pressure that is safe.  Jamming the lands can spike pressures to unsafe levels.  How much variation in OAL are you seeing?  How are you measuring?   If you are measuring at the point where the die touches the bullet, then there is something amiss with your die.  If it is measuring from the point of the bullet, then that will always vary somewhat, as the point is not always the same.

I’m loading for my lever action marlin 30-30. I’m using Hornady 160gr FTX.

Sorry i didn’t catch this until now. I know Hornady says the FTX bullet is safe to use in a tube fed magazine, but having a tip, even a polymer one, scares the hell out of me in a tube feed.

Not familiar with the Marlin per se but a lot of the tube feed leverguns are sensitive to the COAL in that you may not be able to load that last round in the tube if they all are slightly over. And with my Winchester it is sensitive to this. I always use round nose flat point boolits but I seat off the rounded front. Works well for me. So I would say if this is the bullet you want to use and if your tube feed is not sensitive to loading the last round with cartridges that might slightly exceed the COAL, I would not worry about it. Leverguns traditionally don’t have the accuracy of a free floated barrel gun.

Another thought I’ll add is if you are seating out to the maximum COAL with a tipped bullet then the thickness and seated depth of the primer is also a factor since the bullet tip will rest against the primer of the previous round.

Sorry i didn’t catch this until now. I know Hornady says the FTX bullet is safe to use in a tube fed magazine, but having a tip, even a polymer one, scares the hell out of me in a tube feed.

Not familiar with the Marlin per se but a lot of the tube feed leverguns are sensitive to the COAL in that you may not be able to load that last round in the tube if they all are slightly over. And with my Winchester it is sensitive to this. I always use round nose flat point boolits but I seat off the rounded front. Works well for me. So I would say if this is the bullet you want to use and if your tube feed is not sensitive to loading the last round with cartridges that might slightly exceed the COAL, I would not worry about it. Leverguns traditionally don’t have the accuracy of a free floated barrel gun.

how can it be round nose and flat point at the same time?

how can it be round nose and flat point at the same time?

https://ammo.com/bullet-type/lead-round-nose-flat-point

It’s a heads thang

https://ammo.com/bullet-type/lead-round-nose-flat-point

It’s a heads thang

heads

Sorry i didn’t catch this until now. I know Hornady says the FTX bullet is safe to use in a tube fed magazine, but having a tip, even a polymer one, scares the hell out of me in a tube feed.

Not familiar with the Marlin per se but a lot of the tube feed leverguns are sensitive to the COAL in that you may not be able to load that last round in the tube if they all are slightly over. And with my Winchester it is sensitive to this. I always use round nose flat point boolits but I seat off the rounded front. Works well for me. So I would say if this is the bullet you want to use and if your tube feed is not sensitive to loading the last round with cartridges that might slightly exceed the COAL, I would not worry about it. Leverguns traditionally don’t have the accuracy of a free floated barrel gun.

Another thought I’ll add is if you are seating out to the maximum COAL with a tipped bullet then the thickness and seated depth of the primer is also a factor since the bullet tip will rest against the primer of the previous round.

I think those tips are like a soft rubber, not like a hard polymer.

I think those tips are like a soft rubber, not like a hard polymer.

Still, I guess I’m old and not willing to try tipped bullets of any type in a tube feed. Just the thought of it makes what little hair I have left on the back of my neck stand up.

Aloha everyone new reloader here!

So I’ve ran into a problem with variances in me seating depth after locking down the seating die. From what I gather so far is that my lee seater stem seats off the ogive and not the tip and since there are variances in bullet length the COAL will be off. If there are variances in bullet length how do I know what is the right COAL? I know that I can buy a comparator that measures based off the ogive but load data is based off the bullet tips right?

Few things here to see if it helps you out.

1. What is your definition of variance? If measuring to ogive via comparator you should be in the 1 thou to 3 thou at worse, depending on quality of bullet and seater die. If you are measuring to tip with a lead tipped bullet ot an open tip, you can see quite a bit more variation. But realistically for oal the tip does not matter, because the ogive is what contacts the lands, the tips do matter for BC consistency, hence why hornady changed their polymer and not have an Atip, but thats another discussion.

2. If your ogive measurements are still out of whack, check to see your die is locked in well and not shifting but most importantly, the main factors i found to be a headache are compressed loads or neck tension. Take a feel of how difficult it is to seat each and every bullet, put the ones that feel easy and ones that take extra effort. Measure them and you may see a large variation. A mandrel die to set final neck tension can help drastically. Also make sure the chamfer is even as well.

3. Published Load data OAL is inherilently useless when handloading, unless you are trying to mimic factory loads. Few things to look at. Find a good and reliable way to measure your distance to lands (wheeler method, hornady, sinclair, etc) with your speciifc bullet. A good place to start your load development is 20 thou off the lands. Now you take an OAL on that, usually your biggest factor is going to be the magazine restriction. You wanna make sure u have adequate magazine clearance to prevent tip malformation and reliability. That is the only time tip OAL really matters. The rest should be based off the ogive for consistent sakes.

4. Lastly because you are customizing your OAL from a published load, always be safe and work carefully, pressure will function differently based on the bullet seating depth, distance off lands, neck tension, etc.

Hope this helps.

Few things here to see if it helps you out.

1. What is your definition of variance? If measuring to ogive via comparator you should be in the 1 thou to 3 thou at worse, depending on quality of bullet and seater die. If you are measuring to tip with a lead tipped bullet ot an open tip, you can see quite a bit more variation. But realistically for oal the tip does not matter, because the ogive is what contacts the lands, the tips do matter for BC consistency, hence why hornady changed their polymer and not have an Atip, but thats another discussion.

2. If your ogive measurements are still out of whack, check to see your die is locked in well and not shifting but most importantly, the main factors i found to be a headache are compressed loads or neck tension. Take a feel of how difficult it is to seat each and every bullet, put the ones that feel easy and ones that take extra effort. Measure them and you may see a large variation. A mandrel die to set final neck tension can help drastically. Also make sure the chamfer is even as well.

3. Published Load data OAL is inherilently useless when handloading, unless you are trying to mimic factory loads. Few things to look at. Find a good and reliable way to measure your distance to lands (wheeler method, hornady, sinclair, etc) with your speciifc bullet. A good place to start your load development is 20 thou off the lands. Now you take an OAL on that, usually your biggest factor is going to be the magazine restriction. You wanna make sure u have adequate magazine clearance to prevent tip malformation and reliability. That is the only time tip OAL really matters. The rest should be based off the ogive for consistent sakes.

4. Lastly because you are customizing your OAL from a published load, always be safe and work carefully, pressure will function differently based on the bullet seating depth, distance off lands, neck tension, etc.

Hope this helps.

Thank you everyone for the responses! Some very good info.

The only time I've broken a Lee decapping pin is when I attempted to decap a berdan primed case. I saw a video once of a guy who claims that he is able to convert berdan cases by punching holes through the base of the case using a decapping pin but when I tried it with a lee pin, I just ended up snapping the pin. I wonder if the harden pins are strong enough to punch holes through berdan cases?