Acceptable Tolerances in Reloading

[Full Curl]

I really enjoy reloading for hunting purposes. Don't get me wrong I love a good ragged clover hole in the paper at the range but I don't shoot competitive long range. I don't sort my brass or bullets as long as they are all from the same lot and not completely out of whack but do notice small differences in measurements when bumping shoulders back and seating bullets.

I typically only shoulder bump and try to bump them back somewhere between .0015 to .002 but usually end up with a spread much greater than this .0005 range, sometimes maybe more along the lines of a .003 range. I'm assuming this is just differences in the actual brass form one case to another.

When I seat bullets I try to get them .015 to .02 off the lands but usually end up with anywhere from about .005 to .025 due to bullet variations.

My gun shoots about .75 MOA with these loads which is plenty good for me and hunting. I'm sure I might be able to shave a little more off if I tried to control these variations more. I was just wondering what "tolerances" are acceptable to you guys when loading? Are these excessive?

I have a microseater die so could set it to seat high every time, measure, and then just adjust it downward for each round for the final seating depth and I'm sure I could stay with a .003-.005 range pretty easily but that would add a lot of time to the loading process and I'm not sure what I would gain from it…?

Sizing is completely different and I'm not sure I could improve my control over that unless I really starting annealing every third shot or so which might improve consistency of the brass but I'm not even sure that would do it? Way too much trouble to adjust a sizing die differently for each case.

I read on here what someone posts that they bump shoulders back to .0010 or seat bullets at .01 off the lands. Are they doing this consistently for the entire batch of all 50, 100, or more cases or are they having an "acceptable range" like I get?

 

[Barrelnut]

I think there are acceptable tolerances for all of us. Because no matter how much you do, no two loads will probably ever be exactly the same. I tend to take all of the loaded rounds that come out darn near perfect, especially in seating depth and runout, and put those in a special pile that I would use for long rang hunting or some sort of competition and use the rest for the range, practice, and banging rocks.

If you're loads are 100% reliable in the situation you hunt in. I would think you are there.

 

[FearNoWind]

...When I seat bullets I try to get them .015 to .02 off the lands but usually end up with anywhere from about .005 to .025 due to bullet variations....

If you have a .020 variable in seating depth I don't believe it's due to bullet variations. I rely on either Berger or Sierra bullets and I've never had that much variation in seating depth using bullets straight out of the box - no sorting..

 

[Barrelnut]

If you have a .020 variable in seating depth I don't believe it's due to bullet variations. I rely on either Berger or Sierra bullets and I've never had that much variation in seating depth using bullets straight out of the box - no sorting..

I understood it as .005 variation. Which, I might add, would be even less if bullet sorting was introduced into the equation.... Just had to say that.

 

[Barrelnut]

" .005 to .025 due to bullet variations."

FNW is correct, that is a bit of a variance. Would be easy to correct some of that just by keeping your brass sorted by the number of times it has been fired.

But then again, if the loads are meeting your needs with 100% confidence, improving it is your call. All boils down to how much you like working at your bench.

 

[rcoody]

I really enjoy reloading for hunting purposes. Don't get me wrong I love a good ragged clover hole in the paper at the range but I don't shoot competitive long range. I don't sort my brass or bullets as long as they are all from the same lot and not completely out of whack but do notice small differences in measurements when bumping shoulders back and seating bullets.

I typically only shoulder bump and try to bump them back somewhere between .0015 to .002 but usually end up with a spread much greater than this .0005 range, sometimes maybe more along the lines of a .003 range. I'm assuming this is just differences in the actual brass form one case to another.

When I seat bullets I try to get them .015 to .02 off the lands but usually end up with anywhere from about .005 to .025 due to bullet variations.

My gun shoots about .75 MOA with these loads which is plenty good for me and hunting. I'm sure I might be able to shave a little more off if I tried to control these variations more. I was just wondering what "tolerances" are acceptable to you guys when loading? Are these excessive?

I have a microseater die so could set it to seat high every time, measure, and then just adjust it downward for each round for the final seating depth and I'm sure I could stay with a .003-.005 range pretty easily but that would add a lot of time to the loading process and I'm not sure what I would gain from it…?

Sizing is completely different and I'm not sure I could improve my control over that unless I really starting annealing every third shot or so which might improve consistency of the brass but I'm not even sure that would do it? Way too much trouble to adjust a sizing die differently for each case.

I read on here what someone posts that they bump shoulders back to .0010 or seat bullets at .01 off the lands. Are they doing this consistently for the entire batch of all 50, 100, or more cases or are they having an "acceptable range" like I get?

First if it is working for you then i wouldn't worry about it. If you enjoy reloading and are ready to go down the rabbit hole then join in.

As for your shoulder bump. It should not be difficult to set your die up for a consistent 1 to 2 thousandths shoulder bump. Mine are extremely consistent. Could be the way you are measuring. Are you getting consistent measurements on your fired brass?

How are you measuring your seated bullets? Tip or ogive. If you measure to the tip it.will never be consistent. Some brands of bullets are much more.consistent than others. You should be able to do much better than .020 very easily

Once you set up your sizing or seating die you should be able to run through 50 or 100 rounds with no changes to either. I have lock rings on my dies and.once i set up the shoulder bump i never change it again. Bullet seating. Only change for different bullet or seating depth.

What press and dies are you using?

 

[dsculley]

One thought about your length variance. If you are using bullets with a secant ogive, the bullet could be bottoming out in your seating stem. This will cause variation in seating depth. Make sure that the seating stem doesn't rest on the tip of the bullet when seating. If it does, you can get another seating stem designed for the VLD bullets, or just drill out your existing stem.

 

[Garycrow]

I agree with the others here that the bullet seating variance is extremely large, I've never had anything like that. Are you measuring to tip or ogive? The tip doesn't really tell you anything, you need to measure to the ogive to know the real distance to lands. Any halfway decent seating die should consistently seat to no more than .001"-.002" variation when measured at the ogive.

 

[tbrice23]

I agree with the others here that the bullet seating variance is extremely large, I've never had anything like that. Are you measuring to tip or ogive? The tip doesn't really tell you anything, you need to measure to the ogive to know the real distance to lands. Any halfway decent seating die should consistently seat to no more than .001"-.002" variation when measured at the ogive.

Agree,

Also, if he is seating long then re-seating each bullet to measure the same at the tip he is really creating havoc.

 

[Mikecr]

"My gun shoots about .75 MOA with these loads which is plenty good for me and hunting"

 

[rcoody]

"My gun shoots about .75 MOA with these loads which is plenty good for me and hunting"

That is all that is important

 

[Crowe284]

Watch your lube from case to case when bumping shoulders. Too much or too little will cause variations. I would also like to reiterate that you need to be measuring from ogive to base for your oal AND making sure bullet is not bottoming out in seater stem. VLD bullet = VLD seater stem.

 

[Full Curl]

Thanks for all the replies. I'm using a CO-AX and all Forster dies (full length sizer and micoseater). Once I find the load I like for a particular rifle I usually never touch the locking O-rings again. I even have 2 full length sizers for both my 7mm rem mags so each is set for a specific rifle. Bullets I'm using in this batch are Nosler Accubonds. Measuring with mitutoyo calipers with Hornady bullet comparator (seating depth) and head space gauge (case sizing). I am measuring to bullet o-give and not the tip. If I just measure individual bullets before seating I get pretty good variations in base to o-give as well... I can look at my notes and post some numbers. I do get much tighter number with Bergers, but these are Accubonds. Interesting suggestion on the tip bottoming out in the stem... never thought of that and will have to check it out but I don't get any tip deformations??? Would the regular Accubond be consider a low-drag VLD narrow bullet design? These are not the LR version of the AB's. Thanks for the replies. Gives me some things to think about for sure.

 

[Full Curl]

" .005 to .025 due to bullet variations."

Would be easy to correct some of that just by keeping your brass sorted by the number of times it has been fired.

I always sort my brass by number of times fired so all my batches are consistent with that, I don't sort it by weight, water measured volume capacity, neck thickness, or anything like that.