seating depth question

[Bigeclipse]

I have been reloading a while now and I know most of us on here tend to seat bullets longer to get close to the lands. I have followed this as well. For my pistols, however, I simply seat bullets below book max which is typically set to ensure the rounds will fit in your magazines. Well...how short is too short? The reason I ask is I have noticed my XDs 45 likes bullets seated shorter to cycle reliably. If I am near max length I get a lot of hang ups. So the question is...what issues can you face with seating too deep? The book states 1.275 oal as max length...how short can you go is my main question??? I know seating deeper can often increase pressures so I will watch out for that but anything else?

 

[Bigeclipse]

Just looking at what issues may arise from seating the bullet to deep for pistols?

 

[Bigeclipse]

I'm assuming since no one answered this must either be a touchy subject or a stupid question on my part lol

 

[g0rd0]

if you seat at moal and they will not cycle then by all means try a little shorter to find the sweet spot. But remember when you change to a different bullet you will have to start with the listed and try again.
But yet again open your slide and lock it back insert a mag and relese with the lever if it chambers and you still have problems cycling when fired it may not be an oal issue but, an issue with your charge not having enough oomf to push your slide back far enough to pick up right.
And yet again, have you put a spring kit in it? If so put the factory springs back in and try again.
Some pistols are really picky, some are not. I have an old (1980) Berretta 92 that will cycle anything even 162 grn swc. I had a Browning high power that was supper accurate but would only work with 115 or 125grn and they had to be at factory spec loads even at that.

 

[Bigeclipse]

if you seat at moal and they will not cycle then by all means try a little shorter to find the sweet spot. But remember when you change to a different bullet you will have to start with the listed and try again.
But yet again open your slide and lock it back insert a mag and relese with the lever if it chambers and you still have problems cycling when fired it may not be an oal issue but, an issue with your charge not having enough oomf to push your slide back far enough to pick up right.
And yet again, have you put a spring kit in it? If so put the factory springs back in and try again.
Some pistols are really picky, some are not. I have an old (1980) Berretta 92 that will cycle anything even 162 grn swc. I had a Browning high power that was supper accurate but would only work with 115 or 125grn and they had to be at factory spec loads even at that.

Does not have spring kit. It cycles factory ammo fine. I have noticed that on jam it definitely looks lodged due to how long they are with the round nose. The XDs has kind of a steep angle loading from mag to chamber. I'd say 9 out of 10 fire fine and cycle fine. My got feel is definitely a length issue being a bit long and maybe a touch of undercharge as well. I like to load my plinking rounds low to stress the cases less for linger case life. Maybe I will try a bit shorter and if that doesn't work...bump the charge just a touch.

 

[g0rd0]

ok then try a factory crimp die from Lee, it sounds now like the outside dementions of your reloads just might be off just that tiny little bit
I take it all of your brass is from the same company and that they are within trim to length specs,

 

[Bigeclipse]

ok then try a factory crimp die from Lee, it sounds now like the outside dementions of your reloads just might be off just that tiny little bit
I take it all of your brass is from the same company and that they are within trim to length specs,

Yes but I can see the jam...it is definitely not the cases because when I use flat nose bullets all is well but when I use the round nose bullets the actually jam at the nose tip

 

[Charters]

What's the different in length from the factory length ? depending on how close you are to book max, maybe back off a bit , set your seating die to the factory rounds that function in your gun assuming they are the same bullet as you are trying to reload,

 

[Bigeclipse]

What's the different in length from the factory length ? depending on how close you are to book max, maybe back off a bit , set your seating die to the factory rounds that function in your gun assuming they are the same bullet as you are trying to reload,

I have never shot any factory round nose from it...only hollow points unfortunately. That's a good point though. Maybe I'll buy a box and see how factory ones run.

 

[Lone Hunter]

What's the different in length from the factory length ? depending on how close you are to book max, maybe back off a bit , set your seating die to the factory rounds that function in your gun assuming they are the same bullet as you are trying to reload,

I had to do this with a 9mm I had. I set the dies with factory loads and had no more problem. My problem was like yours with the round nose. It would jam with the round nose and not hollow points. Mine was a Glock. Had to seat the round close to the factory settings.

 

[Bill Johnson]

Pistol loading is different than rifle. With pistols, reliability is the #1 goal.

When setting up for an autoloader, I ALWAYS make up one magazine full of dummy rounds set at max length, then cycle through the gun a couple times. Sometimes that length works, sometimes not. Then, if max length doesn't work, increase seating depth .010 and retry. Once I get it to cycle 2 magazines with no problems, I'll start loading live rounds to test at the range.

Changing your powder charge won't help unless it's short-stroking. That will lead to more jams then what you're seeing, IMO.