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Posted: 4/2/2014 5:57:41 PM EDT
| I have a problem maybe. The C.O.L for the Hodgdon website for a 55gr bullet is 2.200. My cases are 1.75 after trimmed so if I set the canelured 55 gr hornady fmj bullet at 2.200, the cannelure is not visible and all of my factory 223 ammo measures at around 2.24 area. What should I do? If I set the 55 gr fmj with a tiny bit of cannelure visible for crimping, its about 2.21 55. I am stumped. |
| I've had no problems seating Hornady 55 FMJ's to 2.218-2.230" which usually does put the cannelure where it needs to be to crimp. No issues with feeding at all out to 2.230". Cases I trim to 1.760" which is max length helps with getting the cannelure in position. OAL isn't critical with the Horn. 55 FMJ but they should be seated from 2.200-2.230" max and not out to 2.250" or longer. |
| Ok well I think I should crimp with the lee fcd i bought unless you guys think other wise. (my feed ramps are polished as are all bcm uppers) So going through this brass which is not sized yet some is in the 1.73 region. I am thinking that after sizing if they are mostly around the recomended 1.75 but quite a few are in the 1.745 region, can i just trim to lets say 1.743 so i have a consistent case to crimp on? that should be fine right? |
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Case length spec is 1.73"-1.76", just trim all brass to same length or
you'll go nuts trying to seat to mid cannelure. COL is a suggestion, not a mandatory must do. Get consistent trim length, seat to mid canal, and use Lee FCD to crimp. How well polished your feed ramps are have nothing to do with crimping. Crimp helps stop bullet set back into case from violent action of stripping round from mag and slamming into chamber. Some say crimp isn't needed if neck tension is right, but that's another topic. |
| Just to update I have been reloading for hours now and I got it down, not a master yet of course. One question, is it possible to seat primers too deep? I notice if I give it a full squeeze on the rcbs primer hand tool it seats them a tiny bit deeper than factory ammo. |
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Quoted:
Just to update I have been reloading for hours now and I got it down, not a master yet of course. One question, is it possible to seat primers too deep? I notice if I give it a full squeeze on the rcbs primer hand tool it seats them a tiny bit deeper than factory ammo. The primers should be 0.002 to 0.008 inches subflush, especially for use in autoloaders with floating firing pins. The RCBS hand priming tool will crush the primer slightly if it is squeezed a little too hard. If the edges of the primer appear to be slight flattened, then the crimp was too hard. I did the same thing when I started reloading and I didn't have problems, but there is a chance that the primer nugget will crack and cause inconsistent ignition. The seater pin in the RCBS tool is flat on one end and radiused on the other. Make certain the flat anvil end is pressing against the primer. On trimming, I am 100% against trimming .223 Rem cases shorter than 1.74 inches, and I'm about 95% against lengths shorter than 1.75 inches. The necks of these cases are plenty short at 1.76 inches and the length is needed to develop sufficient bearing length engagement with the bullet. Do not rely on a crimp to produce sufficient neck tension. Seating to the cannelure and crimping are optional operations; there's no law that dictates that cannelured bullets be seated that way. But, back to seating to the cannelure and COAL; you'll learn that the cannelure location on the bullet varies from manufacturer to manufacturer, with slight variation on bullets from the same maker. There's an exception to that last part; bagged Winchester bullets are junk and there's no telling where the cannelure will fall on their bullets, even those in the same bag. What that means is that the published COAL is really a guideline. Perfect bullets of identical length with cannelures in exactly the same spot result in COAL that differs by 0.010 depending on whether the cases are trimmed to 1.76 or 1.75 inches when the bullets are seated to the cannelure. One of the reasons we don't load the first shot with maximum charge weights, so these minor variations can be accommodated. |
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