Hello all, new here but I,v been a trolling for years-
I have been loading a sav. mod 11 in 223 with hor 55-v-maxs,
I have had a few when seated an measured with my hornady
comparator thingy that were way off- .015-.o18 like the bullet was different- what the heck?I,m using plain rcbs dies- I really cant tell just by looking at the bullet- cruddy bullets??

Thanks, RC

Did you weigh any of the bullets that were off?

Pull them and weigh them.
Also, you should check your bullet seater stem and make darn sure the tip is not your contact point with the seater -- rather the collar AROUND the tip is supposed to press on the circumference of the ogive.

I haven't weighed any- I will-I can see the ring the seater stem leaves, its very faint- it s not often but I,m after a "bughole"

RC

I would be looking at neck tension.
From redding

Inadequate or excessive neck tension can also cause bullet seating depth variations. If you're using a bushing style sizing die, make sure you've selected the correct diameter bushing to size the case necks. Our current recommendation, is to select a bushing tha t is .001" smaller than the neck diameter of your loaded cartridges. (See the bushingselection newsletter in the "Tech Line" section of our website for more information.) As cases are fired over and over, their necks become progressively harder. This can cause the necks to "spring-back" excessively when they are sized, which reduces the neck tension on the bullet. Either anneal the case necks after several firings, or discard the cases and start with new, soft ones.

Heavily compressed loads can create problems when seating bullets. Our Competition Seating Die is not a powder compression die. The excessive force required to seat a bullet on a compressed load can damage the die and may cause seating depth variations. Switching to a faster burning or ball powder may eliminate the need to excessively compress the powder charge.

Flat base 55 V's are old school.......

Try the 53 V's with a .290 BC

And happy day to you, Swiffer!

o,,, bummer- hard as some of this stuff is to get-I wound up with 250 of em,,,, I,ll try em-I have some 75 a-max en-route- but,,, my hornady manual don't list em--- there shootn pretty fair-I,m @ 24.7 w.tac--0- pressure signs-I really want to go a littler more- best group shot .660 seated right @ lands, @ max,,
what say ya,ll?

Rc

Yes

well I weighed the lot I loaded tonight- all were very consistant,most balanced just under 55gr, missed a "signature required" delivery today,,,, dammit- it was my varget an a-max 75s an 1000 primers ,,, I,m sneaking up on it .3 gr. at a time-
to the range tomorrow- thanks all

Your Problem is that RCBS dies are just not very good. I find a 4 die Lee set (FL, Collet, Seat and Crimp produces superior ammo to any RCBS 2 die set.
As tested on the Hornady runout tool and on the range.

If you want to get very serious, a Redding set of competition bushing dies just can't be beat.

That Savage will shoot bugholes, if you feed it top quality ammo.

Try 53 gr Sierra bench Rest HPs. Accurate and deadly on small varmints.

I have had the same thing happen to me with RCBS, Hornady, Redding, Lee and Lyman dies. I have even had some like yours. I am some what annal and measure every bullet. What I do is a PITA but satisfies my need for regularity (no pun intended) is to seat every bullet a little short of intended OAL (Hornady comparator). Maybe 0.005" or so and then start sneaking up on the OAL a 0.001 - 0.002 at a time. As a loaded case reaches target OAL I put it in the box. If it is short I segregate according to length and keep seating.

I think that sometimes the bullet does not start out straight in the seating die and may catch momentarily on the edge of the seating stem which can drive them deeper. If the seater is one of the slider type such as Lee or Hornady, the slider may hang and produce a deeper seated bullet. I will clean and lightly lubricate these sliders. Good luck on your loading.

Sometimes old school just works.

Thanks ya,ll I loaded up another batch an had two more do it again- I could fix em cause they were longer- I got a whole "range box " loaded- just cant get there this week yet-- annnnddd my 75 a/maxs came- dang there long bullets,,,

heres to "bugholes"

Are you measuring to the tip or ogive of the bullet?

to the ogive 10-gauge- since I have all these measuring "thingys"
I find all sorts of interesting things- leading to even more stuff I "need"

RC