Variable press location,s with the Nosler Accubond

T

TwoSeventy

Inactive
Hi folk,s, I have not posted for a while but I wanted to ask this question.
I have been reloading both my Rifle 300 Winchester Magnum and my S&W M&P SHIELD 45ACP for quite some time. I reloaded quite awhile back and 4 years ago I invested in a Basic Lee reloading set. My dies are new and the press is considered new as far as having any wear use problems relating to my present question.

My reloading background of knowledge I feel is well above a novice. Not bragging here, ok.

Now: When I load the Nosler Partition Bullets I have no problems. Now I purchased some Accubond Nosler Bullets and when pressing to location, I am having this problem of location drift from anywhere from .002 to up to .008.

The die is completely clean and tight. Everything that I could think of that should be checked to cause this I have done. What I think it is, is that the Accubond White Tip,s are either grabbing and moving the bullets either way on press location settings. I.D. of brass size before press seems ok. Any ideas or other things to check? Thanks.
 
It's not at all uncommon for pointed bullets in the same box to have that much difference in length from where the seating die contacts it to the tip. Rounded noses, like your Partition, tend to be more uniform in length. For example, I measured a bunch of Sierra 150 grain MatchKings one time, and the length from base to tip varied 0.015".

For purposes of bullet jump, you want to know how length from the base of the bullet to the ogive near where that ogive meets the lands of the rifling upon firing compares. A bullet comparator or a caliper with a resized case slipped upside down over the bullet of a finished cartridge will give you a comparable length measurement. If that is consistent, you are good to go. If it is not consistent, but your bullet jump to the lands is 0.030 or more, you are probably still good to go.
 
Accubond press variances on location

I agree with what your saying that bullets can vary in length. But when pressing any reload bullet from it,s point, the excess length either shorter or longer would go to inside of the brass neck .
 
It would if seating dies pressed exactly on the tip, but usually, they catch the bullet a little further down. With the Lee it depends on the shape of the bullet as compared to the taper in their plug. It occurs to me, though, that with the Lee die and the Accubond bullet, you may be seeing the plastic tip deforming more when a bullet has a harder time getting into a case. That can happen for several reasons. One is a mixed lot brass with different neck wall thicknesses. Another is some cases having more carbon (a lube) inside than others. Another is some cases having been loaded more times than others so the neck is work-hardened and more springy than new.

What I would do is match up some cases with the same load history, resize them and run a bore brush around the insides of the necks with a drill until they are clean and identical looking, and then see if you get more uniform seating length. You might also check that the seating die hits the noses at the same place. They are probably out of different mold cavities and may have small differences. You could mark a few up with a Magic Marker to see.
 
TwoSeventy, I shoot both 165gr Partition and AB in 30 Cal and both are Spitzer bullets and both will vary on length and from ogive to tip will also. Question is are you shooting Spitzer Partition? I'm using a different seater and I had seater stem change out to VLD.
 
Both last two answer,s I really agree with. I guess the only way to solve this is to buy 50 new cases from Hornady or whatever and run them through the normal reloading process and keep them isolated from all other reloading brass that is ready to powder and press bullet,s with. Old Roper, these are Accubond Spitzer,s made by Nosler. I also load 180 grain Nosler Partion,s. Any pressing of the Accubond,s or partition,s I keep them under 3.340 oal. Their running 3.320 to 3.335 variance. I measure every one so their under the 3.340 oal. Hey thank,s allot guy,s I deeply appreciate all the responses I got on this problem.180 grain partition,s shoot good moa. Have not been to the range yet to shoot the accubond 200 grain,s because of winter coming on. I also shoot my S@W M@P Shield 45ACP at the range and I carry all the time now when I leave the house concealed because of the mass killing,s happening. Crazy stuff.

U.s. Army
m.o.s.: Classified
Vietnam Veteran 1959 to 1962 . C.I.A. new about the coming Tet Offensive 3 week,s before it happened so I heard through the grape vine.
 
Well problem aside, does the stuff shoot good? Hard to believe some of the stuff guy's come up with to worry about, especially loading for hunting rifles!
 
My carry load for my S@W 45ACP is the
made by Underwood Ammo. 120 Grain Xtreme Defender M.V. is 1,420 +P round.

NRA Member and also a USCCA Premium Member
 
Don, the press variances alway,s stay in the boiler room when shooting the
the 180 Grainer,s NP so far with this new Savage 300 Winchester Magnum. I am using a clamp on muzzle break from Kantrol Solution,s $147.00 roughly. Recoil feel,s less than my .270 Ruger American.
 
I purchased some Accubond Nosler Bullets and when pressing to location, I am having this problem of location drift from anywhere from .002 to up to .008.
Click to expand...

So I understand clearly, when you say "pressing to location" you are talking about seating the bullet?? And "location drift" is a difference in the COAL (Cartridge Over All Length) aka "loaded length with bullet?

Is that correct?

Generally speaking rifle seating die stems do not contact the tip of the bullet, They have a hollow for the bullet tip to enter (so the tip doesn't get deformed) and the stem contacts the bullet at a point behind the tip. Think of the cap of a pen, the point goes in, touching nothing, the cap fastens on the wide part behind the ball point tip)

Since the mouth of the seating stem is a constant diameter, it will contact each bullet at that constant diameter, but where on the bullet length that diameter is, will vary with the design of the bullet, and how much (length) of the bullet is inside the hollow of the seating stem when this happens varies as well.

Variance in length (seating depth) between different bullet shapes because of where the seating stem bears on the bullet is going to happen, and is something we can allow for, with die adjustments.

Variance in bullet length (including how much of the bullet is inside the seating stem) is something up to the manufacturer's tolerances.


Next is "does .002-008" difference in overall loaded length of the round matter???" For most things, not really.
 
44 AMP,
I will flat out say that I was not aware of this and I understand what you are telling me clearly. The small location variance of (O.A.L) after bullet is pressed to set up location has not given me any problem,s in targeting at 100 yds.. Thank you for advising me of this and as they say, you learn something new in general every day. I am sitting here while chicken pecking my keyboard and eating BLT,s.. You can also see a lot of writing where people that reload for the rifle of how far away the tip of the bullet is on contacting the rifling land,s and they market the product item,s so you can measure for it. A thought also is all people that reload that they should be sure to fully seat their primer,s because we measure our (O.A.L.) over the primer and tip of bullet point. I truly love this forum , there,s good people here you can alway,s learn a point from. Thank,s again to everybody that typed their comment,s for me to read to help answer my question. Later, TwoSeventy. I would say before I go, that you,ve put my problem to bed.
 
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