first time reloading anything (30 cal carbine) - The Firearms Forum

misterfxt · 03-30-2010, 01:09 PM

HI Folks,
First time reloading was last night and using an original lee loader. So here's my questions/concerns. I set the tool to the correct OAL of 1.68 inches (30 cal carbine) . I loaded 6 cartridges and each one was a different OAL. It ranged from 1.587 to 1.747 inches. I'm thinking that i just need to do this the exact same way each and every time until i build the muscle memory to get repeatable/consistent lengths. Do I now need to get a bullet puller to remove the ones that are seated to deeply and reseat them to the correct length? Then in the cartridges that are a few thousandths too long, retap the bullets in a little deeper that are not seated deeply enough . Thoughts,comments and criticisms please. Jerome

medalguy · 03-30-2010, 02:05 PM

First, did you check the length of the brass prior to seating the new bullet? That length is extremely critical for this cartridge. The case OAL after sizing needs to be no less than 1.280 and NO MORE than 1.290 with a recommended trim length of 1.285.

ONLY is this is correct should you proceed to load the brass.

The OAL for 30 carbine ammunition should be 1.680 inches to meet the original military load. Any longer and you risk too high pressures or the bullet hanging up on the rifling when it chambers. Too short and your accuracy will suffer. 1.587 is 1/10 inch too short. I would pull those and resize the case and reseat the bullet. The longer ones you can seat deeper until you get the 1.680 length.

The secret to good loads is to do everything the same, each and every time.

Be careful and safe shooting.

ofitg · 03-30-2010, 08:48 PM

I've been looking at an old Lee Loader set, and I don't understand why your OAL is changing. I guess it would be possible to have excessive OAL if you didn't tap the seating rod/priming unit down fully..... but if you set the seating rod for an OAL of 1.68, I don't understand how you could ever get LESS than 1.68.

Are you sure that you got the seating rod screwed the correct distance into the priming unit? On my Lee Loader, there's about 0.6 inches' worth of adjustment here...And the round knurled locknut is tight against your priming unit, so the adjustment doesn't change?

312shooter · 04-01-2010, 11:20 PM

I have seen such results using certain bullets and seating die combinations. Also the quality of your bullets themselves may vary enough to see these results. Measuring OAL is ballpark when measuring from to the tip of the bullet.

03-30-2010, 01:09 PM	#1
misterfxt Member Join Date: Mar 2010 Posts: 1	first time reloading anything (30 cal carbine) HI Folks, First time reloading was last night and using an original lee loader. So here's my questions/concerns. I set the tool to the correct OAL of 1.68 inches (30 cal carbine) . I loaded 6 cartridges and each one was a different OAL. It ranged from 1.587 to 1.747 inches. I'm thinking that i just need to do this the exact same way each and every time until i build the muscle memory to get repeatable/consistent lengths. Do I now need to get a bullet puller to remove the ones that are seated to deeply and reseat them to the correct length? Then in the cartridges that are a few thousandths too long, retap the bullets in a little deeper that are not seated deeply enough . Thoughts,comments and criticisms please. Jerome -->

03-30-2010, 02:05 PM	#2
medalguy Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 585	Re: first time reloading anything (30 cal carbine) First, did you check the length of the brass prior to seating the new bullet? That length is extremely critical for this cartridge. The case OAL after sizing needs to be no less than 1.280 and NO MORE than 1.290 with a recommended trim length of 1.285. ONLY is this is correct should you proceed to load the brass. The OAL for 30 carbine ammunition should be 1.680 inches to meet the original military load. Any longer and you risk too high pressures or the bullet hanging up on the rifling when it chambers. Too short and your accuracy will suffer. 1.587 is 1/10 inch too short. I would pull those and resize the case and reseat the bullet. The longer ones you can seat deeper until you get the 1.680 length. The secret to good loads is to do everything the same, each and every time. Be careful and safe shooting.

03-30-2010, 08:48 PM	#3
ofitg Advanced Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2010 Contributor Posts: 1,447	Re: first time reloading anything (30 cal carbine) I've been looking at an old Lee Loader set, and I don't understand why your OAL is changing. I guess it would be possible to have excessive OAL if you didn't tap the seating rod/priming unit down fully..... but if you set the seating rod for an OAL of 1.68, I don't understand how you could ever get LESS than 1.68. Are you sure that you got the seating rod screwed the correct distance into the priming unit? On my Lee Loader, there's about 0.6 inches' worth of adjustment here...And the round knurled locknut is tight against your priming unit, so the adjustment doesn't change? Last edited by ofitg; 03-30-2010 at 09:12 PM..

04-01-2010, 11:20 PM	#4
312shooter Advanced Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Las Vegas NV Posts: 1,148	Re: first time reloading anything (30 cal carbine) I have seen such results using certain bullets and seating die combinations. Also the quality of your bullets themselves may vary enough to see these results. Measuring OAL is ballpark when measuring from to the tip of the bullet. __________________ "Democracy is based on citizenship- perhaps the greatest gift the United States has given to the world- Power is vested in the people themselves, and government flows from the people" James M Henslin