My .308 Lapua cases are fired 2x, and neck sized with Redding Competition Die, and trimming is not really needed because its around 2.005 case length, some are from 2.003 to 2.006, so no big deal. Now when I seat the 168 SMK, I measured the ogive on each bullet, and there is a variation up to .008" on base to ogive. Why is that? My RCBS press is about 25 years old, don't you think it might be some wear? It's frustrating when you spend a couple of hours prepping cases, fill and seat bullets and find out at the end that there is a seating variation.

I have had brass that would cause that. Usually I would know it by the feel of seating the bullet...good necks accept the bullet with nice, even pressure all the way to the end of the stroke, but bad necks developed a spongy resistance toward the end of the seating stroke. Measuring would always verify inconsistent seating when this happened. Annealing has never seemed to help, so I toss the brass and buy new. Now I always look for Nosler cases and sometimes Lapua or Norma.

There might be other causes of inconsistent seating depth but if you can feel that same kind of sponginess during seating and verify a seating depth variation when it happens, then it's bad brass.

Are you noticing an odd feel of the press handle when you get a bad OAL?

Have you lost accuracy with these reloads? Or is this a "reloading bench" anomaly you've noticed? Your measurements from base of bullet to ogive is interesting. First thing I would do is check the lot of bullets you're using and make sure they're all the same dimension. I don't think your seating die is worn out, but it's well worth your time to give it a thorough cleaning with solvent and Q-tips to make sure no debris has lodged in there over the last quarter century. I'd also suggest, just for the heck of it, after cleaning the die and checking the bullets for consistency, that you get some new, unfired brass and, using it, follow your usual reloading routine on a few cases to see if the variation still exists. Over the 5+ decades I've been reloading, I've decided that there are some strange things that go on in the ballistics world that don't always have a good, solid scientific cause; at least not one that we mortals can figure out at the bench or the range!

RR, no I don't have any odd feeling seating the bullets, they all almost seats the same. You think the press may be worn?

mikei, no I have not lost accuracy, last time I shot it, it shot .2 MOA at 100 yards and just following up with the same loads I found and just varying OAL lengths in .015 thousands from 2.820 to 2.860 COAL and to fit the magazine.. I am shooting the .308 Crusader, only 60 rounds down the tube. I took the seater apart to check the seater cup and stem, looks just fine and bullets seats right in on the ogive, not on the tip. I'll clean out the die later with carb cleaner and pressurized air and lube them a little and re try soon.

I have noticed variations in the "base to ogive length" in my reloads also. But do the same "base to ogive length" check on the bullets alone. You may be surprised at the variation, especially on hunting bullets.

Big Stan, if you're not noticing a loss of accuracy, I would suggest that you make lots of notes of the strange things you have found, enter them into your reloading log, and then head to the range or the blind and enjoy yourself! It's one of those, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" kinda things. In my world, .2 MOA doesn't look or sound like something is broken.

I'll second that. I'll take .2 MOA anytime I can get it...and it don't come easy.

Did not say it was broken, .2 MOA is a nice group but it is a variation that I wanted to figure out.

Well, by all means, keep working the question and if you find the answer, please share it with us. For me it falls into the category of one of life's (and reloading's) many mysteries; I'd love to have the answer to this one!

Is this a turret press?

Have you compared only the bullets from base to ogive?

It's a Rock Chucker RCBS.

I did measure the bullets on the Hornady comparator, out of 55 bullets, most of them measured .597 and some was under / over a thou or two. To my surprise, 5 bullets measured .623 to .626 which is way off. But what does it have to do with variations that I am having, if I may ask. Fill me in, just a bit confused,,, if the bullet base to ogive measurements is in variance, how does it affect base to ogive measurement of a loaded round? You are still going to push the bullet with the longer ogive deeper and should be the same measurement as a bullet with a shorter ogive on a loaded round, correct?

Out of curiosity is it a compressed load?

No, I did not feel any powder crush, powder level was at the bottom of the neck.

The base to ogive variations on the bullets won't have any effect on your complaint.

There is only one thing that could cause this ....... there is slop in the system somewhere. Either the seating die is hitting the bullet tip, the die itself is not tight in the press, the shell holder is moving around, or the press ram is worn and not consistent. If everything is locked into position this couldn't be happening. Check your equipment carefully and you should find the problem.

One other possibility---the bullets are not formed consistently. Maybe there are variations in the ogive shapes. I suppose this could conceivably show up in the measurement of the bullet itself, from base to ogive.

Base to ogive measurements wouldn't change the depth that the seating die is seating the bullets. It's indexing off the ogive and wouldn't matter if the base of the bullet was 4" long. Or am I missing something here?

Well, possibly. If a bullet measures different from the others, then it becomes a question of whether the base or shank is longer, or if the ogive is shaped differently, or ?????

I would have to agree that if the disparity is due only to the length of the shank, then it should seat just like all the rest and cartridge OAL as measured from the case head to ogive would or SHOULD be just like all the rest. But if the ogive is shaped differently, then it's basically hopeless.

Does that make sense to you?

If the ogive is "out of round" (for lack of a better description) or otherwise defective I can see that causing this situation.

Went back to the reloading bench to try a different bullet, used the same cases, same powder measurement and this time I used 165 Nosler Ballistic Tips, i measured all the bullets, base to ogive, they all about .001 " of each other, then loaded 20 rounds and measured loaded round length from base to ogive and now they are all right at 2.229", no more or less. Just not sure what the cause of the variances from the other day, but shot those rounds earlier this morning, and they shoot .2 MOA still. Soon I will go back to loading the 168 Sierra MK again and see if I can find what the cause of those variances were. Hopefully its just human error on my part.

Yes, you are right, I get anal about little things sometimes, but if it shot good like this morning, I'll let it pass and move on and worry about the bigger problems.