Berry's Plated 115 RN OAL issues

desert_gypsy · Jul 30, 2014

I'm having trouble with my seating die deforming the meplat of the bullet and throwing my OALs all over the board. I haven't run them through the chrono yet but I'm expecting to see a pretty bad standard deviation since my seating depths are likely inconsistent due to the deformation from round to round. Anyone have any insight or experience with this? I'm using mixed brass which was all sized and expanded in one run.

drmitchgibson · Jul 31, 2014

It's a pistol. Just make sure there isn't too much crimp.

mike cyrwus · Jul 31, 2014

even though youre using a carbide die, a dry touch spray lube like hornady one shot works great for sizing, as well as reducing friction while seating. just make sure its dry before you run em. also, make sure you bell the brass enough so that you can easily rest a bullet on top of the belled brass.
and the crimp operation really shouldnt be a crimp at all, but a de-belling.

-i wouldnt sweat any oal inconisstencies unless they approach .01" , but you should easily get +/- .005" with almost any setup.
type of seater insert is important too. make sure you dont have one for a flat nose or swc bullet.

desert_gypsy · Jul 31, 2014

Sounds good, Mike. I think I'll just buy some bulk FMJ or CMJ bullets from montana gold next time. Not that much more expensive than the plated stuff.

mike cyrwus · Jul 31, 2014

Matt Bullington said:
Sounds good, Mike. I think I'll just buy some bulk FMJ or CMJ bullets from montana gold next time. Not that much more expensive than the plated stuff.

you are totally right there. 147s and even 124s just shoot better out of most pistols these days.
still cheap as heck compared to 40sw bullets

martinga111 · Jan 4, 2015

I used to get erratic results on plated bullets as well, until I unscrewed the crimp portion of the seating die and went to a separate Lee Factory Crimp die. Now I get +/-0.003: COL or better.