min. oal of reloaded casing

wcoxy2003

if a reloading book gives you the min. of the oal of a reloaded bullet on a revolver, then what do you go by for the max. oal. i seen one for the min. to be 1.600. the oal on my cylinder is 1.700. i know thats alot. and i wouldnt think you could have that much le-way. so would it be that it shouldnt be any longer the .010 above the min? just looking for a good floor-ground to stick to when it comes to the oal of a reloaded shell. thanks

Hawk Carse

If you are loading real revolver bullets, they will have crimp grooves or cannelures which will determine OAL automatically. Crimp in the grooves and take what you get. You should look to see that they are somewhere near the book value before you go to maximum loads, but that is about it. Once upon a time there were some gun-bullet combinations that required special treatment - read Elmer Keith - but they aren't common now.

wcoxy2003

thanks hawk carse. i loaded afew up and in the groove it came out to around 1.585. and the min. to the book was 1.600. so ill check them out today.

ironsight

The minimum oal listed is a starting point to discover your max oal. You should never go below the min oal even if the bullets you are using have a cannelure. Most canaelure grooves are wide enough to allow for a few hundreths of play. The max oal will be determined by the firearm you are loading for. The max length of your loaded round for your revolver is determined by the cylinder. The nose of the bullet can not pertrude past the face of the cylinder or it will impede the action of the revolver. That being said, the bullet still needs to be inside the case far enough to hold. Only if you are reloading magnum type rounds is a crip required. A properly sized case should hold a bullet inplace once inserted withou a crimp. The crimp is more to help create greater pressures then to secure the bullet in the case. Most loads I have played with in 38 special have been more accurate without a crimp then with.