Those Darn Production Tolerances.

[Macd]

Decided to load up some 30-06 today. I had a box of 1x fired, neck sized Federal cases that had been cleaned and primed. These cases came from the same commercial box that I had bought a few years back. They have been kept together and were resized etc at the same time. The bullets were 190 grain Hornady BT Soft Points. I had 21 left in a box. I can't source them anymore so I am keeping the one left over for my collection. Good to go I set up my powder measure, scale and press. First problem was shell holder wouldn't fit into the slot in the ram. It is a #2 and I have one hanging with my 45 ACP turret plate so I guess I must have used that one in the past. The one in the die box had just was too big a groove diameter. Oh well not a biggy. Powder was IMR7828 regular cut which itself is a pain to meter. I had one bridge that spilled out after I had moved the case I use for throwing but this all got caught in the little shallow box I put under my powder measure. Twenty case filled and time to seat those long bullets. Just enough room under the die to get them in the case mouth. Now I seat bullets slowly. This allowed me to feel the wide variations in pressure required to seat the bullets. These are going into my hunting stash so high accuracy isn't an issue. I didn't bother to measure anything to discover the reason for the variation. The first problem most likely is variations in bullet diameter. The second is variations in brass elasticity. The third is possibly variations in case neck thickness. No bullet was loose per say but I put on a light crimp anyway with the FCD. Being a successful perfectionist is not easy

[Ranch Dog]

"I won't let the small stuff bother me." "Okay, I won't let the tiniest stuff bother me."

[mikld]

"I didn't bother to measure anything to discover the reason for the variation." Oh my.

Micrometers and dial calipers are an integral part of my reloading. I must know, for sure, the diameter of any bullets I may use and any other critical case dimensions...