berettaprofessor
Member
So, after reading a number of comments here and elsewhere about the importance of seating bullets to a consistent bullet ogive length rather than overall tip length, and wondering what I was missing as an easy aid to precision, I purchased a Hornady Comparator kit (full) ($55) and the Hornady Anvil ($15) for the other side of the caliper. Receiving it yesterday, I measured 10 random cartridges of 224 Valkyrie I recently loaded (from a group of 50, measuring OAL to the tip at the time of loading) and got the following:
Some specifics: All cartridges were loaded on a single stage Lee Breech with Lee 224 Valkyrie dies and the goal of a 2.260 OAL. Bullets were Berger VLD target 90 grain 224's. Measurement is with a Fowler Premium caliper, analog type. For the number-oriented types here, the means, etc for this 10 cartridge group were:
I recognize that my OAL spread is higher than I'd like it to be. Some of that may be the nature of the Lee seating dies without any micrometer adjustment, but most of it is simply that I need to be more careful with what I accept for OAL length as I'm loading. Currently, I check OAL every 10-15 cartridges and adjust as I go, so these 10 cartridges pulled from a group of 50 also represent several adjustments to keep things closer, or so I thought. I've been content with a ±0.005 or so in OAL, but I maybe need to tighten that up.
But, as far as the comparator, it looks to me like the measurement of OAL to the bullet tip provides a pretty good consistent ogive length as well, leaving the ogive range at only 0.003 spread. That's better than the spread of OAL which I believe is likely just that the Hornady Comparator and Anvil are more consistent surfaces to measure from than me trying to put a small bullet tip squarely in the caliper; i.e. I think the larger spread is due to more measurement variation rather than actual OAL difference in the cartridges.
Feel free to disagree, but I'm pretty satisifed with an ogive spread of 0.003 and I'd find it hard to increase my loading time by trying to keep ogive length down using the comparator more frequently than I measure tip OAL now. What would you do? Comparator or not? How heavily do we need to chase the Precision Fairy?
Addendum: As another check, I compared OAL and ogive on 5 cartridges of 308 Winchester, loaded with Hornady 168 grain Match to 2.775. The numbers and statistics were similar to the 224, although with the 308Win, my OAL was more consistent than the ogive measurement:
Based on these numbers, would you dramatically change your loading practices to include the comparator?
Some specifics: All cartridges were loaded on a single stage Lee Breech with Lee 224 Valkyrie dies and the goal of a 2.260 OAL. Bullets were Berger VLD target 90 grain 224's. Measurement is with a Fowler Premium caliper, analog type. For the number-oriented types here, the means, etc for this 10 cartridge group were:
I recognize that my OAL spread is higher than I'd like it to be. Some of that may be the nature of the Lee seating dies without any micrometer adjustment, but most of it is simply that I need to be more careful with what I accept for OAL length as I'm loading. Currently, I check OAL every 10-15 cartridges and adjust as I go, so these 10 cartridges pulled from a group of 50 also represent several adjustments to keep things closer, or so I thought. I've been content with a ±0.005 or so in OAL, but I maybe need to tighten that up.
But, as far as the comparator, it looks to me like the measurement of OAL to the bullet tip provides a pretty good consistent ogive length as well, leaving the ogive range at only 0.003 spread. That's better than the spread of OAL which I believe is likely just that the Hornady Comparator and Anvil are more consistent surfaces to measure from than me trying to put a small bullet tip squarely in the caliper; i.e. I think the larger spread is due to more measurement variation rather than actual OAL difference in the cartridges.
Feel free to disagree, but I'm pretty satisifed with an ogive spread of 0.003 and I'd find it hard to increase my loading time by trying to keep ogive length down using the comparator more frequently than I measure tip OAL now. What would you do? Comparator or not? How heavily do we need to chase the Precision Fairy?
Addendum: As another check, I compared OAL and ogive on 5 cartridges of 308 Winchester, loaded with Hornady 168 grain Match to 2.775. The numbers and statistics were similar to the 224, although with the 308Win, my OAL was more consistent than the ogive measurement:
Based on these numbers, would you dramatically change your loading practices to include the comparator?