bullet lengths????

[model 12 toby]

got out a bunch of bullets last night and starting measuring them just out of curiosity. omg. real eye opener. a-maxes for my 7mm were wonderful. so where nosler bt for my 243. some of the other ones. wow. some veried by .01. that's gotta be bad. anybody have this prob?

 

[fdshuster]

toby: If you're talking about bullet over-all-length, and not from base to ogive using a gauge, I also see a lot of variation, sometimes as much as .015", and especially bad with the hollow points because of the jagged tips. Mix 'em up, seat them then measure the distance from the case head to the ogive, using a gauge like the Stoney Point/Hornady and my dimensions are all identical. The only place where I care about it is magazine feed like in the AR's, where O.A.L. is critical.

 

[KevinThomas]

Frank's perfectly correct here; the lengths will vary substantially, and it generally doesn't make a bit of difference. That is, so long as the ogive remains constant in relation to the throat in your loaded ammo.

He also mentions mag length,a nd that's also a valid concern. Load with the high end of the OAL in mind so you don't wind up "dragging" the front of the mag with the meplats. Just another little thing to be aware of, and check in advance.