The Firing Line Forums - View Single Post

dyl · May 21, 2012, 07:12 PM

Hey all,

Bottom line questions:

1) What OAL cycled the best for you - Generally shorter or longer?

2) If the Lee bullet seater die makes contact on the Ogive rather than the top of the bullet (so I've heard) - should I simply leave it at the original setting even if I switch bullet designs? Case volume would change but distance to rifling wouldn't.

Background below:
I just loaded a box of 155 Grain hard cast Truncated Cone in .40 S&W. (the blunt crayon design). My previous reloading experience is all with FMJ. Going cheap.

- Consulting the manual: I did and the manual has a 150 grain linotype recommended OAL about 1.10My leftover settings from my FMJ bullets (in FMJ produced 1.127") produced an OAL of 1.135. So I dialed it down to head towards the recommended length. I stopped at 1.120" and decided to hand cycle them to test.

The 1.120" produced frequent Failures to Feed - even just using the slide release to load the first round. My original settings of 1.135 seemed to chamber more easily. About 1/3 of the hand-cycled rounds have a dent in the side of the casing - especially if it was a round that failed to feed.

My inclination is to head towards a longer OAL although my Lyman manual would seem to point me towards shorter. Gun in question is S&W M&P40c.

Good thing I only bought 500 of them. I could make them a good bit longer, there is plenty of forward space in the magazine.

May 21, 2012, 07:12 PM	#1
dyl Senior Member Join Date: October 31, 2009 Location: Ohio Posts: 1,310	Truncated Cone experience? Hey all, Bottom line questions: 1) What OAL cycled the best for you - Generally shorter or longer? 2) If the Lee bullet seater die makes contact on the Ogive rather than the top of the bullet (so I've heard) - should I simply leave it at the original setting even if I switch bullet designs? Case volume would change but distance to rifling wouldn't. Background below: I just loaded a box of 155 Grain hard cast Truncated Cone in .40 S&W. (the blunt crayon design). My previous reloading experience is all with FMJ. Going cheap. - Consulting the manual: I did and the manual has a 150 grain linotype recommended OAL about 1.10My leftover settings from my FMJ bullets (in FMJ produced 1.127") produced an OAL of 1.135. So I dialed it down to head towards the recommended length. I stopped at 1.120" and decided to hand cycle them to test. The 1.120" produced frequent Failures to Feed - even just using the slide release to load the first round. My original settings of 1.135 seemed to chamber more easily. About 1/3 of the hand-cycled rounds have a dent in the side of the casing - especially if it was a round that failed to feed. My inclination is to head towards a longer OAL although my Lyman manual would seem to point me towards shorter. Gun in question is S&W M&P40c. Good thing I only bought 500 of them. I could make them a good bit longer, there is plenty of forward space in the magazine.