[brianidaho]

OK, I'm a newbe to reloading, just got a RCBS 2000 and am reloading for the .40 S&W, in a Witness compact. I have a couple of areas where the more I read, the more confused I get...just hoping from some advice from the experts.

1) I'm loading 155 grain bullets, currently Noslers, since they were least expensive at my local dealer, and I have just received 500 from Berrys. My Spear #13 manual gives load data with a COL of 1.120 (for all all bullet weights from 155 to 180 gr) and a max of 1.135. When adjusting for the 1.120 dim, how tight of a tolerance should I be trying to hold? +/- .003 or so seemed to be about as good as I was getting. If anything, should I load to the long side (say 1.125), and shoot for the 1.120 as a minimum? FWIW, it seems to me that the critical dimension would be from the base of the bullet. Granted you can't measure that directly, but easy enough to come up with if you measure and average the length of some bullets. I've seen comments here on TFL of loading to considerably longer dimensions than in my manual as well.

2) On to crimping...I have a 3-die RCBS carbide taper crimp die set. I understand that overcrimping can increase pressure, but so can bullet setback. Sooo-how much crimp is enough? I have been adjusting my die so that the leading edge OD of the crimp is essentially unflared after crimping, bringing it back to the .421-.422 (IIRC) that the remainder of the case is sized to. I've read my manual, and am not sure that I am completely comfortable here. It seems like a little more crimp would cause less of a pressure spike than bullet setback would. Should I periodically pull the last couple of rounds out of a mag (after firing the remainder) and measure for COL to see if setback is occuring?

3) What is a good load of AA#5 with the 155 grain Berrys? My manual is centered around Spear bullets.

Thanks in advance for any advice and for bearing with some FNG questions.

Bri