Nosler B-tip problems

[midnightrider]

I am having a issue with the nosler polemer tip bullets in .243 Win 90 gr. some are short and some are long .005 is the difference of the bullets overal lenght. I usually seat my bullets .005 off the lands. I measured a OAL cartridge lenght and it was right at Noslers recommended OAL lenght at .005 off my lands. The bullet I used was short resulting in bullets seated out past the lands, and they would chamber but I had to puond down the bolt closed, only did that once. ten of the twenty would chamber fine so I shot them.

What do you guys do when you get a box of bullets with a OAL difference of .005?

do I find the longest one in the batch and set my seater die up that way or do I have it backwards?

This is why I buy Nos. B-tip bullets, the last box I got they were consistant in lenght for a 30 cal 165 green tip. I have seen .005 difference with cheaper soft points,,,, but Noslers?

[farmerboy]

not to get off the main topic here but about a year ago a buddy gave me about 150 nosler 40 cal pistol bullets. I wandered why at the time because he loads and shoots a 40 as well. Well when i got home to load them they were "the worst" bullets as far as consistency goes id ever seen. in length, and in weight. I went ahead and loaded them, never shot any of them yet to see how accurate but for those reasons alone i would not ever buy any of their pistol bullets. Ive always heard their rifles are very accurate though but I've always had great luck with sierra and hornady and havent had any reasons to change at this time.

[dmazur]

The bullet's length doesn't determine distance off the lands, it's the distance from the shoulder datum to the ogive. It may be possible to have fairly consistent distance off the lands even with a variation of bullet length, as long as the shape of the bullet from ogive to seater stem is consistent.

In other words, what you're measuring may not be significant.

Here's a link to a discussion on this -

http://shootersforum.com/showthread.htm?t=38486

I like the idea of setting up a collection of "epoxy bonded" trial cartridges that can be used to set up the seating die for a given bullet profile / rifle combination in the future. I'll probably pursue this myself.

Back to your problem, if you're having to hammer a bolt closed it is most likely headspace trouble (which is to say, setting up a resizing die correctly) not bullet seating depth.

Bolt actions have incredible camming power. If you had a bullet seated too long, the action would simply seat it deeper. (In fact, sometimes this results in a bullet being stuck in the barrel, resulting in spilled powder if the shooter tries to extract the cartridge before firing it.)

[farmerboy]

youre right dmazur about the lenght does not determine the coal but I have never seen a bullet of a certain manufacturer i guess that was that far off and when I said the weight difference of certain ones when you compared them. I dont know, Between the weight and then the increased pressures from a longer bullet being seated more deeply. To me they were just ; I guess different brands have different meanings for quality control. I even measured some cheap "Berrys" and they were almost same as hornady, In weight and length. Maybe I just gotton a bad batch. It was in my eyes anyhow.

[sserdlihc]

I just bought a 50 ct box of 7mm 150 grain ballistic tips. Every bullet I loaded I calipered. Every one was on the nose.

[Osageshooter]

I have had problems with bullets in my 25 years of reloading for rifles. Nosler BTs have been among the most trouble free. I have had the issue of "some on, some off the lands". I usually take the die apart and make sure I have the right shape seating bell and that the interior of the die is clean. I make sure the press is set up right and the die is properly seated. If it is still doing the bad thing, I seat a little deeper. If you do that and the load shoots consistently, you are in good shape.

[mrawesome22]

As said before, you need to measure off the ogive, not the tip. These will let you do that.

[farmerboy]

There were Nosler Sporting Handgun bullets in 40 cal. Dies were clean, I double checked and they were all over the place as far as weight goes too. I then checked hornady XTPs, Berrys plated, and Rainier bullets in 40 cal and they were all very nice. Like I said that may have just been a bad batch, IDK they should got on my bad side real quick though. Just me

[Farmland]

I shoot a lot of Nosler BT's, around 200 a month. I have yet to ever have any problems with the OAL of the bullet or weight. I use the 25 - 85gr for my 25-06 and the 30-150gr for the 30-06.

In addition I just reloaded some 9mm and 40 S&W. I went and check the weight on some of the bullets I still have in the boxes and they are fine.

Personally I would write or email them, I'm sure they will offer you a solution.

[farmerboy]

Didnt pay a cent for them, friend gave them to me. Just complaining about something free I guess.

[snuffy]

I am having a issue with the nosler polymer tip bullets in .243 Win 90 gr. some are short and some are long .005 is the difference of the bullets overall length.

Is this just the bullet you're measuring? base to tip? Then, I'm not a bit surprised, especially since it's a polymer tipped bullet. The seating of the plastic tip is the last operation, the BT is essentially a hollow point with a "plug" in it.

As said, the location of the bullet ogive is what determines the REAL OAL for a loaded round. Get that Hornady comparator, then forget about how much difference there is in the length of the bullet. AND .005 is not much at all!