Lester Polfus
11-08-2018, 01:28 AM
As I pull pistol cartridges off the LCT press, I drop them into plastic ammo boxes that are a 10x10 grid. I check one cartridge out of each row for OAL and powder charge. Typically if my OAL changes as I load, it gets longer due to the seating stem backing out a little.
Tonight I saw a pretty dramatic change in the OAL, stopped and adjusted my seating die down and loaded a few more cartridges. When I checked the next cartridge, it measured at the correct OAL, but just LOOKED way too short.
Then I realized at some point, I'd dropped the calipers off my workbench and decided to check the zero. Not only were they not zeroed, but they also COULDN'T be zeroed. Every time I would adjust it, and then check it again, it would give a different reading, so something inside broke.
Tonight I'm loading 10mm: a 200-grain XTP over a max charge of Longshot. I'm not sure if the offending cartridges are short enough to be a problem, but don't' aim to find out. My new calipers should be here Friday, and I'll get the bullet puller out for any that are too short.
Tonight I saw a pretty dramatic change in the OAL, stopped and adjusted my seating die down and loaded a few more cartridges. When I checked the next cartridge, it measured at the correct OAL, but just LOOKED way too short.
Then I realized at some point, I'd dropped the calipers off my workbench and decided to check the zero. Not only were they not zeroed, but they also COULDN'T be zeroed. Every time I would adjust it, and then check it again, it would give a different reading, so something inside broke.
Tonight I'm loading 10mm: a 200-grain XTP over a max charge of Longshot. I'm not sure if the offending cartridges are short enough to be a problem, but don't' aim to find out. My new calipers should be here Friday, and I'll get the bullet puller out for any that are too short.