I switched to loading my 25-06 from my varmit rounds to deer rounds, all of the bullets I have loaded thus far in my 7mm and 25-06 were plastic tipped accubonds and ballistic tips. I now am trying to load partitions. With a lead tipped bullet other than using a comperator and measuring from the ogive, how can you be sure all of your bullets are seated at the same depth, all of my partitions measure a little different?? I know its a dumb question, but Im still kinda new to reloading (less than a year under my belt) and havent ran into this problem yet. Should I buy one of these comperators?? Help!!!

A good dynamic load, won't matter much on the variances of .007". Which is what you are going to see with partitions. Yes sir, been sitting in your shoes before. The camparitor will lower that variances to .002". Which I think is darn good. If you want, I can loan you mine for a few days. See if you like it. I got the stoney point version. Its ok. If you take it apart and put it back together, the measurments can vary a tad. To beat this, I put it together with all my different pieces from .308, to .270, etc. And wrote down the length it should be everytime closed with it on my calibers.

Bottom line is with a stable load, it won't matter. But as a perfectionist like 90% of reloaders, it matters, cause you know.

I haven't forgot about your Private message. Been meaning to get back to you on my pet loads for 300RUM

I won't be home until this weekend, the teal are calling me in Dorchester county. But can meet ya on Saturday morning if you would like to play with it for a few days. Need it back before next weekend.

If you obtain a comparitor, you will see that your O.A.L. will be very close to each other because you are measuring from the bullet's ogive, and your die seats the bullet using the ogive and not the bullet's tip. Every bullet's length is not the same from tip to base, so you are going to obtain different O.A.L. measurements when measuring from the bullet's tip to the bottom of case. The measurement from the tip of the bullet to bottom of the case is important when it comes to the cartridge fitting in the magazine. The measurement from the bullet's ogive to the bottom of the case is very important because it lets you know how long the cartridge is, and if it is long enough to reach the riffling or not. According to "Nosler Reloading Guide Four" "Optimum accuracy is usually achieved with a slightly longer cartridge length." In some instances the cartridge's O.A.L. will be to long to fit in the magazine because the length the cartridge needs to reach the riffling, exceeds the magazine's length. I suggest you purchase a Stoney Point O.A.L. Gauge (Stoney Point Modified case also needed), and a Stoney Point Bullet Comparator. Good luck.

its not a dumb question, I was having the same problem. what I did was measured the length of 25 bullets with a pair of digital calipers figured a average length then took a bullet that was the same length as the average, adjusted my bullet seater with it and then just went with it, My COL still varies but atleast I know they are all seated the same. I more or less forgot about worrying about the .004 to .007 COL variances I was having, since I cant see any evidence in the accuracy to determine that the variances is affecting my accuracy I'm no longer worrying about it.