Determining OAL

[ColColt]

Having just gotten back into reloading after a long lull, one thing I can't recall is how to determine OAL in pistol cartridges...especially if you don't have a factory round using a similar bullet you plan on using. This is, of course, for auto pistols. Can someone shake my memory?

[OKFC05]

Read the reloading data, perhaps?
Cartridge Loads - Hodgdon Reloading Data Center - data.hodgdon.com

Cartridge: 9mm Luger
Load Type: Pistol


Bullet Weight (Gr.) Manufacturer Powder Bullet Diam. C.O.L.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

90 GR. SPR GDHP Hodgdon Longshot .355" 1.010"

[H Richard]

Most loading manuals list the OAL for their bullets in their load manuals. If loading cast bullets seat for the case mouth in the crimp groove.

[john traveler]

Two good rules of thumb for reloading auto pistol cartridges:

1. OAL must be short enough to feed through the magazine.

2. Bullet should be seated deep enough so that a loaded cartridge will drop into the chamber freely.

Removing your pistol barrel to use as a cartridge gauge is a good idea. The loaded round must drop fully into the chamber of it's own weight. The base of the cartridge must be flush (or slightly below) the "tang" portion of the barrel chamber that contacts the slide breech face.

[ColColt]

I haven't located my old Speer #8 manual so I ordered the new #14. Most of my reloading equipment was boxed up some years ago and now coming out of hibernation-that's why I couldn't recall the OAL I asked about. I'll wait for the new manual. However, I doubt I'm going to find the 200 gr Speer HP(flying ashtray) listed since they haven't made that bullet in years. I still have several boxes of those bullets. Maybe I can just check the length of some of the old CorBon's I still hoard.

[Skip Sackett]

ColColt,
The Speer #8 didn't list OAL. I have always thought that was kind of weird but hey, I've been wrong before! I still use the old girl from time to time!

At any rate, OAL nowadays is part of the recipe. I mean, the powder, bullet weight, primer type and OAL go hand in hand. Change one thing and the recipe is going to come out in some unexpected form.

Like substituting salt for sugar, in a cake recipe. You may call it a cake but it sure won't taste like one!

There are several ways to determine OAL should a recipe not provide it. Use your chamber as a gage. Use a fired case and a bullet. Lightly place a bullet in the case that leaves it stick out too much. Insert it into your barrel and gently push it in until the case seats on it's mouth, remember, we are talking auto rounds here. Once that is done, very carefully remove it and take a measurement. That is the MAXIMUM OAL for your chamber. Make up a dummy round at that OAL and see if it will feed in you magazine. If not you need to determine the MINIMUM OAL. That is a bit more difficult to do and stay safe!

What needs to be determined is how much of the bullet is going to end up in the case. Seating depth. With this you will need another bullet that has a recipe with a known OAL. Seat that bullet in a dummy case to that known OAL. Mark the bullet at the case mouth. Pull the bullet and measure, as best you can, how much was in the case. Make a mark on your bullet at the same place as the other bullet. I wouldn't go any further into the case without reducing the powder charge, just me though.

Well, you probably got a lot more than you were ready for but hey, the Internet is out at home so...........................

[ColColt]

I didn't think I remembered any loading manual I had(Hornady, Speer and Lyman) ever showing OAL before...now I know why. I don't' know when they started doing that but the Speer #14 is on it's way from Midway.

If I recall correctly, the way I determined the OAL in most of the various bullets I used in the 45 ACP was like mentioned above-using the chamber as a gauge and seat .015" deeper than flush with the barrel hood(with the 1911). Some things you forget you haven't done in 12-15 years and I guess this was one of them. I didn't have a clue they now show this in manuals.

I used no less than three different jacket bullets and one 200 gr LSWC that I either made myself or bought so, I must have done it the way jt and smith crazy indicated. It's kind of like the '49 Studebaker Champion I learned to drive on-straight stick, turn the key on, push in clutch pedal to activate the starter button on floor board. I could still drive one today but, I may have forgotten the started button was under the clutch pedal.

Thanks for the information and for stirring my memory.

[ColColt]

I got the Speer #14 manual along with Midways new catalog yesterday and to me that's no manual-it's a book! There are over 950 pages in it and is chocked full of info none of my former manuals had-particularly the C0AL as they call it. Between this new manual and Midway's catalog I could read for weeks.

I noticed they are just a bit more conservative with some loads that what I have in the older Speer manual and even more with Accurate Arms loading data.

For instance, for a 200 gr 45 cal load with AA #5 they list a max charge of 9.0 gr. AA's data show 9.7 with the same bullet. Upon locating my old 45 dies I noticed the info sticker I put inside the plastic case and I showed with this bullet weight, a charge of 9.2 gr of AA #5-not a great deal of difference but from 9.0 to 9.7 gr in a pistol load could mean a good bit. I think I'll just stick to my original load of 9.2 gr since it worked before. I also had listed the OAL of the 200 gr Speer bullet. I had forgotten I had that listed.

[Skip Sackett]

Apples to apples there big fella!

Which 200gr and what data? Are you saying that a 200gr LSWC or JHP or flying ashtray or......................

Accurate Arms Data or Speer #8? I don't think that AA#5 was around back then, but I could be wrong!

Clarify for us simpletons please.

[ColColt]

Originally Posted by smith crazy

Apples to apples there big fella!

Which 200gr and what data? Are you saying that a 200gr LSWC or JHP or flying ashtray or......................

Accurate Arms Data or Speer #8? I don't think that AA#5 was around back then, but I could be wrong!

Clarify for us simpletons please.

The 200 gr bullet I had in reference to was the old Speer 200 gr jobbie. I assume the data for it( that bullet no longer available) would be the same for the current 200 gr Speer GD bullet. The earlier data I used was from Accurate's manual, a very thin one at that, when I first started using their powder back in the early '90's.

I also used the 200 gr LSWC but used 8.5 gr of #5 or 6.8 gr of Unique. I favored AA #5 as it seemed less dirty than Unique.

[Pisgah]

I have the Speer, Hornady, Lyman, and several other manuals. Every single one gives the OAL -- it's just that some call it the COL (Cartridge Overall Length).