lee 255 rnfp oal?

[makicjf]

Howdy,
I am struggling a bit with the oal on this bullet. I am loading over 10 grains of Unique for a 7 1/2 and a 4 5/8 Blackhawkin 45 Colt . Most listed oal for a 250-255 rnfp run from 1.60- 1.59. At 1.59 I am bareley reaching the bottom of the crimp groove. If I seat to the crimp groove I end up around 1.565. I am concerned about pressure spikes at the short oal. I have been crimping at the 1.59 lenght. I am also running these through a 92 Rossi in 45 colt. I am concerned about not being well placed in the crimp groove and bullet set back in the tube. I also have some hotter loads under this bullet of 24g H110 and am very leary of shortening the oal to sit in the crimp groove. Should I stay at the bottom of the groove and use the 1.59 lenght or seat to the crimp groove and end up at 1.565? I am also using the lee factory crimp die at 3/4 of a turn.
Thanks!
Jason

[Gohon]

OAL is just a guide and nothing written in stone. Simply indicates at what length a cartridge was loaded at by the tester/publisher. A 292 grain LFN I load with H-110 for my 1894 is set at 1.595 and there is a lot more of that bullet down in the case than your bullet. Another load of a 247 Keith style bullet with which is close to your load is ahead of 11.5 grains of Unique and is set at 1.560 OAL. Crimp anywhere into the bullets crimp groove and you will be just fine.

[runfiveslittlegirl]

use the crimp groove.
your rossi will appreciate it.
i usually end up on the long side of things using the groove.......
if you are a bit concerned about reduced case capacity [and was showing high velocities] cut the loads back a half grain to compensate the difference
a deer/hog/or target won't even notice the difference...

[Blammer]

seat to crimp groove, with cast boolits you won't increase the pressure dangerously by seating a little bit deeper.

[makicjf]

thanks everyone! I am a cherry at this game and very leary of diverging from known quantities... Ya'll just made my lfe much easier.
Jason

[geargnasher]

In revolvers I crimp in the first grease groove, but that's usually a pinch too long for leverguns, so go for the groove. You won't need to worry about pressure spikes with Unique and that gigantic case. I've blown up a .45 ACP before due to insufficient case tension allowing the boolits to hammer back nearly flush into the cases in the magazine under recoil, so it CAN cause problems, but only in extreme cases or instances where you're pushing the pressure envelope pretty hard to begin with.

Gear