Question on seating cast bullet

[xcc_rider]

New to forum but I've been lurking for a while.
I did alot of reloading in the 70's thru early 90's but got out of it for a while. Started up again a few years ago loading plated and jacketed bullets until I cleaned out my garage last week and found an old box of 230gr 45 ACP RN cast bullets. It's been a while since I've loaded cast bullets, can't find my dummy loading rounds for reference and there's over 1000 in the box so I have a question on the seating depth.

I'm currently loading them to a 1.262" oal but the shoulder is still exposed. Should I seat it up to the shoulder or can should I go by oal? If seated to the shoulder the oal will be somewhere around 1.230" which I consider a bit short.

I feel kinda stupid for asking this but I can't find my preset 230 gr RN dies and I'm resetting the ones I've used for 200 gr jacketed HP's to load the cast bullets. (I know my RN dies are SOMEWHERE in my garage, just where?)

Anyways, that's my question. Any help would be appreciated.
dan

[Kevin Rohrer]

I seat to the point that a bit of shoulder is visible. If it works in magazines, it will work in the gun.

[jcren]

No stupid questions. Oal doesn't mean much considering all the different profiles out there, it is more a max magazine fit number. If the rounds chamber, or "plunk", freely in your gun, run with it. I have found that a lot of newer guns don't like cast shoulders, so I usually seat to shoulder so friends can use them.

[OptimusPanda]

I load my 200gr swc bullets to just shy of 1.260". My 1911 didn't like them any shorter. I've shot thousands loaded that long. If they feed from the mag, and pass a plunk test they'll do fine.

[xcc_rider]

I don't have to worry about the newer gun part. It's a mod 70 1911 and it eats just about anything.
I was just trying to match the factory rounds I have that run around 1.260-1.268" oal but I didn't like the shoulder sticking out as much as it was.
I'm loading low pressure plinking rounds so seating them deeper shouldn't cause any pressure issues.
I'll make up some test rounds seating it to the shoulder and see how it goes.
thx, dan

[mdi]

Use the "Plunk Test"...

[xcc_rider]

That's the first I've heard of the "plunk" test or I just don't remember checking how it chambered. Probably the latter, I'm sure at 63 I've forgotten more than i remember...
Using that test, even seated (almost) at the shoulder its still a hair too long at 1.226" oal. Interesting... I'll seat them a bit deeper until it passes and I'm good to go.
thx again
I need to find my RN dies to see what I was loading way back then.

[mdi]

Normally, I'll start a little long (I don't have measurements handy) and shorten by .010" until I get the "plunk". I don't even know the OAL on some of my loads, but they all pass the test and feed and shoot quite well...

[xcc_rider]

Yeah, what was throwing me off was the different bullet profiles of the 230gr FMJ, plated and LRN affecting the col\oal numbers. Just been loading the same things for so long I dun forgot the basics. I like the thunk test, it makes it easy to set the bullet depth on a round that seats in the case mouth.
I found two brands of bullets so I'm set up for the shorter bullet run now (only 45) and will reset for the rest of the thousand or so after that.
I primed around 900 cases today (that's all I've got available for now) and I'll probably load them tomorrow.
thx for the input