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What OAL do you use with that load?

Well, two different people have told me that pressure changes from minor fluctuations in OAL can be much greater with Blue Dot than with some other powders. Not having used any of them, I can't say for sure.

Yup. I'm going to buy some different powder this week. Everyone is telling me that Blue dot is less forgiving than some of the others. Does anyone have any recommendations on a good powder for berry's plated bullets in 9mm?

All,

I'm new to reloading. I purchased all of my equipment a few months back, but I haven't been able to really get started with it b/c of a hectic work schedule and moving. Now that things have settled down, I pulled out all my stuff and am ready to go. Here's the question. I have two manuals: Lee, and Speer (#13 I think).

I'm loading 9mm bullets for my first test run. I have a few questions:

1. In my Lee manual it shows an OAL of 1.169 for 9mm at the beginning of 9mm the bullet specs. Then in the charts it shows a min. overall length based on bullet / powder, etc. Does that mean that my OAL needs to fall somewhere between 1.169 and whatever the min OAL is for my combination. Some of them were 1.141, 1.120, etc. So that's a fairly big variance it seems.

2. For my first attempt I bought Berry's Plated bullets 115gr RN. I have Blue Dot powder. Now the Speer manual doesn't seem to list "plated" bullets at all. The Lee does list 115gr plated bullets, but not with Blue Dot powder. It lists 115gr FMJ with Blue Dot powder. Is it okay to use the specs for the 115gr FMJ even though my bullets are copper plated berrys? If not, can someone tell me of a source that does list this combination? I'll happily go buy the book.

Sorry for the beginner questions, but I'd much rather err on the side of caution for my first run through. I do have all my cases cleaned, sized / de-capped, and expanded. All I have left to do is prime them, charge, seat and crimp.