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I'm trying to reload some .223 using Hornady 55 grain spire points w/ cannelure. I've found that when I seat the bullets such that the edge of the case sits in the middle of the cannelure, the overall length is approximately 2.208". The specs say the overall length should be 2.25".

Should I worry about this discrepancy in length, or is it to be expected with a 55gr bullet instead of 62 or otherwise? I'm primarily concerned with overpressure, so I want to make sure this is ok before I actually shoot anything.

BTW, my starting load is 21 grains of IMR 4198 with Winchester primers.

My 5th Edition of Hornady's manual shows the 55gr V-Max to be 2.25 and the 55 gr spire points to be 2.200, so I think your 2.208 is fine.

What does concern me is this manual shows the the max load for IMR 4198 with a 55 gr bullet to be 20.0. Hodgdon's current web site shows IMR 4198 to have a starting load of 18.4 and a max of 20.4. I think you need to recheck the 21.0 gr starting load. H4198 has a slightly higher max (21.0).

I agree. The 21.0g sounds a "little" hot for a starting load. Nosler (number Three) reloading manual shows 21.5 g of IMR 4198 to be max and 19.5 g to be min. I expect that with the shorter OAL, the 21.0 g will be ok but I'd start a little lower. Nosler lists 20.5 as a medium with 3050 fps at the muzzle. 21.5 yields 3170 fps.

Hodgon's website suggests 18.8 to 20.4 gr of IMR4198 with a 55 gr bullet. Your 21 grains is too hot!

Thanks for all the suggestions. The load data I had found for 55gr with IMR4198 tended to range from 21.5-21.8 to even higher, so I thought 21.0 would be a safe spot to work at (from realguns.com, loaddata.com, etc). I'm sure it's obvious I'm still trying to check every detail before I actually shoot anything, so I guess I'll be starting a bit lower at around 19gr or so.

I have 2 reloading manuals,to check bullet type weight and powder type,I would suggest you buy a current reloading manual whether it's the modern reloading by Richard Lee or other good sources before you load off of bad advice and have a kaboom.I have a sierra edition 5 and modern reloading by richard lee,also lee dies contain reloading data,

dukalmighty wrote:I have 2 reloading manuals,to check bullet type weight and powder type,I would suggest you buy a current reloading manual whether it's the modern reloading by Richard Lee or other good sources before you load off of bad advice and have a kaboom.I have a sierra edition 5 and modern reloading by richard lee,also lee dies contain reloading data,

I did in fact get a copy of of Modern Reloading. For 55gr bullets, I didn't see any load data for IMR 4198, but instead for H4198, which I've read "usually" behaves the same way, except when it doesn't...