Long story slightly shortened. I'm loading for a 308. My die is set up so my overall length (base to ogive) is 3.180" with the hornady comparator on a dial caliper. 1st bullet is exact/2nd is exact/3rd is .012" to long (3.192"). I'm running bullets .020" off the lands so I like to not run .008" off if I can help it.

So I think "oh just a dud", and load the next one. This one is 3.174". So now I'm thinking wtf. So I tear the Forester die apart/clean/reassemble and half way pull one of each 3.174/3.180/3.192". Then I reseat with exactly the same measurement as they were before. So I grab my box off bullets and start measuring each one.

End result is:

About 40% are measurement A (in which all bullets measure exactly the same)
About 40% are measurement B (which is .006" longer than A- but again all in this group are exactly the same measurements.
The remaining 20% ish are about .003" shorter than group A- but as A/B groups did they measure exactly the same as each other

Group A loaded was what I set the die for originally- and all rounds measured 3.180" with .0005" of each other
Group B loaded measured 3.192" without adjusting the die from group A. And all in group B were within .0005" of each other
The remaining measure 3.174" all exactly .0005" of each other with same die setting

These are 165 SST Hornady bullets. And this is the 3rd time I've had this issue with hornady. The other 2 were Amax in .308 and .264 calibers.

All bullets came from the same box of 100. I just have to rant and hope that Hornady realizes this sucks for precision reloading. This box clearly had 3 different lots/machines etc in it. I'm not asking that they try to have everyone exact but semi close would be great. I spoke with Hornady about this with one of the previous boxes I had which was the same thing and they sent me a full box in return for the partial I sent back. Took a while to get but the box they sent contained bullets with consistent measurements.

I've never had this issue with Sierra bullets especially 100 round boxes. I'm not trying to put any manufacturer down in any way but just making them realize this issue is out there. I really want to trust Hornady but it's frustrating

So just FYI if your having similar issues with Hornady bullets.....