.223 with hornday 68gr BTHP

injundon

injundon

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Just loaded up 100 of these with Nosler brass at 2.260 oal to fireform the cases. I have a Savage model 12 FVSS and wanted to know what the max oal I can go with these bullets.

Ive reloaded in the past for hunting and Im getting into precision shooting now. Seems all I can find other than 2.260 oal max is people mentioning .005 -.002 off the lands. I dont mind loading these single shot if they dont fit the magazine. So how do you determine where the lands are??

Cheers
Donald
 
Hello Donald:

My Savage FVSS measures 2.316" with the 68 grain BTHP.

2.306" if measuring .01" off of the lands.

I suspect that each rifle would be different.

Regards,

Chizzy
 
injundon said:
So how do you determine where the lands are??

Cheers
Donald
Click to expand...

According to my Nosler reloading book ... (and going from memory of reading it a few days ago)

Using a deprimed and empty cartridge, seat a bullet into it just enough to hold it in place.

Insert cartridge into chamber and "tap" it until you feel the bullet is seated against the rifling.

Use a cleaning rod, and mark the distance (I used a razor blade to score the celaning rod flush with the muzzle) on it when inserted into the muzzle.

Remove the casing and bullet from chamber and lock the bolt in the closed position.

Using cleanign rod again, mark distance from muzzle to the face of the bolt.

The distance between the two marks you made are the "absolute max" OAL for your gun. Subtract the distance from that for your needs and that will be the OAL you will be loading to.

According to various articles and books I have read, this is the best method (as long as you are careful & precise with your marking and measuring of the rod used) as it will let you set custom OAL's for each type of bullet you are using when reloading for your gun since there can be differences in where the shoulder of a bullet may be in relation to it's base & tip - which would require different seating depths to maintain your optimum distance from the rifling once the load is chambered.
 
I take a fired casing from the rifle, start a bullet into the neck, put it into the chamber and close the bolt. As long as it is not sticky or extremely hard to close the bolt it should be on the lands or slightly into them. I run three of these dummy rounds to check that they are the same. Then take one of them, measure the OAL and then set your die slowly in and measure the OAL repeatedly until you have the appropriate distance away from the lands.
 
Tried the jam method, and measure OAL, but the lands were pulling the bullets back out. Going to try the cleaning rod method later. with jamming a fired round and seating the bullet, once I got it out was anywhere around 2.340-2.362 for 4 tries.

Since I'm just fireforming my new brass I left them all at 2.260 OAL to play it safe. Once I re-load those brass, I'll play with powder loads and rifling spacing
 
I use these bullets in my Tikka T3 (with detachable mag). I don't recall offhand what the OAL is, but they just barely fit in the mag.
 
Don't mean to steal this thread but I'm about to lead my first precision loads for my Savage 12 VLP BBM.

I've got Lapua brass, Hornady 75gr, Varget, and BR2 primers.

My question is about finding the lands and bolt disassembly. To disassemble the bolt, do I need to get an allen key in the back? It seems very stiff.


Cheers
 
The cleaning rod method works well for me. I insert the rod into the empty rifle and mark the rod at the muzzle. I then remove the bolt and drop the bullet I want to use point first into the chamber, and push it up into the lands with a wooden dowel or handgun cleaning rod. Hold the bullet in place and slide the cleaning rod into the rifle's barrel again until it comes to rest against the tip of the bullet you've inserted. Mark the cleaning rod at the muzzle again. Measure the rod between the marks for the col touching the rifling with your bullet of choice. I usually measure three or four bullets from the same box to ensure a more accurate measurement. Keep in mind that you will need something flat on the end of the cleaning rod to get a good measurement off the bullet tip. A Stoney Point (now Hornady) tool works very well too, but costs money, lol. Another method is to vertically slit the neck of one resized case and insert the bullet you wish to measure. Insert case/bullet into chamber, then remove and measure. HTH - dan
 
Get the proper tools. You want repeatable precision and be able to vary the dimension, get the Hornady OAL gauge and bullet comparator. You can get better tools at Sinclair International but the Hornady work fine. Bullet tips vary and is not a reliable data point. For this you need a bullet comparator.

Find some info on this great web site: http://www.6mmbr.com/catalog/item/1433308/977259.htm
 
Comparators are nice to use, but some folks don't have access to one, or the money to buy one. You are correct that bullet tips (bullet length really) vary somewhat, but you can measure a half dozen or so, and get a decent average. It all depends how you want to do it, and how much money you want to spend. - dan
 
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