.243 COL question - seating to the lands?

TargetNorth

TargetNorth

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Hi Everyone
Thanks again for your time.

I am loading 107.0 gr Sierra Matchkings in my .243, boy are they long bullets! I put a matchking in a fired case, and chambered it carefully. Then, I extracted it and measured the size carefully, measuring COL at:

2.903
2.898
2.900

So, that means it's being pressed in by the lands to that length right? However, I check my reloading manuals and they say COL of .243 WIN is 2.710....

So, am I safe to load them at 2.900?

Thanks everyone,
Barry
 
The col listed in most manuals is the minimum .( the shortest the cartridge should be )
you are only limited by chamber length and what will fit in the magazine.a good starting point is about 20thou off the lands.
 
If you load them touching the lands or jamming the lands this will produce the highest pressure. Some rifles shoot better this way some like a little bit of jump. I have found SMK's to shoot best about .020" off the lands in my .308 target rifles.
 
Ahhh.... I see. Excellent, I'll start at .020" off the lands and work my way up slowly checking for pressure.

So if I chamber a fired case with a loose bullet in it, I should get the distance to the lands right?

Thanks again
 
I hope the twist in your barrel is steep enough to stablize that long, heavy bullet.
I had a Ruger 77 and 100 grain bullets were its limit. 105s wouldn't stablaize.
 
Heh, the 107's ARE pretty long. I have a 1 in 91/4 twist so probably won't but might, from what I've read online. After reading up on it, seemed that some guys could do it, some couldn't, so try and see.

I also picked up some 85gr HPBT's that WILL definitely stabilize if the 107's won't.
 
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