.30-06

Stewie333

Stewie333

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I am starting to reload for my new Rem 700 .30-06 using 168 smk's and IMR-4350. Recomended OAL for this varies a bit, but I can close the bolt with an OAL of 4.000 inches! This seems pretty long to me. Anyone else find something like this? Are Rem throats really long? I feel that this may hinder finding an accurate load with a regular OAL in the neighborhood of 3.200-3.400 and such a huge jump.

Thanks

Cam
 
Stewie333 said:
I am starting to reload for my new Rem 700 .30-06 using 168 smk's and IMR-4350. Recomended OAL for this varies a bit, but I can close the bolt with an OAL of 4.000 inches! This seems pretty long to me. Anyone else find something like this? Are Rem throats really long? I feel that this may hinder finding an accurate load with a regular OAL in the neighborhood of 3.200-3.400 and such a huge jump.

Thanks

Cam
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If you are feeding it single shot and the bullet is deep enough in the neck to reliably hold it, go ahead and shoot it.
Four inches is likely too long to work through the magazine, so if you want to use the magazine, shorten up the OAL.
Get it down to where it will work in the mag and shoot away. The distance the bullet travels before reaching the rifling has a small bearing on accuracy. But it will be so small that unless you have the shooting ability of a top quality bench rest shooter and all your components are of that quality, you will likely never know whether accuracy was affected by the bullet jump, or not.
I don't hear too many complaints about the lack of accuracy of the original Weatherby rifles, but they had one of the longest, if not the longest, jump of any rifle made.
 
That is not an unusual throat on a 700 Remington. However, as H4831 pointed out, it is too long for the magazine to handle. Max length in a M700 long action is 3.70" [+ - .020"]
So you are still going to have a bit of a jump to the lands if you seat those bullets to work in the magazine. Regards, Eagleye.
 
Great, thanks for the replies. As a benchmark, do you know the OAL of the Federal Gold Medal Match ammo as this is the "Gold Standard" for factory match ammo.

Cam
 
Stewie, factory ammunition, whether match, super accurate, Gold Seal, or whatever they call it, is made to shoot in all rifles of that calibre.
you mentioned wanting to get closer to the lands. Then seat the bullets as far out as you can, which will work through your magazine and you can close the bolt on.
 
OAL is a magazine imposed limit. Bullets with a long ogive will reach well past the lead of a rifle, and still not stick. They may well be over the SAAMI OAL. Bullets with a steep ogive, (heavy for caliber RN's, for example) may encroach on the leade at or below OAL.

Start at factory equivelant OAL for similar bullet shape and and weight. Muck about beyond that using all the old tricks of blacking the bullet, or measuring using purpose built tools, or taking CerroSafe castings.
 
This may work to my advantage. I'm hoping to load up some 208 Amax or 210 Matchkings. I will feed them single shot if they don't feed from the DM.
 
If you have a plain flat based bullet, seat it upside down in case and close the bolt on it. The result will represent the length from the bolt face to the rifling. Next take one of your MKs and press it firmly nose first into the muzzle of your rifle, then turn it with your fingers. This will scribe a line which marks the ogive of your bullet, and you can use the measurement of the flat based round to determine your jump to the lands based on the length of the cartridge form its base to the ogive.
 
Stewie, I think you will do very well in your reloading ventures.
Here is a method I have used in the past, to find where a bullet was in relation to the leade.
For this you will need either a barrel length wooden dowel, or a cleaning rod with the tip unscrewed off.
Take the bolt out of the rifle and stand it upright, muzzle down. Take the bullet in question and drop it into the chamber. Use something like a pencil to push the bullet firmly into the chamber and hold it there.
Bring the rifle up level and with the other hand, gently push the dowel, or rod, into the barrel until it touches the bullet tip. Put a pen mark on the rod at the end of the barrel.
Make up a dummy round, no primer or powder, seat it in the chamber and close the bolt.
Gently push the rod down the barrel again until it touches the bullet. Put a new mark on the rod and the difference between the two marks will be how far your bullet is from the rifling.
 
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