Am I doing something wrong?

So I tried at looks like its starts touching at 2.768, loaded at 2.755, any lower and I would have been on the edge of the ogive. Tuesday I will have a chance to go shooting, I will post a quick picture after.

Thanks for the help.
 
A lot of folks, including myself, would consider 13 thou of bullet jump to be a bit tight for a hunting round, particularly if you are new at the game. Different lots of bullets from the same manufacturer can display substantial variation in bullet profile to cause issues, meaning you have to be vigilant.
Also, the methodology described to establish COAL to lands can lead to erroneous results. When extracting the round, the bullet can be pulled out of case slightly due to being pinched by the rifling. This will give a overly long measurement. There are other, more precise ways that you can make this measurement, you just need to purchase piece of 1/4 in wood dowel.
In my case, I've settled on 30 thou jump as my standard. This has been determined after a few embarrassments in the field... BTW - you shouldnt be concerned about case mouth encrouchment on the ogive. More concerning is the relatively long Berger bullet reducing the case volume and bumping pressure. If you dont know the signs for excessive pressure, stay at the low end of load range.
 
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A lot of folks, including myself, would consider 13 thou of bullet jump to be a bit tight for a hunting round, particularly if you are new at the game. Different lots of bullets from the same manufacturer can display substantial variation in bullet profile to cause issues, meaning you have to be vigilant.
Also, the methodology described to establish COAL to lands can lead to erroneous results. When extracting the round, the bullet can be pulled out of case slightly due to being pinched by the rifling. This will give a overly long measurement. There are other, more precise ways that you can make this measurement, you just need to purchase piece of 1/4 in wood dowel.
In my case, I've settled on 30 thou jump as my standard. This has been determined after a few embarrassments in the field... BTW - you shouldnt be concerned about case mouth encrouchment on the ogive. More concerning is the relatively long Berger bullet reducing the case volume and bumping pressure. If you dont know the signs for excessive pressure, stay at the low end of load range.
Hello

I have started at start load (44gr)
And made it up to 46gr (never exceed load is 47) so I am not that close to never exceed load.


I also loaded 2 rounds at 42,43 gr as sugested. And will watch for pressure sign.

Another, thing to consider, I'll will shoot around 200 round during the course of the summer. This will definitely give me a good idea about the load being reliable or not when hunting season come!
 
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I load in my garage, if I have a loaded round to chamber, there is a big hill behind the house (70-80ft high) with many kilometers of nowhere behind the hill.

Closest neigbour is about 500M away (different direction).

I can safely shoot in my backyard, i just dont do it to keep good relation with the neigbours
And you know for a fact that some kid or kids aren’t snooping about behind the garage while you are diligently working inside?
 
Why not take one of those bullets and barely seat it in a case.
Then chamber it,closing and opening the bolt very gently.
It should give you the max length for that bullet, for your chamber

Yes, and then subtract about 0.003-0.005"; this is what I do. Even in the same make and model, not every chamber is going to be identical.
 
308 155 Berger VLD Hunting.

If you have determined that the bullet is touching the lands at 2.768" then, if your bullet is 1.223" long as per Berger's specs, seating it to 2.758" would put it 0.010" 0ff the lands. The ogive would be 0.022" in the neck, leaving the 0.281" bearing surface in the neck with the Boat tail protruding 0.177" past the neck/shoulder junction. You would have 46.9 grains H20 Capacity under the bullet if your case holds 55.5 grains H20 as the attached drawing shows. Depending on powder you will likely be full to compressed at 45.5 - 46 grains.

308_Win_155_Berger_VLD_Hunting.jpg
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And you know for a fact that some kid or kids aren’t snooping about behind the garage while you are diligently working inside?


I would see it if there was kids outside, because, you know I would be outside too. Dont know why you would be sugesting that I would be doing something different. Anyway this is not really related to the original subject...
 
If you have determined that the bullet is touching the lands at 2.768" then, if your bullet is 1.223" long as per Berger's specs, seating it to 2.758" would put it 0.010" 0ff the lands. The ogive would be 0.022" in the neck, leaving the 0.281" bearing surface in the neck with the Boat tail protruding 0.177" past the neck/shoulder junction. You would have 46.9 grains H20 Capacity under the bullet if your case holds 55.5 grains H20 as the attached drawing shows. Depending on powder you will likely be full to compressed at 45.5 - 46 grains.

308_Win_155_Berger_VLD_Hunting.jpg
[/URL][/IMG]

The only load that was conpressed was the last one I loaded. At 46gr. The one before (45.8gr) was not. (Could still hear a bit of powder shaking when shaking the case).

Maybe I am wrong with this one, But I wasn't too worried about (max load list 47gr (compressed) ).

Since I was still under max load, I wasn't too worried about the small compression (will watch all pressure sign while working up load.)
 
Small compression is not an issue.

What is an issue is your reference to max load.

The "Max" in the book refers to their rifle - not yours. Each rifle has its own "max"

I once shot a 6.5x55 that was over max using the book Start load.

This is why the book says start with the Start load and work from there.

The book max load does not mean much, but the max velocity is a good indicator of max pressure - so chrony your loads.
 
I would have to assume that he, like everyone else, wouldnt shoot if there were kids in the line of fire. Is there a reason to believe he would?
Unless I’m mistaken he says he chambers live rounds in his garage for head space checking. If I got it mixed up, my apologies.
 
The only load that was conpressed was the last one I loaded. At 46gr. The one before (45.8gr) was not. (Could still hear a bit of powder shaking when shaking the case).

Maybe I am wrong with this one, But I wasn't too worried about (max load list 47gr (compressed) ).

Since I was still under max load, I wasn't too worried about the small compression (will watch all pressure sign while working up load.)

When I stated that 45.5- 46.0 grains would be full to compressed I was just pointing out what my drawing was showing. Drawing is of Saami Maximum Cartridge and would appear to be very close to your actual brass capacity. If you look at the drawing you will see that the Berger bullet actually has quite a short bearing surface, at .281", which is likely much shorter than other bullets in this class so pressures should be less. No reason that you could not compress the load to 47.0 grains if pressure signs permit, unless you find a good accuracy node at 45.0 - 46.8 grains.
 
Thing is, the OP is a newb at reloading. Encouraging him to play with book maximums, when he doesnt know squat about determining if a load is borderline hot, is probably not a good idea. Even experienced reloaders can miss the boat here - as Ganderite points out, the definitive way to determine max load is with a chrony.
 
Thats the way I took it too. His response to advise about not chambering live rounds seemed pretty flippant to me.


No, if have too, I chamber round outside, just behind my garage. Next to a pretty high hill. It is honestly very hard to explain without a detailled plan and pictures. You will have to take my word for it.

Anyway, back on subject.

I shot all my round, and checked with a chrony. All went well, 46gr is getting close to the published velocity. I do not have the numbers with me, will provide more info tomorrow.

Anyway, shot a bunch of mild load of 357 and some 9mm that I reloaded. Fun day at the range!
 
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