HOW CRITICAL is this? My sierra manual lists the lenth to be 3.300 with the weight and style(different manufacturer) of bullet being used. i made a dummmy round to check the distance to the lands, and i got 3.275. my lee manual doesn't list the powder i'm using, so i'm a little confused. I'm loading a 270 win with a 140gr remington boat tail, win 760 powder and federal large rifle primers. I believe a length of 3.270 would be acceptable. am i correct? how do you find out the cartride minimum over all length? i didn't see it in my manual.
cartridge OAL
- Thread starter bruno
- Start date
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- Vancouver Island BC
Overall length is critical in a sense, if your bullets are too long overall it can create a high pressure situation.
I can't believe you would say that safety isn't a big deal??
If you're new at this, best not to push OAL to the lands. Different bullets have different profiles for the same weight, and sometimes from box to box from the same manufacturer.
Thats why the cannelure is provided - the manufacturer has established that sufficient clearance exists for any commercial rifle. If you go longer than this then you have to check for clearance. If you have more than one rifle in a given calibre, you have to check each one - there is also a substantial variation from rifle to rifle!
Thats why the cannelure is provided - the manufacturer has established that sufficient clearance exists for any commercial rifle. If you go longer than this then you have to check for clearance. If you have more than one rifle in a given calibre, you have to check each one - there is also a substantial variation from rifle to rifle!
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I'm not saying that safety isn't a big deal. It's common practice to seat a bullet farther than the COL listed in a reloading manual.
To the lands
I have found the best accuracy in 30-06, 270, 243, by seating the bullets to touch the lands. Even in the heaviest of my loads, I can notice no difference in pressure, whatsoever, in whether the bullet is touching the lands, or has a clearance. This is not meant to give advice to anyone on how they should reload, I am only telling you what I do.
Another thread on here once pointed out that a bullet touching the lands gave a small spike in pressure, at the start of the curve, but this spike was no where near the peak pressure reached when the bullet was farther down the barrel.
Not all the bullets so loaded will feed through the mag, but that's another story.
I have found the best accuracy in 30-06, 270, 243, by seating the bullets to touch the lands. Even in the heaviest of my loads, I can notice no difference in pressure, whatsoever, in whether the bullet is touching the lands, or has a clearance. This is not meant to give advice to anyone on how they should reload, I am only telling you what I do.
Another thread on here once pointed out that a bullet touching the lands gave a small spike in pressure, at the start of the curve, but this spike was no where near the peak pressure reached when the bullet was farther down the barrel.
Not all the bullets so loaded will feed through the mag, but that's another story.
I target .015" off the lands (magazine allowing it) as a starting point for hunting ammo. If that does not seem to be what a particular load favors, I will adjust for a shorter COL in .005" intervals. I really do not like to see a bullet "jumping" over .060", but have seen some rifles that shot quite well even with more than .100" jump. Most of those shooting targets with match bullets will touch the rifling or even "jam" into it 10-15 thou. Absolutely impractical for hunting use. Regards, Eagleye.
True enough. Although I'll typically just shoot for .050 in a sporter and good enough. When I'm at the bench I like the bolt to do the final seating . But stuff that might be in and out multi times before firing is a different story
