I just purchased the hornady OAL gauge and bullet comparator set so I thought I would try it out on my .300 win mag. I'm planning on reloading some 200 grain Hornady ELD-X. The load data COL for the ELD-X is 3.340 but using measurements from my OAL gauge I found that the bullet touches the lands at 3.512. That's .172 difference. Is this normal? I haven't loaded any cartridges yet and have no idea if they would fit and cycle properly. I was just expecting the measurement to be in the neighborhood of .050.
Hornady OAL gauge question
- Thread starter Skel
- Start date
My Remington .308 has a lot of freebore as well. You need do decide if you want to load into your magazine or not. If so load to max magazine length. Just pick an oal before you start load development because it will affect case capacity and pressure if you change it.
The reference (max.) OAL from Hornady is largely irrelevant. Depending on the reamer used on your rifle, the length of the throat could vary considerably from Hornady's published data considerably. Their data is from their own reference barrel.
As you will see in multiple threads, published OALs in general are not worth worrying about. Use max. OAL data for your own rifle with your selected bullet and back off by 0.01" as a starting point.
That Hornady ELD-X is a very low drag bullet with a long nose (distance from the ogive to the tip). This means you get a longer OAL with a low drag bullet. This can give problems for those who want to feed out of a magazine, but also want to seat close to or into the lands. Berger has addressed this issue to some degree with their hunting bullets. They sell what they call the Classic Hunter which tends to have a shorter nose, and also an Elite Hunter. The Elite hunter is designed for low drag without regard for length, and is probably very similar to the ELD-X design (secant taper and long nose). Hornady unfortunately does not provide much dimensional data on their bullets, compared to Berger. If you look at the Berger data at the link below, you can see the different designs and how long the nose is. For example the 30 cal 180 grain Elite Hunter has a nose of 0.782", while the 185 grain Classic Hunter has a nose of 0.692. Heavier bullet, and shorter nose. Essentially one is designed to be magazine fed, while the other is potentially too long for that -- if you seat close to the lands. Welcome to the new world of long low drag bullets!
Berger Quick Reference Sheet
Hope that helps some
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hometownhero
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Toon Town, Sk
Usually vld bullets like to be very close to the lands. Amax, eldx, and vld I've shot were all .005 off the lands
Sticky this advice. It would save a lot of newbie angst.
- Location
- Saskatchewan
I have two 7x64 rifles. Both are quite accurate. They have CIP standard chambers, which have chamber throats cut so long that even super long 175 grain bullets are almost completely out of the case before they touch the rifling. there is no way that I could load any bullets anywhere close to the rifling. I used to worry about "perfect" seating depth of 10-20 thousandths off the lands in all my rifles, for no good reason. After loading for those two, I don't worry about it any more and my results are still good with other cartridges, and life is simpler.
ruger-ruger
CGN Regular
Actually the number is not important at all and neither is the length of the mag.
The most important thing is to measure the distace to the lands for the bullet you are shooting. Without measuring you will have no idea the distance to the lands or if the bullet is jammed into the lands which could create a dangrerous situation.
I have seen this happen on more than one occasion and they were facotry rifles.
The last one was a cooper if you actually loaded it mag length which was under COAL spec. The bullets would be jammed ito the lands so far the bolt was hard to close. SO if you just went by the spec it could have gone bad.
Measure the bullet you want to shoot in every rifle you are going to load for. Figure out the jump you want to have and go from there. If it ends up being to long for the mag, have it machined for a longer mag box,, or choose a different bullet.
That is one of the main reason I build my rifles for the bullets I am going to shoot and use a reamer that will make it happen.
If you are reloading I am sure one of the main reasons is accuracey. The distance your bullet has to jump can have a huge impact on how accurate your load is, and also on chamber pressures.
