Minimum cartridge overall length?

Trevor2Toes

Trevor2Toes

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I can find plenty of data on maximum cartridge overall length but not on minimum overall length. On my .375 H&H I screwed up on the bullet seating setup and ended up with a couple of cartridges just under 3.55 where the length is supposed to be 3.60. Safe to shoot off or should I pull them?

Also I was loading 77 grains of IMR 4350 in Remington cases and it almost fills them up. Lyman lists a maximum of 86 grains. Is it possible to get that much in even with a drop tube? What's the maximum you guys can get in?
 
The important length of a cartridge for rimless shells is to the shoulder which is where they index and that governs headspace. More or less how far the bullet sticks out affects accuracy but would only have a small effect on pressure as long as the loads were reasonably below maximum. You could also pull the offending slugs with an inertial puller if you were still worried
Just my thoughts anyhow

cheers mooncoon
 
Trevor2Toes said:
Also I was loading 77 grains of IMR 4350 in Remington cases and it almost fills them up. Lyman lists a maximum of 86 grains. Is it possible to get that much in even with a drop tube? What's the maximum you guys can get in?
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What bullet are you loading? Me thinks its a typo...
 
Neither Hodgdon or Lee list IMR4350 for any weight below 270gr, and that weight min is 69gr max is 78gr.
 
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Trevor2Toes said:
Also I was loading 77 grains of IMR 4350 in Remington cases and it almost fills them up. Lyman lists a maximum of 86 grains. Is it possible to get that much in even with a drop tube? What's the maximum you guys can get in?
Click to expand...

blargon said:
What bullet are you loading? Me thinks its a typo...
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A 270 Gr. Hornady SP. The info is from the Lyman reloading handbook 45th edition. It lists 76 grains as a starting load and 86 as max., with 80.2 as a factory duplication load. Many of the loads listed in that book are quite different then the other reloading manuals I have on hand. I tried a drop tube and noticed that 80 grains of IMR 4350 pretty much fills the Remington cases.
 
mooncoon said:
The important length of a cartridge for rimless shells is to the shoulder which is where they index and that governs headspace. More or less how far the bullet sticks out affects accuracy but would only have a small effect on pressure as long as the loads were reasonably below maximum. You could also pull the offending slugs with an inertial puller if you were still worried
Just my thoughts anyhow

cheers mooncoon
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375 HH case is designed to headspaces on the belt, not the shoulder.
 
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Rule of thumb - case trim-to-length is 0.010" less than case max length.

Cartridge Overall Length (COL) is not a hard rule - generally this dimension is variable. It can be changed to custom fit different magazine and throats in individual rifles. Generally speaking, seating a bullet deeper increases chamber pressure. If you have already worked up your load and it is working OK, you have nothing to worry about. If you are copying a maximum load out of a manual without starting 10% low and working your way up then the short COL could contribute to a high pressure situation. Most of this info would be already contained in the "how-to" section of your reloading manual. You should read it.
 
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Thought that top load looked a little hot, I checked the latest Nosler book and it lists 78.5 of IMR4350 as max. with 260/270 gr. bullets.
 
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