Good for you to ask the question. Don't be shy. We have all been there.
I suggest you start a log book for loading, with a page for each different rifle. Something like this:
For each rifle there is at least one measurement you should make and note in the book - the max length of loaded round the rifle will take. If your rifle has a magazine and you intend to use it, the max COAL is the mag length, regardless of what bullet you are using. A Remington is about 2.825", even though the chamber might take 2.950".
The second thing to note for each bullet you use is the OAL that touches the rifling. This way when you come back years later to load that bullet you have a reference place to start.
For a whole bunch of reasons, a good place to start is 20 thou off the rifling, or 2.775" if you don't what to take measurements.
If you want to find and note the OAL that touches the rifling (so you can make ammo 20 thou shorter) take a sized empty case and seat a bullet long - say 2.900". Chamber the round and take it out. You should see a set of rifling marks around the bullet. The length of the rifling mark will suggest how much you should screw in the seater. A quarter turn is about 12 thou.
Seat the bullet a bit deeper and chamber. With luck the rifling marks will show, and should be shorter.
take a fresh case and bullet, and seat deeper and repeat this process until there is just the smallest hint of a rifling mark on the bullet. make a note in the log. This is the touching OAL for that make, weight, style of bullet.
Now it is easy to start loading, and adjusting the seater until the loaded round is 20 thou shorter of the touching length. You can pull the bullets you used for measuring in the empty case and load them, too. mark the primer with a felt pen and use them for zeroing the scope, or fouling the barrel.
If you use a rifle a lot you will have throat erosion. My 308 barrels need the bullets seated about 10 thou farther out, each year. A season is about 1000 rounds per rifle.
Ordinary match bullets have a significant variation in ogive shoulder from bullet to bullet. Sierra is about 20 thou variation, per box. Hornady is about 10 thou. Berger a bit less. This is why I load Sierra 30 thou off the rifling and Hornady 20 thou off. Some of my rifles liker Bergers hard in the rifling, but most prefer them 30 thou off. Some thing to test for with each rifle.
I suggest you start a log book for loading, with a page for each different rifle. Something like this:
For each rifle there is at least one measurement you should make and note in the book - the max length of loaded round the rifle will take. If your rifle has a magazine and you intend to use it, the max COAL is the mag length, regardless of what bullet you are using. A Remington is about 2.825", even though the chamber might take 2.950".
The second thing to note for each bullet you use is the OAL that touches the rifling. This way when you come back years later to load that bullet you have a reference place to start.
For a whole bunch of reasons, a good place to start is 20 thou off the rifling, or 2.775" if you don't what to take measurements.
If you want to find and note the OAL that touches the rifling (so you can make ammo 20 thou shorter) take a sized empty case and seat a bullet long - say 2.900". Chamber the round and take it out. You should see a set of rifling marks around the bullet. The length of the rifling mark will suggest how much you should screw in the seater. A quarter turn is about 12 thou.
Seat the bullet a bit deeper and chamber. With luck the rifling marks will show, and should be shorter.
take a fresh case and bullet, and seat deeper and repeat this process until there is just the smallest hint of a rifling mark on the bullet. make a note in the log. This is the touching OAL for that make, weight, style of bullet.
Now it is easy to start loading, and adjusting the seater until the loaded round is 20 thou shorter of the touching length. You can pull the bullets you used for measuring in the empty case and load them, too. mark the primer with a felt pen and use them for zeroing the scope, or fouling the barrel.
If you use a rifle a lot you will have throat erosion. My 308 barrels need the bullets seated about 10 thou farther out, each year. A season is about 1000 rounds per rifle.
Ordinary match bullets have a significant variation in ogive shoulder from bullet to bullet. Sierra is about 20 thou variation, per box. Hornady is about 10 thou. Berger a bit less. This is why I load Sierra 30 thou off the rifling and Hornady 20 thou off. Some of my rifles liker Bergers hard in the rifling, but most prefer them 30 thou off. Some thing to test for with each rifle.
