Hey all,
I'm very new to reloading and this forum to boot! I started in June and have only reloaded about 400 cartridges so far, been shooting 53gr and 69gr bullets no problem and with great results(0.3 MOA). Here's the problem, I recently bought 55gr nosler BT, and some 55 gr hornady varmint bullets and after getting an o.a.l for each went ahead and made 35 of each. When I chambered either round, I noticed the bolt was tight to close, and ejecting the unfired cartridge required quite a bit of force. upon checking the round I noticed that there is a scuff mark made on the top of each bullet starting very close to where the bullet first reaches its full diameter that goes about 1/4 of the way around the bullet, There is also, on a little over half, a small scuff mark on the primer. My assumption has been that this means it made contact with the rifling, and therefore I started seating the bullets deeper(a lot deeper, from 2.315'' measured down to 2.21") to the point where they cycle fine. My first question is is this assumption right? and a second am I missing something else, feeding problems? something wrong with the chamber?
Extra info:
Measured the o.al for each type of bullet by dropping stick down to barrel to bolt face, then inserting bullet into chamber and putting stick down barrel again, and measuring difference. For each bullet I get somewhere around 2.310" oal. similar to what i get for 53gr and 69gr. So i take off 0.03'' and seat bullet to that depth. Method just didnt seem to work with 55gr bullets.
Cases are Federal, have been fired twice, neck sized only, trimmed, cleaned, dimensions checked. they cycle fine without bullets and with the 53gr or 69gr loaded.
Gun is kept very clean, full cleaning every 50 rounds.
Its a Savage Model 10 FCP-k.
Using a lee 50th anniversary kit.
I guess my concern is that my measurement method for oal has worked fine with 53gr and 69 gr, and I want the best accuracy so I want to reduce my distance to rifling but now these bullets are set down even below SAAMI specs. I'm also confused as to why the scuffing occurs on only the top part of the bullet and not all the way around like I expected the rifling too.
Any help would greatly appreciated, would hate to find out that this is a warning sign of something serious and I ignored it.
Thanks in advance,
Calvin
I'm very new to reloading and this forum to boot! I started in June and have only reloaded about 400 cartridges so far, been shooting 53gr and 69gr bullets no problem and with great results(0.3 MOA). Here's the problem, I recently bought 55gr nosler BT, and some 55 gr hornady varmint bullets and after getting an o.a.l for each went ahead and made 35 of each. When I chambered either round, I noticed the bolt was tight to close, and ejecting the unfired cartridge required quite a bit of force. upon checking the round I noticed that there is a scuff mark made on the top of each bullet starting very close to where the bullet first reaches its full diameter that goes about 1/4 of the way around the bullet, There is also, on a little over half, a small scuff mark on the primer. My assumption has been that this means it made contact with the rifling, and therefore I started seating the bullets deeper(a lot deeper, from 2.315'' measured down to 2.21") to the point where they cycle fine. My first question is is this assumption right? and a second am I missing something else, feeding problems? something wrong with the chamber?
Extra info:
Measured the o.al for each type of bullet by dropping stick down to barrel to bolt face, then inserting bullet into chamber and putting stick down barrel again, and measuring difference. For each bullet I get somewhere around 2.310" oal. similar to what i get for 53gr and 69gr. So i take off 0.03'' and seat bullet to that depth. Method just didnt seem to work with 55gr bullets.
Cases are Federal, have been fired twice, neck sized only, trimmed, cleaned, dimensions checked. they cycle fine without bullets and with the 53gr or 69gr loaded.
Gun is kept very clean, full cleaning every 50 rounds.
Its a Savage Model 10 FCP-k.
Using a lee 50th anniversary kit.
I guess my concern is that my measurement method for oal has worked fine with 53gr and 69 gr, and I want the best accuracy so I want to reduce my distance to rifling but now these bullets are set down even below SAAMI specs. I'm also confused as to why the scuffing occurs on only the top part of the bullet and not all the way around like I expected the rifling too.
Any help would greatly appreciated, would hate to find out that this is a warning sign of something serious and I ignored it.
Thanks in advance,
Calvin
