Normal OAL

tomapleleafss

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Hey there, I am reloading for the first time and had a question. I am reloading 308 for my T3. I measured my bullet contact with a Horandy OAL gauge and got an average of 2.910" (this would be my max). The book says a max of 2.810". Now I know they use this so the cartridge will fit in every gun but is it normal for the there to be such a difference? I have to knock off almost a tenth just to get them to fit in magazine. I measured some of my factory Horandy ammo and it is almost two tenths shorter.
 
Get a long action bolt stop for the tikka and a 30-06 mag and seat em way out. The short action mag on the tikka's is stupid short.

If you don't want to do that then load to max mag length.
 
Same thing with my son's T3 in 30:06 - bullets get seated shorter than what I would want just to fit in the mag. Still shoots good luckily
 
I think a lot depends on the bullet profile. I've had no problems feeding from the mag with my .243 T3. That's using 75 gr V-Max and 90 gr Accubonds. I seat .020 off the lands, the rifle shoots well at that depth.
ELD or VLD for example may be a problem due to length from tip to ogive.
One semi-solution is to load for two OAL measurements, assuming of course the longer rounds shoot better. You single load the first (longer) round in the chamber, then load the mag with shorter rounds for follow up shots if needed. Mark the longer "single shot" rounds with a Sharpie to identify them.
I'm assuming this is for hunting use?
If it's range use, then loading single rounds is your obvious work around.
To actually answer your question, like the guys said this isn't unusual to find your max possible OAL (just touching the lands) is longer than called for. I'd be surprised if it wasn't, since the rifle is designed to safely chamber any SAAMI spec'd cartridge.
When Hornady, as an example, lists the OAL for a loaded round using one of their bullets, they use the maximum dimension that should fit in any rifle that meets SAAMI specs, without jamming the bullet into the rifling. I don't know how much distance to the lands they use for a standard dimension, but I expect it's substantial for liability reasons.
 
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I think a lot depends on the bullet profile. I've had no problems feeding from the mag with my .243 T3. That's using 75 gr V-Max and 90 gr Accubonds. I seat .020 off the lands, the rifle shoots well at that depth.
ELD or VLD for example may be a problem due to length from tip to ogive.

I load interlock in my 7mm-08 as well as sst and gmx. Factory hornady american white tail just barley fits in the short action mag. My reloads are almost ¼ closer to the lands with a long action mag. All tikka's are a long action anyway so why not do the mod you have the space.
 
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