Hi all,
I am new to reloading and have been experimenting with multiple powders and bullets to see what my bolt action likes. I bought myself some berger 80 grain bullets and I have two reloading manuals that both list the minimum overall length as 2.550" for a jacketed 80. The first round of reloads I did with these were done to that oal, however, when I got up to the range I found my rifle could not chamber at this length. When I got home, I started making dummy rounds to see what minimum overall length the rifle would feed reliably with. 2.450" was about the max length I could repeatedly feed and extract the Berger 80s. Knowing this, I then made up 10 rounds with the recommended starting charge and took it up to the range. Here's the kicker. These 10 rounds are by far the most most accurate load I have managed to do myself so far. What I want to know is, is it safe to shorten the overall length by .1 of an inch? My reloading manual says nothing on this and I haven't been able to find much on it on the internet other than people saying that shortening the overall length can cause pressure spikes. At the range, I had no extraction issues, the primer showed no signs of flattening in the pocket, I didn't see any bulging in the cases, and didn't feel anything unusual when firing the rifle. I've tried searching the forums on CGN but haven't found much on this issue either. Any information anyone can give me on it would be much appreciated. Thank you, Jesse.
I am new to reloading and have been experimenting with multiple powders and bullets to see what my bolt action likes. I bought myself some berger 80 grain bullets and I have two reloading manuals that both list the minimum overall length as 2.550" for a jacketed 80. The first round of reloads I did with these were done to that oal, however, when I got up to the range I found my rifle could not chamber at this length. When I got home, I started making dummy rounds to see what minimum overall length the rifle would feed reliably with. 2.450" was about the max length I could repeatedly feed and extract the Berger 80s. Knowing this, I then made up 10 rounds with the recommended starting charge and took it up to the range. Here's the kicker. These 10 rounds are by far the most most accurate load I have managed to do myself so far. What I want to know is, is it safe to shorten the overall length by .1 of an inch? My reloading manual says nothing on this and I haven't been able to find much on it on the internet other than people saying that shortening the overall length can cause pressure spikes. At the range, I had no extraction issues, the primer showed no signs of flattening in the pocket, I didn't see any bulging in the cases, and didn't feel anything unusual when firing the rifle. I've tried searching the forums on CGN but haven't found much on this issue either. Any information anyone can give me on it would be much appreciated. Thank you, Jesse.
