SJ
Woodsman
Reged: 09/08/07
Posts: 108
Loc: MS.
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What is the point to going to the trouble of measuring distance to the lands when I have to seat my bullets to factory specs for the OAL in order for them to cycle in my rifle's magazine. Nosler gives the OAL for the 300 saum at 2.825 (this is a head to tip measurement) and that is the longest I can seat my bullets and them still clear my magazine. To the lands in this rifle using Nosler 180gr AccuBonds is 2.9915 but I have to seat the bullets to no longer than 2.825 or they won't clear the magazine and will not cycle through the gun properly so for all purposes I seat to clear the magazine regardless of how far off the lands the bullet is. It was the same way when I was reloading 180gr Scirocco 2. In order to seat just off the lands or even close to the lands I would have to shoot the rifle as a single shot.
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mrbigtexan
Woodsman
Reged: 02/10/08
Posts: 226
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that is normally for bolt actions
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RWH24
Pro Tracker
Reged: 11/23/04
Posts: 1209
Loc: Grayson County Texas
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Quote:
In order to seat just off the lands or even close to the lands I would have to shoot the rifle as a single shot.
YES!
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SJ
Woodsman
Reged: 09/08/07
Posts: 108
Loc: MS.
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That's what I was afraid of. I was hoping I was missing something but I didn't think I was. Thanks y'all.
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www.sportsmansjunction.com
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PrimitiveHunter
Pro Tracker
Reged: 10/09/06
Posts: 1894
Loc: Whitesboro
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Back when I was a handloading phreak, I experimented with bullet-to-land distances in my .270. I seated them as close as .005" all the way back to factory OAL. Honestly, I didn't see that much difference in the grouping.
If I was shooting Olympic-level competition or shooting for money, maybe it would be worth the trouble/risk but for hunting, it was a waste of time in my case. Even in a bolt action rifle, when you're seating that close you have to worry about bullet creep in the magazine under recoil. Just my opinion.
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He who laughs last is probably the dumbest guy in the group.
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Ranch Dog
Bird Dog
Reged: 07/15/05
Posts: 412
Loc: DeWitt County, TX
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The problem with seating a bullet at an OAL less than that specified with the data is that you are compressing the given charge and an unknown, higher pressure will be realized at the shot. If you read the fine print on most loading data and a general rule for reloading is that the published OAL is a MINIMUM, the cartridge should never end up shorter than specified.
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Michael
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Crazyhorse
THF Celebrity
Reged: 11/05/04
Posts: 14007
Loc: Azle, Texas
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Try seating the bullet as close to the lands as possible in some or most of the Weatherby's, and the bullet will possibly not be in the case.
If I remember correctly, Weatherby rifles are built with about 3/4 of an inch of "Free-Bore" between the end of the chamber and the start of the rifling.
As someone else said, and it applies to most rifles I have ever dealt with, to seat the bullet out that far, meant that the rifle had to be shot as a single shot, as the shells would not fit into the magazine well due to their length.
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SJ
Woodsman
Reged: 09/08/07
Posts: 108
Loc: MS.
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Quote:
The problem with seating a bullet at an OAL less than that specified with the data is that you are compressing the given charge and an unknown, higher pressure will be realized at the shot. If you read the fine print on most loading data and a general rule for reloading is that the published OAL is a MINIMUM, the cartridge should never end up shorter than specified.
Published OAL is just under what my magazine will allow so my OAL ends up maybe 0.002-0.003 longer than published OAL.
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sjadventures@cableone.net
www.sportsmansjunction.com
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Edited by SJ (06/03/08 05:07 PM)
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Kawabuggy
Woodsman
Reged: 01/14/08
Posts: 160
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Here's a thought.. If you are getting better accuracy by seating the bullet closer to the lands, but still want the ability to do follow up shots, simply put a shell with the bullet seated at the depth that you desire by hand into the chamber. Then, put in the magazine shells that are seated to a depth that will allow them to cycle through without problems. The FIRST shot is always the most important one, but having additional shots for back-up can never hurt. Bear in mind though that this only matters if you see a significant improvement in accuracy with the bullet seated closer to the lands.
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Lou270
Outdoorsman
Reged: 12/17/06
Posts: 81
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This is not an uncommon scenario. It may or may not hurt accuracy if your bullet has to jump a ways to the rifling. It really depends on the rifle chamber. The main reason to keep measuring bullets is other types of bullets may jam into the rifling when seated to full length of magazine. For example, Speer Spitzers tend to have full diameter of bullet closer to the tip than something like an Accubond. This means you may have to seat speer deeper into case (shorter OAL) to be same distance from rifling as Accubond or vice versa is speer seated to same OAL as Accubond may jam into rifling.
Lou
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