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  #1  
Old 05-20-2009, 01:30 PM
beaverislander beaverislander is offline
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I flat out need some advice from someone with experiance determining your optimum COAL.

I have measured the distance to the rifling in my Remington 700 VS-SF 223 at 2.244". (I cut a dummy cartridge from the mouth to the neck with a saw, deburred, started the bullet into the cartridge with finger pressure then chambered the cartridge. I took several readings and the 2.244" seems clear.

The factory ammo measures 2.20". Does this sound correct that the factory ammo could be less than 0.02" from the rifling? The reason I ask is that I bought used calipers, and now I'm wondering if they are accurate, or maybe I'm just confused.

When seating bullets for a particular rifle I have read that you should back off 0.02" in a few places and 0.002" elsewhere. If I backed off 0.02" it would put me shorter than a factory round. Or, is it in fact supposed to be only 0.002"?

As you might guess, I'm a reloading newbie

Here's what I am working with:
Remington 223 700 VS-SF
Lapua Brass
Sierra 52gr Matchking bullets

Thanks.
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Old 05-20-2009, 01:51 PM
GSS GSS is offline
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2.244" seems short, as every AR I have loaded for easily accepts the mag length cartridges of 2.26", w/o it being at the rifling. My bolt guns run even longer OAL's (though my data is not in front of me).
And a "typical" recommendation is to be 0.010 (ten-thousandths) off the rifling, as a starting point....though nothing is sacred as to what's best.
Maybe measure a "standard" of some sort (bullet diameter, case of known length, etc), with your calipers...just to verify their accuracy ???
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Old 05-20-2009, 02:43 PM
Joni_Lynn Joni_Lynn is offline
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Here's what I do.
Close the action and slip a rod down the barrel. (firing pin cocked)
Mark it for length at this point.
Get a straw and a short cleaning rod.
Place the bullet in the straw and run it up into the chamber until it stops, gently come up behind the bullet with the cleaning rod just enough to LIGHTLY hold it against the rifling.
Now run the rod back down the barrel and mark it again for length.
Measure the distance between the 2 marks with a decent set of caipers.
This is your over all loaded length touching the lands with ONLY the exact bullet you measured with. There may be some slight variation in bullets even in the same box.
Using the straw allows you to place the bullet into the gun without a lot of fun & games.
When you're finished, a long rod down the barrel will probably be required to pop the bullet out.
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Old 05-20-2009, 02:58 PM
beaverislander beaverislander is offline
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Joni-Lynn,
That's sounds a whole bunch easier that what I did. I will give that a try to confirm my measurements.
When you do get this length, how much do take off to begin the seating process? 0.01, 0.001??? And then, how much more do shorten it at a time until you reach what your target tells you is the optimal COAL?
Thanks.
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Old 05-20-2009, 03:28 PM
Joni_Lynn Joni_Lynn is offline
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I usually back off the lands at least .0010" except on a couple of my 6PPC rifles where I occasionally run the bullet further in.
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Old 05-20-2009, 07:32 PM
OU812 OU812 is offline
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Your OAL will be determined by how the gun shoots.
I also have a Rem VSSF in 223 and it has shot very well in Varmint for score matches. And that gun likes H322 with a BIB bullets touching the lands.
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Old 05-20-2009, 08:06 PM
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Quote:
Originally posted by GSS:
2.244" seems short, as every AR I have loaded for easily accepts the mag length cartridges of 2.26", w/o it being at the rifling. My bolt guns run even longer OAL's (though my data is not in front of me).
And a "typical" recommendation is to be 0.010 (ten-thousandths) off the rifling, as a starting point....though nothing is sacred as to what's best.
Maybe measure a "standard" of some sort (bullet diameter, case of known length, etc), with your calipers...just to verify their accuracy ???
I second. 2.244" sounds way too short. I don't own a 700 , but if that chamber were 2.244", there is a lot of even factory ammo, you couldn't even chamber.
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Old 05-20-2009, 08:56 PM
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hoppes-no9 hoppes-no9 is offline
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Quote:
Originally posted by Joni_Lynn:
I usually back off the lands at least .0010"
Joni-Lynn, do you mean 0.010" (ten thousandths)?
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Old 05-20-2009, 09:02 PM
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hoppes-no9 hoppes-no9 is offline
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Quote:
Originally posted by beaverislander:
I took several readings and the 2.244" seems clear...The factory ammo measures 2.20". Does this sound correct that the factory ammo could be less than 0.02" from the rifling?
Beaverislander --

Remember that it's the ogive of the bullet, not the tip, that contacts the rifling. Therefore bullets with different shapes, seated to identical distances from the rifling, may give you very different COL's when measured to the bullet tip.

For example, I load 250gr Partitions in my Whelen to 0.020" from the lands, yet the COL is shorter than Rem factory 250gr spire points, which are nearly 0.100" from lands. In this case, the business end of the Partition is blunter than the factory bullet.
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Old 05-20-2009, 09:19 PM
harry carey harry carey is offline
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that round should have been 2.250 or longer. buy HANDLOADING FOR COMPETITION by Zediker, and read it.
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  #11  
Old 05-21-2009, 08:30 AM
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ChuckS1 ChuckS1 is offline
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Quote:
Originally posted by hoppes-no9:
Quote:
Originally posted by beaverislander:
I took several readings and the 2.244" seems clear...The factory ammo measures 2.20". Does this sound correct that the factory ammo could be less than 0.02" from the rifling?
Beaverislander --

Remember that it's the ogive of the bullet, not the tip, that contacts the rifling. Therefore bullets with different shapes, seated to identical distances from the rifling, may give you very different COL's when measured to the bullet tip.

For example, I load 250gr Partitions in my Whelen to 0.020" from the lands, yet the COL is shorter than Rem factory 250gr spire points, which are nearly 0.100" from lands. In this case, the business end of the Partition is blunter than the factory bullet.
Take a look at a bullet comparator. It measures from the ogive, not the bullet tip. As was just pointed out, the ogive is the critical measurement here, not the tip.
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Old 05-21-2009, 01:38 PM
Joni_Lynn Joni_Lynn is offline
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Quote:
Joni-Lynn, do you mean 0.010" (ten thousandths)?

Oops.............yes.
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