RE: how to measure maximum overal length
I do all my bullet seating depth with the comparator. The Stoney point comparator is now the Hornady Comparator. You still need to figure out where the ogive of the bullet touches the lands though. I did the cleaning rod method and that worked good but I also did it the way the Lyman's 48th edtion suggested to do it to measure where your ogive makes contact with the lands and I personally feel it is the most accurate way. Take aunsized case (aka fired formed)that the bullet your loading will slide into easily and without the bullet in it make a very slight indention on the case neck by just slightly putting pressure on the side of the case neck against your bench, this will flatten the case neck just enough to make the bullet stay in the case but not very tight. Put the bullet just barely into the case just enough to hold it. Then blacken the bullet with a felt marker and gently put it into the chamber of your rifle and carefully close the bolt and lock it. This will push the bullet back into the case as it touches the lands. Take it out being careful not to disturb the bullet and carefully pull the bullet back out of the case so you can see where the black has been scraped off or the line made by the bullet being pushed back into the case. Push the bullet back into the case exactly to where you can see the line in the black and the case mouth line up. Now measure the OAL of your bullet (I use a comparator and measure the ogive). They recommend you do this procedure 3-5 times measuring everytime to make sure you get a consistant measurement and that will be the precise measurement of the distance between your bolt face and the lands of your rifle. It is the most precise way to measure your OAL IMHO.