When trying to find your OAL what is the closest you've loaded to the lands???

I've read that .001 is ok as long as you reduce the charge...

I have tried it right on the lands. You have to reduce your loads alot and I lost alot ofvelocity and accuracy was just ok.You want some freebore. Imagine trying to bust thru a door if your right up against it, and the pressure it would take compared to a 3ft jump.

With barnes, TBBC, scirrocos and failsafes, I like up to .1" jump but too farin the case, you also get high pressure signs too. Its a balance. For most other bullets without solid shank and guilding metal, I like .005".

Another problem with loading too close is variances in each OAL. With a real nice redding competition seater, you might be able to get each bullet seated and none vary more than .0005", and thats if each piece of brass is really nice and neck maybe turned. With regular old brass and a regular RCBS/redding seater, you will see variances with with a stoney point comparitor up to .002". So thats another reason to seat .005" or more away.

when Im working up starter loads I usually start at .015 that is just a personal preference. However I do have one gun that I am at .005.

If you're working up hunting loads, remember that box magazine length will or can affect your OAL. I learned the hard way years ago, when I found out that I was carrying a"single shot" bolt action the first day of deer season, due to the fact I had set the bullets out further than the magazine would permit them to be loaded into. Just something to remember..............

DOH!!!! Pawildman, theres a thread up in the deer hunting forum that asks some of the dumbest things youve done maybe you should add that one!!

Yep, you're probably right..............it definitely was ONE of them..............just hang tight.....I'm full of them. More to come....

It was probly pretty dum of me recently shooting all those very long( a bit over max)OAL - Korean (i didnt load them )30.06,s & not stoping at just a few (about 40?) - as i had to crank it down pretty hardthat bolt to get it closed on many of them( thinking the next one will be ok?)- should have givin me a clue after a few[&:]


(Ft lbs of energy generated(on both ends)seemed to increase a bit.)

A rubber mallet would have been handy( to pull them back out of the barrel)

Gotta measure the other 400? see how they are lengthwise-& see what ones are the steel core too- suppose to be boxer primed i think4.

In some loads I have seated the bullet out far enough that the bullet (cast lead bullets) was actually forced into the lands slightly on closing the breech. This was on target loads that were used in a Sharps rifle. For a jacketed bullet, of course, this can't be done due to the hardness of the jacket material. However, since with modern smokeless powders the maximum peak pressure occurs whenthe bullet is around 4" to 6" down the bore, the .001" you mention should cause no problems. As you say, when changing anything about a load, it is wise to reduce the charge and work up the load all over again to find thecharge that gives the best accuracy with acceptable cartridge case longevity......

.02 for hunting loads. I had it closer one year and it was colder than a witch's tit. Went to unload to get back in my veh and the bullet stayed in the chamber..... brass extracted just fine and there was powder all over the place. The hardest part to swallow was I did not bring a cleaning rod, just a pull through bore cleaner. I took the antenna off the truck and was lucky it fit. It didn't happen again on this trip but from then on I leave a little more clearance.

Heck man, that's nothing. At least you were armed. I once climbed into a treestand early on the first day of hunting season only to find out that the plastic Federal cartridge holder I had in my coat pocket was full of nothing but empty hulls. I had previously fired off every round and placed the emptys back in the cartridge holderwhich I then placedback in the box. On that morning I opened the box and pulled out the emptys without noticing what was happening. So, I had no ammo whatsoever. What an idiot!![:@]