You'll have to experiment some here, ( Isn't that part of the fun of reloading?...assuming you enjoy it) Anyway since all barrels are different you'll need to work up loads with different OAL and see what your rifle likes best. I start atthe factory setting and work up from there, you'll see a change in grouping as you go up and can judge from there which way to go for your gun and load. The powers that be say that the shorter the jump to the lands the less chance the bullet has to be off center of the bore, but I have found with my rifles anyway that the "rule dosen't always apply.Another reason to experiment with OAL is that you can find the sweet spot for your gun barrel by matching your load with the vibration pattern of your barrel.

Rifles with a fairly large freebore allow for more room to fiddle....to a point! Anyone ever measure a Weatherby Mk 5? They are so long it's rediculous. My neibours jumps over a 1/10 of an inch. Of course, this is by design as this feature greatly reduces chamber pressure thereby allowing for Weatherby speeds. The furthest out I ever went was on a Tikka 7mag...it liked them 60 thousandths out. Most larger caliber hunting rifles like the bullets somewhere between 20 and 50 thousandths. I own a 17 Remington that likes them right up to the lands. The only way to fine tune your rifle is with the Stoney Point OAL gauge. Some rifles can really be picky, however, once you get them dialed in it sure is gratifying to know you have achieved what your rifle is capable of shooting. Regards, Rick.