Reloading a bolt rifle question

KnotRight

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To start of with, I only been reloading for a bolt action rifle for a little over 2 years.

While on another site a post came up about how far off the lands should a bullet be seated. When to YouTube and with that question and saw that people tested the seating length by putting a bullet in a empty case and closing the bolt. The measure the length of the bullet.

Well I tried it with a 308 and a 150 gn Hornady FMJ. It came out to 2.816". I always try to follow the reloading manual in OAL and for this bullet it was 2.700".

What got me thinking about this was a couple of my reloads I had a hard time closing the bolt. The rounds fired without a problem. I never load at top of the scale.

How do you figure out what your OAL should be?
 
I use a Hornady modified case and OAL gauge. Then I back it off .030" or maximum mag length depending on the rifle.
 
The Hornady OAL gauge is the ticket. The problem with just using a regular case and putting a bullet in the case is that when the bullet makes contact with the rifling, it may stick in place momentarily when you extract the case. This will lead to a longer reading and to difficultly closing the bolt as you press the bullet into the rifling.

The Hornady gauge starts with the bullet shorter than the rifling and you push the bullet into contact (gently), then tighten the locking screw on the push rod. you then pull everything out, place the bullet back in the case against the push role and measure. Subtract 2 thousandths, or however far you want the bullet to jump and you have your COL. Use a Hornady comparator set and you can determine the length to lands at ogive and use that length to calculate seating depth for other style bullets as well.

The Hornady gauge and comparator set aren't cheap (about $70 all-in for the OAL gauge, modified case, and comparator set), but they get the job done reliably. Take multiple measurements and you should be very accurate.
 
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