223 rem 80gr amax oal

check my coal in the new barrel for 80gr amax i get

2.433 coal
and
1.868 touching lands to ogive

i've been looking at oal's in the my reloading books and online (load data and such ) and come up with anywhere from 2.280 to 2.550 for a coal which to me is a wide spead so time to sak someone who has loaded these (80gr amax) with my coal of 2.433 and ogive of 1.868 would you try loading these or are they going to be seated down to far into the case . looking at these powders/ cases

lapua brass
varget 23gr start
imr 4064 22.0 gr start
aa2520 23.5 start
then work up from there i try to stay away from compressed loads as much as possible but with the longer head i'm sure it will be need at some point.

If your measuring to the ogive, forget the book over all lengths. Depending on the bullet weight, the length to ogive will vary. I measure all my bullets from base to ogive because I've found bullets can vary in length up to .007". I separate by length and bag them accordingly.

well went to the range shot a set of 5 each using varget (23.0 -23.5) gonna have to put them on the way side since they didnt group as well as the 69gr smk or the 75gr amax that i shot. what striked me as wierd was the groups using the 69smk 2 of the loads were in a straight line left to right (one measured 1.558 ctc but only .276 up and down) all shot @ 300yrds

lal357, what is the twist of your rifle?

its a 1-8 mcgowen it doesn't like the 80 gr or the 75's really seems to like 69gr. shooting 1.5-2.0" groups with out much developement a 300yrds. its not throated as long as my other 223 i might send it out to have the throat legthened after awhile but for right now i'm just gonna shoot what it likes for now .

I use 8208 and varget for the 69's

24.5 Varget
CCI 450 primers
Lake city brass trimmed/uniformed/de-burred
69 Nosler Custom Comp.

or use 24.0 8208 is even better
Lapua or Nosler brass

standard 2.255-2.260 length.