Sierra Bullets and the Savage

Picked up a 7mm-08 Mod 11 XP the other day, and last night I grabbed the Hornady Tool to document the OAL's with various bullets I had in the cabinet.

Hornady's, Speers, Barnes and Nosler, no problem... When I got to the Sierra's using the 140 Pro Hunter and Game King I took the measurements and recorded them.

Here is where the fun begins.. :cool: I had some 140 PH loaded for a Encore and Browning that I shoot and they were loaded to a COL of 2.780. The current Sierra manual shows them loaded out to 2.800. Checking the Ogive distance on the loaded rounds with the Hornady tool, the measurements were telling me I was dead on the rifling or just a hair too long! I chambered a few just to see if they would. They will but felt a lot of resistance.

I had another box loaded to 2.800. Grabbing a few of these, they would not Chamber at all!!

Seating the bullet to 2.700 puts me right about .08 off according to my measurements.

Thinking back, I had the same issue with Sierra Bullets and the 111 XP in 30-06. OAL's of book figures were way to long.

Anyone else seen this or ran into this issue.

Heck... If they shoot I could care less where they are seated, but it makes me wonder what type of lead in Savage has put into these barrels. One of these days I might buy some cerrosafe and do a chamber cast. On second thought... Naw... I don't want to scare myself... :p

I don't claim to be an expert, but since no one has given a response, I'll offer you my thoughts.

I never measure or load to a COL. As long as they fit in the magazine, they are good. The relationship I worry about the between the ogive and the lands. My Model 16 7mm-08 seems to group best .015 off the lands. Sierra 140 gr Game Kings at .015 off the lands in my rifle have a COL of 2.740. I also have some Hornady Interlock 139gr. BTSPs loaded at .015 off the lands that measure 2.815. These bullets are a little slimmer in profile putting the ogive a bit further back on the bullet making the overall length a little longer.

Two easy things to check regarding the tight clambering. First if you are hitting the lands, your bullet will show the rifling marks. So that's easy to check. Secondly, chamber an empty, resized piece of brass to check if it chambers easily. When I first set up my press to load 7mm-08, I had some rounds that were tight in the chamber. I found the problem was the brass not the COL. Re adjusting my resizing die solved the problem. This of course assumes that the brass was properly trimmed as long brass can also cause clambering problems.

OAL, or COL, doesn't mean squat. I have chamber measurements that very quite a bit from one bullet to the next.
My CBTO (cartridge base to ogive) can very as much as .020" from a Nosler bullet to a Sierra of the same weight. If you have a shorter chamber, some factory ammo might be jamming when chambered, as you've seen can happen. Just get an accurate measurement for each different bullet you care to load.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Texas Solo

Cartridge base to ogive can very as much as .020" from a Nosler bullet to a Sierra of the same weight. If you have a shorter chamber, some factory ammo might be jamming when chambered, as you've seen can happen. Just get an accurate measurement for each different bullet you care to load.

---

Yep... A Long taper on bullets like the Noslers, Hornady and Barnes are no problem. I loaded up some 140 Accubonds last night and seated them @ 2.830. I was still .020 off the lands using that bullet.

I lined up a few bullets from the various manufactures and you can really see the difference in the taper. Sierra has the shortest which makes sense as to what I'm seeing and measuring.

Brass is not the issue as all are trimmed to minimum length after full length sizing. They drop right in and bolt closes with ease.

Thanks Guys!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by xsskeet

I lined up a few bullets from the various manufactures and you can really see the difference in the taper. Sierra has the shortest which makes sense as to what I'm seeing and measuring.

Thanks Guys!

---

Take a look at my post here http://www.savageshooters.com/showth...-Tight-Chamber

What it comes down to is, it is what it is. Even the trimmed legnth of cases can only "accuratly" be established by checking "that" particular gun.
Each make and bullet weight is unique unto itself. A proper seating depth/coal, needs to be established for all of them in "that" gun.
Examples taken from manuals should be considered ball park.
Same argument could be applied to other things taken from references also.

FWIW I have found Sierras to shoot better than Hornadys in the 4 CBI barrels I've owned. No idea why.