Newer handloader needs oal advice

I'm reloading for an almost new savage 12bvss in 22-250. I've only been reloading a few months so this may seem like common sense to alot of you but I just want to do some double checking. I just picked up some berger 64 grain hollow points that I want to try out. Thought before I started loading these I wanted to check the true OAL for my chamber. Up until this point I have just been using the 2.350 standard and have had decent success but trying to learn and improve accuracy. Anyhow I used the method in the nosler reloading manual of painting a bullet with a sharpie, starting it into a once fired case from this gun that has not been sized, closing the bolt down on it to shove the bullet in the case, and pulling it back out to measure OAL to the lands. By using the marker you can tell if it stuck and pulled the bullet out of the case some so you can push it back in for an accurate measurement. First off does this procedure sound correct? Secondly the measurement I got was 2.518. Even when pushed back in another .020 to get the bullet outta the lands that would make it 2.498. That's a lot longer than the 2.350 standard. Is that normal? Just surprised me I was finding so much difference between the standard and my chamber. One last thing will having an OAL of 2.498 cause issues will the bullet not being seated far enough into the case? Thank you!

That all sounds correct and good to me. First, you gotta understand different bullets are contoured differently so that the tip can extend the bullet deeper into the chamber before the side of the bullet ever touch the grooves. For those bullets, the OAL will be longer than it would be for a short, fat, stubby bullet that does not have a tip that extends much further in front of where the bullet hits the lands. Also, the only point to the whole concept of OAL is whether the cartridge will fit in a magazine. It has nothing to do with how it will function once you get it into the action or chamber it. If you never use your magazine, you would have no reason whatsoever to measure OAL. What you will want to measure is the length from the base of the cartridge to the OGIVE of the bullet. The ogive is the front-most part of the bullet that will first touch the lands of the barrel if allowed to do so. That is also the part of the bullet you should be measuring from to determine accurate seating depth anyhow, because tips can be deformed and give you a false or inaccurate indication of the bullet's seating depth anyhow. There are tools for measuring from the ogive, any serious handloader will use them, and should be able to tell what they're called, but I can't seem to do so at the moment! :)

Thank you very much! I do not have a tool right now to do that but may be worth looking into. And yes I made a dummy round and checked it and it does cycle out of my magazine fine. I will be using the magazine as this is primarily a hunting rifle

The tool FOXX is referring to is Hornady LNL bullet comparator. It attaches to your caliper and can be purchased with a variety of inserts for various calibers. Forget the anvil base it's pretty much useless. It's THE most widely used tool for determining seating depth. I've found that scuffing a bullet with 0000 steel wool(or comparable), just enough to knock the shine off, will give you a nice shiny imprint of the lands that's easier to read and more accurate than a sharpie. Bullets vary in OAL so use the SAME bullet for 10 readings of seating depth. Otherwise the bullet has a tendency to stick in the lands giving you erratic readings. Particularly on relatively new factory bbls. A light smear of sizing lube at the ogive will aid in seating depth consistency readings.......... How are you tensioning the neck for the seating depth test?? Have you heard of the split neck method? Dale

The old school way to measure your OAL to the lands in your rifle, without tools:

First start with a sized piece of brass that easily chambers in your rifle. Then seat the desired bullet on the empty case to make a "dummy" round. Seat this bullet deliberately too long, so that it does NOT chamber. Now progressively and slowly seat the bullet a little deeper each "try", and then try to chamber that dummy round in your gun. Keep turning the seating die down until you can "just feel" the bolt go closed with no resistance. It takes a bit of practice to get "the feel" of it, but that's how we did it before tools such as the Stoney Point (now Hornady-same tool) came out.

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Originally Posted by gotcha

The tool FOXX is referring to is Hornady LNL bullet comparator. It attaches to your caliper and can be purchased with a variety of inserts for various calibers. Forget the anvil base it's pretty much useless. It's THE most widely used tool for determining seating depth. I've found that scuffing a bullet with 0000 steel wool(or comparable), just enough to knock the shine off, will give you a nice shiny imprint of the lands that's easier to read and more accurate than a sharpie. Bullets vary in OAL so use the SAME bullet for 10 readings of seating depth. Otherwise the bullet has a tendency to stick in the lands giving you erratic readings. Particularly on relatively new factory bbls. A light smear of sizing lube at the ogive will aid in seating depth consistency readings.......... How are you tensioning the neck for the seating depth test?? Have you heard of the split neck method? Dale

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I just tapped the neck of the case a little on a hard surface. It created enough tension it completely wiped the sharpie off as far as the bullet seated. That way it the bullet stuck in the lands a little and pulled it out some I could see where it had been pushed to. Was able to push the bullet back in to the edge of where the sharpie had been wiped off and use the calipers for an overall length measurement. It's actually the method printed in the newest nosler reloading manual. I have never heard of the split neck method. And I did some looking and hornady seems to make some very nice tools for this sort of thing. May be worth looking into getting those.

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Originally Posted by yotehtr1

I just tapped the neck of the case a little on a hard surface. It created enough tension it completely wiped the sharpie off as far as the bullet seated. That way it the bullet stuck in the lands a little and pulled it out some I could see where it had been pushed to. Was able to push the bullet back in to the edge of where the sharpie had been wiped off and use the calipers for an overall length measurement. It's actually the method printed in the newest nosler reloading manual. I have never heard of the split neck method. And I did some looking and hornady seems to make some very nice tools for this sort of thing. May be worth looking into getting those.

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Nothing against the Hornady system but I use a split neck and the Sinclair seating depth tool. The Hornady system can get real expensive and I found that I got much more repeatable results with the Sinclair tool.

I do it by taking a fired case and sizing just the outer lip of the case mouth, providing just the right amount of tension that the bullet can be pushed in and pulled out by hand. I then seat the bullet long in the case and gently push it into the chamber with my finger, then gently close the bolt on it. Slowly and gently open the bolt, and catch the case with your finger to keep it from flying on the floor, pushing the bullet further into the case. I only have one barrel where the lands are so sharp that the bullet could get grabbed, and that is a break action rifle, but I can still get this method to work. Smoking or inking the bullet just satisfies my curiosity as to where on the bullet is touching the lands.

The various tools available are nice to have, but this method is very inexpensive and effective, leaving money for more important priorities! ;-))

Good Luck-Good Loading........Jim

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Originally Posted by FW Conch

I do it by taking a fired case and sizing just the outer lip of the case mouth, providing just the right amount of tension that the bullet can be pushed in and pulled out by hand. I then seat the bullet long in the case and gently push it into the chamber with my finger, then gently close the bolt on it. Slowly and gently open the bolt, and catch the case with your finger to keep it from flying on the floor, pushing the bullet further into the case. I only have one barrel where the lands are so sharp that the bullet could get grabbed, and that is a break action rifle, but I can still get this method to work. Smoking or inking the bullet just satisfies my curiosity as to where on the bullet is touching the lands.

The various tools available are nice to have, but this method is very inexpensive and effective, leaving money for more important priorities! ;-))

Good Luck-Good Loading........Jim

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Thanks! Sounds like I was in the right ballpark