I recently bought a Criterion 260 Rem "Match" barrel form Jim at NSS. The "Match" version has additional freebore for the 140gr bullets--0.160" vs 0.118" for the standard reamer.

When I got the barrel the first thing I did was check the max seating depth with the Hornady 140gr SST I'm loading. I was surprised to see that the bullet jammed at a COAL of 2.830" just at the bottom edge of the cannelure. My Savage 10 (centerfeed, blind mag) box will allow 2.960" which is great, but not if I can't use all that length.

I loaded a 25 round ladder of 7828ssc at a COAL of 2.810". The Hodgdon manual lists a compressed max load of 47gr. I started at 43gr which was already compressed so i only went as high as 44gr. I started breaking in while putting 5-shot groups on paper. Accuracy was okay but nothing special with all the groups in the 1.5"-2" range.

I really thought something wasn't right with the barrel so I cast the chamber and noticed that there were two lands on the cast that seemed to extend down into the freebore. I thought perhaps the throat was off center and causing the bullet to jam early.

I contacted Jim and he put me in touch with Steve Dahlke at Criterion. I talked to Steve on the phone and explained the issue. He had me send in the barrel for inspection.

Today I heard back from Josh at Criterion that there is no problem with the barrel. They repeated my measurements with a Stoney Point gauge and confirmed a max COAL of 2.830" with the bullet I sent them.

So here is my question for anyone out there with a Criterion 260 barrel (standard or "match") loading 140gr bullets--does that sound reasonable to you?

I really thought that 0.160" of freebore would at least get me to mag length. If this is true then the standard chamber with 0.118" freebore would have a max COAL of just 2.788". At that length the SST's cannelure is fully INSIDE the case neck. I'm still not convinced that this is normal.

Anyone loading the 140gr SST in a Criterion barrel--match or otherwise? What COAL are you getting?