Freebore is not the same as leade/throat.
Freebore is not the same as leade/throat.
The Dunning-Kruger effect is alive and well.
Call it what you want, if you can't reach the lands from the start, what are you going to do after 75,100 or 150 rounds fired???
And you may be surprised at how fast the throat/lands move forward.
Go short. You can always go longer.
Go long and you'll need a re chamber to reach the lands.
Plan ahead.
Oz never gave nothing to the Tin Man, that he didn't already have.
I subscribe to that philosophy also. I had Manson build my 6.5 Creedmoor reamer with a .169 free bore. I can fit just about any bullet in a 2.8 mag, it will creep out longer all on its own.
Having said all that, the most consistent rifle in my collection has a chamber that I cannot get within .200 of the lands when loaded at magazine length. It just doesn’t care, the hole on the target just gets bigger. Lots of different barrel juju out there
Take the shortest bullet you will shoot. Seat the bullet so the bearing surface is just seated to the base of the neck. That is what you want roughly for oal of a round when bullet is touching the lands, unless you had a magazine to shorten that. You want your bullet seated to this position when it is touching the lands. In the end, you may jam it or seat as far back as 0.1” off, but normally I find 0.02-0.03” works pretty well. I won’t jam a hunting load.
Also, measure the OD of the loaded neck. Ideally, your chamber neck will be 0.001-0.005” bigger than your loaded round....if you won’t use the same brass and it’s neck thickness varies....like Win brass, you will want to start at plus 0.003”.
Find a gunsmith who is talking your language.....talk about your reloading plan, neck diameters and how you want freebore set to a loaded round sample. If that goes well, likely you will get what you want.
The warning signs are “you dont need that”, “I don’t have that”, “that’s not what the experts use”....guys that have what you want are saying I have these options, I’ve done this before, I can do that, what about this.... Of course, you should listen for sound logic and consider changing your plan, but...
Thanks for all the responses, guys. Considering my application and use, I'm going to stick with SAAMI spec. Will likely be ordering a barrel today, later.
Dave
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