I gave my son a 12FV in 223 last year for X-mas. It was his first experience shooting and pretty soon he was making tiny groups with 53 gr V-Max and IMR3031. I (we) don't FL size our 223 brass, neck size only using Lee Ultimate dies that produce <.002 runout, and almost never have to trim. Can't ask for much more.
As I read it, you may not have the tools you need to measure your OAL, base to ogive? If not, you probably want to get those right away, and I'm going to tell you how to make a dummy bullet to find the lands. Important, as you may know, if you want to seat to a particular distance off or into the lands while developing a load.
What you'll need: A fire formed brass from your new gun that fits fairly tight. If you put a piece of Scotch tape on the head and the bolt closes with effort, that is about right.
You'll also need a 7/64 drill and tap for 6-32, and a section of 3 piece cleaning rod, the type Hoppes sells in all the stores.
To start, clean your barrel good, including throat and chamber.
Drill and tap the flash hole in your cartridge. Install it on the section of cleaning rod and slide it into the chamber, with the bolt out obviously. Check the fit. Spin it around, and make sure it doesn't drag on anything. If it does, find out why and correct.
Neck size the brass and seat the bullet you want to measure, but seat it a bit long. Measure the base to ogive and record it.
Install the brass with bullet onto the cleaning rod, and slide it into the chamber with a firm push as the shoulder makes contact. Now extract it. You should be feeling resistance, and tendency to stick if the bullet is stuck in the lands.
Go back and seat the bullet a bit deeper, maybe .005 and repeat the process until you feel no stickiness as you try to extract the cartridge. That is your basic touching lands dimension. Record that number, and you may also use a sharpie to mark the brass with date, gun, bullet and dimension. Keep that cartridge for reference. Your base measurement will grow as the throat erodes. If you're chasing the lands, you'll be making this measurement fairly often, including when you buy a new batch of bullets or a different lot number.
If your issue is that factory ammo with longer bullets like 69 gr SMK are sticking with attendant bolt closure problems, you might just shoot the lighter bullets until the throat has eroded a bit. But if you're hand loading, you'll need to be able to make this measurement often and accurately.
That little 53 V-Max will bust 4 inch clays one after the other at 500 yds and will go to 750 pretty reliably too. Not bad for a cheap, entry level gun, IMOP.
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