[hcore44]

I picked up some 168gr Golden West .308 bullets for a steal. Heres my dilema, Data in my manuals states the 168gr should be seated at 2.8OAL but the canilure on the bullet seats it at about 2.75 even when Im on the very bottom of it. Should I be seating these to crimp right on the cannilure or to the OAL listed in the books? I cant seem to find any Data for these bullets in particular. Thanks for any help.

[Jim Watson]

Are you shooting an autoloader that you are worried about setting the bullets back?
If so, seat so as to crimp into the middle of the cannelure or a bit forward of that.
If not, why crimp at all? Seat as long as the chamber throat or magazine will allow, whichever is shorter.

[Edward429451]

Seat on the cannelure and work it up slow is what I do. Especially if your using a box magazine gun. If you're using a bolt or a single shot you could use a factory crimp die and seat to where you wish, or no crimp

.224's are nortorious for having the cannelure in any old place they want that day it seems. Every new batch of bullets has to be rechecked for depth and charge tweaked appropriately. The closer you get to max, the more important it is to be more critical about it.

[NavajoNPaleFace]

With modern firearms you don't need to seat directly on the cannelure.

In fact, if you think about it, when you use different powder types the OAL (overall length) will fluctuate enough that seating on a cannelure is not always possible if you stay within the specified data/safety range.

In short, with faster burning powders seating the cannelure may well put you in dangerously high pressure perameters. So, if you insist on seating the bullet at the cannelure make sure the OAL does not contradict the published safety data. Please.

[hcore44]

I am shooting these in a rebarreled mauser but I am using the lee factory crimp die because it is supposed to give a more uniform release/grip on the bullet. I might also use them in a FAL but would load differently for that. Im going to experiment with these bullets a bit and seat them further out for the bolt action. thanks for the imput so far

[30Cal]

In general, The closer to the lands that you seat them, the better they'll fly. As for crimping, I generally don't except in a handful of rifles that seem to be sensitive to it. I mostly shoot match bullets which have a thin jacket, so crimping would arguably be bad.

Ty

[Sheldon]

I've got some of them bullets too. Let us know how they shoot.....I still haven't loaded any up yet.

[Edward429451]

Ok, I'm sorta new to reloading rifle cartridges at least as compared to handguns, and can tell by the other responses, that I still have some to learn. That said...

With modern firearms you don't need to seat directly on the cannelure.

Could you expound on this a little, please? Why not? My rifle riounds are almost exclusivly for box magazine guns, and I figured crimp em so no bullet jump under recoil. I also reduce charge when using a new batch of powder or bullets for safety. I must be missing something here.

I do not compete so the lions share of my rounds are not built for the last nth of accuracy, but rather, general purpose use, mag tolerant length, and durability with no chance of setback or jump. THX.

[Sheldon]

I load for my AR15 and M1A and most of the match bullets made do not have cannulars and I have not had a problem with them in those two rifles. If I were to buy bullets with cannulars and I found the OAL I was trying to seat them to was outside the cannular, I would not worry about it.

[Jaywalker]

Ed,

The cannelure is where you can put a crimp, as the others have mentioned, if you want it or need it. It's main purpose, along with the crimp, is to keep the bullet in place against recoil which pushes the rifle backwards while leaving the cartridge in place to have its bullet nose hammered against the front of the magazine box. Deformation and shifting backwards in the neck are issues here.

I don't bother with it with my mid-caliber bolt rifles, even with bullets that have cannelures. In fact, I'd submit that unless you have a real reason to do it, you're better off not. Accuracy is affected very highly by the amount the bullet has to jump to the lands of the barrel. I wouldn't go so far as to assume that all sporting rifles' accuracy is improved by seating closer to the lands, but it is certainbly affected by it. I start at .030 (measured by a Stoney Point OAL Gauge and Bullet Comparator) and move out and in in 0.005 increments until I'm satisfied. Barnes, for example, recommends .030 to .070, but each rifle chamber reacts differently.

Jaywalker

[Edward429451]

Thats good info. I've been crimping everything for my AR and my M1A. I figured you had to crimp unless it was for a bolt or a single shot. Maybe thats why my MK loads weren't significantly better than the standard bullets.

Guess I'll take my calipers to the range and see what happens with no crimp. Both these rifles do ok but neither are doing quite what I think they should be doing. I think 1-1/2" is realistic and I'm getting around 3" right now cept for ine load which is a little better.

[30Cal]

Very few match shooters (bolt gunners and gas gunners) crimp their bullets.

I don't think there's anyone that's seen that MK bullets are more accurate than non-MK. The main benefit is that the barrel fouls less and cleaning is easier.

If the M1A isn't match conditioned (glass bedded, unitized gas system and other standard mods), then 1.5MoA isn't realistic. Looking at the standard and loaded models, you've got an action dropped into a mass produced stock and a barrel that probably has several rattling components hanging off of it. Some folks do get lucky just because they've got nice tight fitting components.