.223 OAL question

[Historian]

I know the book says that most .223 rounds should have an OAL of around 2.250". When I set mine there, the bullet is resting about .1" on the lands. Is this OK or should I be setting them deeper? I am shooting a Bushmaster Varminter using 55g V-max flat base ballistic bullets. Thanks for the input.

Historian

 

[rcmodel]

Seems odd that Bushmaster would chamber with that short a leade?

Anyway, I would not like to have them pre-engraving the lands, thats for sure.

It will raise pressure, and if you are near max, it could be enough to cause problems.

I'd seat them off the lands and let the OAL take care of itself if it was me.

 

[Win52D]

I reload my .223 about .02" off the lands. As rcmodel says engraving the bullet on the lands can lead to overpressure at max loads. I've been getting groups around 1" with several starting to dip down to .3"-.5" so it seems to be ok for accuracy

 

[benzy2]

.1 jam is a LOT. I would load to just touching, and then every .005" in and out until you find what shoots the best. I wouldn't go any farther than like .030" jam. Watch for pressure at all stages. Most of my rifles like around .010-.020" jump so thats where I end with most of my bullets. It all depends on what your rifle likes but .1 would scare me.

 

[Historian]

I goofed on the decimal point. Distance on lands should have been.024. I am now seating bullets at 2.230" OAL. I am going to try seating them at 2.220 and 2.210 and see if that improves accuracy. Thanks for help guys.

Historian

 

[agd1953]

I have a bushmaster varminter as well. I had the same problem and had to load an OAL at less then 2.50 as the bullet would stick in the rifleing and pull out on extraction. I use 24.5 of varget pushing the 55 gr v-max and get three shots at 100 yds that a dime will cover.

 

[Larry E]

I wouldn't want to be having the rifle's bolt finish bullet seating on an auto-loader unless you're big on slam fires. My Bushmaster Predator with bullets seated to feed through the magazine isn't engraving them with the rifling. I seat bullets for this rifle short enough so that they feed reliably from the magazine. HP bullets especially can vary quite a bit in length when seated, 0.010"-0.020" easily.

 

[matrem]

Are you sure you're "reading everything " correctly??
Can't imagine that your magazine is not the limiting factor!!(approx 2.26?)
2.252-2.257 have generally been my most accurate / functional OALs in ARs.