Hornady .348 Win. cannelure

[45crittergitter]

Letter I sent to Hornady:

July 27, 2004

Hornady Manufacturing Co.
Box 1848
Grand Island, NE 68802-1848

Re: Misplaced .348 Cannelure

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen:

I recently began loading for my new Browning Model 71 in .348 Winchester (I am an experienced reloader). I am using a load from your fifth edition reloading manual, with your 200 grain FP Interlock bullet #3410, two boxes of Lot #03-448. According to the manual, your overall length for this load is 2.830,†but the SAAMI maximum length is 2.795.†I seated mine to the cannelure and crimped them there, resulting in a length of 2.816.†The brass is within the SAAMI maximum length. This length cartridge WILL NOT cycle through the Model 71 action due to the length, resulting in a jammed rifle. I can’t imagine how you made your even longer cartridge work. To get the cartridges to work, I had to remove the crimp and seat the bullets deeper than the cannelure, resulting in a length of 2.791,†and the cannelure was hidden completely inside the case. It seems obvious to me that the cannelure is located too low on these bullets.

Sincerely,

 

[win71]

348

Something is wrong here. I have a 348 win 71. I bought Hornady #3410 lot # 10-16578 sometime in 1980 or 1981. I just now seated one in a once fired win. factory case. The case length was 2.250. The C.O.L. was 2.795 and that was crimped so you could just see the top of the cannelure groove. I then checked my Hornady Reloading Manual fifth edition and it says the C.O.L. should be 2.795. I checked Ken Waters "Pet Loads and he lists the max C.O.L. for all of his loads at 2.800, and the shortest at 2.710 and just about everything in between. I checked a win. 200 gr silver tip factory load and it was 2.790.

The trim to length in the referenced manual is 2.245. Have you tried that? Just curious,
Ron

 

[45crittergitter]

Thanks for the info and reply.

My cases are also 2.25." (The few I just checked ranged from 2.24-2.25." My Hornady Manual (Fifth Edition) gives the C.O.L. as 2.830" for this bullet (page 457), even though it also states that the C.O.L. for the cartridge is 2.795" (page 456). My bullets' cannelures are about 0.575-0.63" from the nose, depending on tolerances and on which side of the cannelure you measure to. When you load one of these bullets to the cannelure into one of these cases you get: 2.24 + 0.575 = 2.815" (minimum) to 2.25 + 0.63 = 2.88" (maximum). Always too long. I also checked a factory Silvertip at 2.78." It will work in my rifle. I'm pretty sure 2.8" is too long for my Browning, but still, Hornady is listing a load above SAAMI spec, for a cartridge that is only used in Model 71s that require C.O.L. to be met. I think they screwed up the cannelures on my bullets. I don't plan to trim cases that are already within spec to match bullets that aren't within spec. That screws up all the other loads.

 

[win71]

348

Well hello again to you too 45Crittergitter!!

This topic is going down hill fast. You're going to love this. I just pulled out some Barnes 250 gr. FP. I sat one on its nose and a Hornady 200 gr. out of the before mentioned lot right next to it. From the cannelure to the tip the Barnes is visibly longer to the tune of about the width of the cannelure. That would put the Barnes at about the same proportion as your lot of Hornadys. Tomorow I'm going to seat a Barnes and see if it cycles through my mod. 71. I have not loaded any yet.

Ron

 

[45crittergitter]

Hey 71, that's weird, cuz the Barnes 250 gr. Originals I have work fine seated to the cannelure in my Browning 71. It will be a week or so before I'm back online, but I'll try to remember to get some dimensions for you. Here's a little hint/warning: Only load one suspect round in the mag. More than that is a pain to fix when the first one out is too long! :banghead:

 

[45crittergitter]

Turns out, the Hornady cannelures were in fact in the wrong place, and have supposedly been corrected.