OAL question for reloading .308 ammo

[rkb321]

I recently bought a Stoney Point OAL gauge to measure my Remington 700 VSF
.308. I measured five or six times and got an average of 2.960 to the lands which if i take that measurement back .020, I get 2.940 . My question is all the specs I've seen say that 2.800 is the max length the round should be, so can I load to the 2.940 or not?

P.S. I've only been loading six months and need some experienced advice.
Thanks for any help guys!

 

[Jim Watson]

2.80" is to be sure it goes in the magazine. If you are shooting single shot, close to the rifling is usually better. But will an OAL of 2.94" leave you with enough bullet in the case neck to hold things together? Recent Remingtons typically have those long throats and usually shoot pretty well with standard length cartridges.

 

[kennedy]

I also am reloading for .308 for my rem 700, so far I have loaded to the 2.8, but now have some at 2.84 which I hope to try this weekend, my mag measures 2.84 so I will be shooting these single shot.

 

[USSR]

rkb321,

Welcome to the world of LONG Remington throats. Set your OAL to as long as your magazine will feed. Although most of the reloading manuals list an OAL of 2.80", there is no rule that you must do so, and most experienced reloaders typically load them longer.

Don

 

[rkb321]

Thanks for the reply, I loaded a dummy round and it seemed to hold together okay but any longer and i don't think it would work. I loaded a 175 gr. SMK HPBT and the bolt closed fine at that length and did'nt seem to leave any markings on the ogive of the bullet. The rifle only has about 300 rounds run through it so the rifling sould'nt be wore down much at all. Does that sound typical of this gun to have that much length?

Thanks again

 

[rkb321]

Thanks for the reply Don. I load single shot for benchrest shooting so it sounds like I sould go with 2.94 unless I have problems with the round. I hav'nt loaded the round yet and tried it , do you anticipate any problems with going forward with it?

Thanks

 

[USSR]

Forget about 2.94". That won't leave enough of the bullet in the neck. You want to leave atleast .300" of the full caliber part of the bullet in the neck (you can't count the boattail). If you go beyond 2.84", then there will be little of the bullet supported by the neck. You've got a factory Remington; live with it or rebarrel it.

Don

 

[Ol` Joe]

Different bullets have different nose geometry. You don`t say what bullet you measured but a Speer or Sierra spitzer will have the bearing point of the ogive farther forward then a Hornady spire point and may be closer to the lands at 2.8 then the others. Nosler BTs or Hornady SST/A max are worst yet.
I agree with the other posts to keep the COL at 2.8, just keep in mind the distance to the leade changes with each brand/style bullet you use.

 

[tjj]

Rem 700 long throat is right.

I don't have one or those fancy dan throat measuring thingys and I didn't sleep at the Holiday Inn Express but I do own a nice home machine shop full of goodies so I managed to mic the throat on my new Rem 700SS 5R and come out with the same disappointing 2.960" casing OAL to touch rifling.

I did try some rounds last Sunday pulled out to 2.900 and they didn't shoot any better than standard 2.800 length rounds. My last shoot on Wednesday I shot some various loads at 2.875 and they seem to do ok. Best 5 shot group at 100yds was 0.311 with 41 gn RL15 and 168 SMK, Lapua new case (not even fire formed yet). Had two other sub half MOA groups at 42gn and same OAL.
When I load up some hunting rounds I will revert back to around 2.840 OAL since the mag box measures 2.850.

Of course, I had talked to someone at Remington before I bought my rifle and he said it was no special chamber on the 5R so I didn't really expect any better. Just hoping.
Its because of the lawyers and sue happy dumbasses that we have to live with these concessions. Same reason they don't sell actions for custom builds.:banghead:

 

[[email protected]]

OAL

Your OAL depends on which type of bullet you are using, IE: round nose , spire point. Its trhe ogive which tells you the OAL. Plus the cartridge must fit and feed from your magazine.

 

[tjj]

Yup, ogive measure is the most accurate way to measure optimal seating depth. With commercial chamber depths it don't matter much. You ain't getting close to the rifling anyway. Just load to magazine length or standard spec is all you can do for everyday hunting applications where you need the magazine. I don't use the mag normally so I pull them out a little longer and single feed like the BR folks do. I mainly just shoot at printed paper on a backboard. I try not to get anal about tighter groups but I cross the line at times.

 

[birdbustr]

I do the same thing that USSR does. I start at the max OAL that the magazine will allow. If I'm not satisfied with the accuracy, I'll decrease the OAL by .05 or so until it's right. I don't have anything to gauge pressure, but it appears from what I have seen that the longer the OAL is the lower the pressure. The only rifle I reload for that is not the max OAL is my M-4. My other rifles seem to be the longer the better.