Extra long .308 C.O.A.L.?

Why do you think the headspace is off? From what you said it just sounds like the chamber was cut with a slightly long throat... One of my .308s won't touch the lands with a 168 hpbt until OAL hits 2.880... Doesn't have anything to do with the headspace. I usually measure my OAL to touching the lands with a given bullet, then start working up loads 20 - 30 thousandths off. If you can get about that distance off the lands and still fit the magazine, that's where I'd start, if not start at magazine length.

Cartridge OAL

Greetings. Headspace has nothing to do with the overall length of a loaded round. The OAL is used to determine if the round will fit into the magazine or not. The throat on my Ruger M77 in .308 is so long that I cannot seat a 175 grain bullet out to touch the lands. So, I seat it one bullet diameter into the case and get on with the day. Best of luck. DennyMac

My COAL in my savage 11 in .308 is 2.90 with 168 gr VLD Bergers. The rifle has eaten about 150 of them with no issues.

There's no spec on how much of the bullet needs to be in the case neck. That old "one caliber deep" standard is not cast in concrete. Whatever works best for functioning, handing, safety and accuracy is all that matters. Only cartridge overall length has a SAAMI spec so the .308 Win round will fit in magazines for it.

Some people have seated 250-grain match bullets only about 1/8th inch in a .308 Win case then chambered the rounds in a chamber with an extra long freebore (part of the bore in front of the chamber/case mouth but that's free of rifling).

While there is a SAAMI spec for the chamber throat angle and dimension, all people chambering barrels for the .308 Win don't follow it exactly; there's no mandate for that.

And the throat erodes away about .001" for every 3 to 4 dozen shots anyway.

Headspacing deals only with the distance from the datum point to the case head. Not a lot to do with OAL (seating depth) which will vary with each bullet design.

You don't indicate what rifle this is, maybe an old military rifle? If you have reasonable evidence to suggest a head space oroplem, it might be best to have a smith check it with go, no go's to put your concerns to rest.

Head space concerns aside, with your situation, I would try different powders and bullets, charges until you find what it likes.

How does it do with factory ammo, better, worse than with your reloads?

What are some of the specifics of the powders and charges your testing? Some rigs can be fairly picky, others seem to shoot pretty well with anything you feed them.

GS

Headspace and COAL are two different measurements altogether. Headspace is a measurement of the chamber of your rifle, COAL is a measurement is the length of the cartridge from the base of the case to the tip of the bullet or from the ogive of the bullet, depending on the method you use to measure. Search the forum for threads showing the difference between the two.

2.84 is definitely not "long"; you're tighter than typical factory.