WinchesterAA
Member
- Joined
- Mar 9, 2006
- Messages
- 870
Hello!
I managed to find a company called precision reloading that had a lee classic loader in .308 in stock. They shipped Thursday and it arrived today, so I got familiar with the bullet seating process and got my die set in about 20 minutes.
I was able to seat a bullet in my modified case COAL gauge to 2.800" +/- .006" with the 180 grain SGK bullets and 2.81 something inches (better notetaking starts tomorrow) with the 200 grain SMK, both of which fit in the magazine comfortably.
I figured that was good enough for day 1 and made 5 dummy cartridges out of some berdan primed brass I had laying around and the 180 grain SGKs. I forgot to measure the case OAL before doing this, and I have a problem that I think may be related to a case that is too long.
4 out of 5 cartridges can be cycled with just a little bit of force (pretty normal, actually. Maybe just a tiny bit more force than for some of the milsurp rounds I've shot. After cycling, the COAL was the same as before cycling). 1 of the cartridges cannot be cycled at all.
The measurements from various points of case mouth to case head for the 4 that work are between 2.005" and 2.007".
The measurements from various points of case mouth to case head on the cartridge that won't cycle are 2.015" to 2.016".
I did not see any marring on the case or bullet, but I did measure the diameter of the case mouth, shoulder, and body and found that the dimensions are all less than on the other 4.
The only dimension that is greater than the other 4 is the case OAL.
Am I correct in thinking that a case OAL of 2.01~ is capable of preventing the bolt from being able to close?
Also, my COAL tolerance now seems to be around .006". Is that good, and what should I aim for?
I managed to find a company called precision reloading that had a lee classic loader in .308 in stock. They shipped Thursday and it arrived today, so I got familiar with the bullet seating process and got my die set in about 20 minutes.
I was able to seat a bullet in my modified case COAL gauge to 2.800" +/- .006" with the 180 grain SGK bullets and 2.81 something inches (better notetaking starts tomorrow) with the 200 grain SMK, both of which fit in the magazine comfortably.
I figured that was good enough for day 1 and made 5 dummy cartridges out of some berdan primed brass I had laying around and the 180 grain SGKs. I forgot to measure the case OAL before doing this, and I have a problem that I think may be related to a case that is too long.
4 out of 5 cartridges can be cycled with just a little bit of force (pretty normal, actually. Maybe just a tiny bit more force than for some of the milsurp rounds I've shot. After cycling, the COAL was the same as before cycling). 1 of the cartridges cannot be cycled at all.
The measurements from various points of case mouth to case head for the 4 that work are between 2.005" and 2.007".
The measurements from various points of case mouth to case head on the cartridge that won't cycle are 2.015" to 2.016".
I did not see any marring on the case or bullet, but I did measure the diameter of the case mouth, shoulder, and body and found that the dimensions are all less than on the other 4.
The only dimension that is greater than the other 4 is the case OAL.
Am I correct in thinking that a case OAL of 2.01~ is capable of preventing the bolt from being able to close?
Also, my COAL tolerance now seems to be around .006". Is that good, and what should I aim for?