AusVarmint

I was just working out the correct seating depth for some nosler shots by seating them just in from the lands. Just out of curiousity, I checked the max OAL that was listed on the lee dies. My load is 2.400 inch while the max is listed at 2.350. I would of thought that as long as the pill isnt seated right into the lands that pressure would be fine. Is the listed OAL a guidline or should I be seating them back to match it??

Mate its just a ball park figure.

Work with what suits you. As close to the lands as you want, what fits the magazine and or how much proj. is left in the case to be held securely.
cheers,
Shane

all projectiles should have a diff OAL as it is the relation of the ogive to the lands that counts not the length of the point.

just outof curiosity how does everyone measure there OAL for a new projectile ?

Brad

I just seat a projie into an unprimed/resized case and use a whiteboard marker to mark around the ogive where it will touch the lands.
Then chamber the round and carefully remove it without smudging the marker pen and check for land marks on the projie, then seating it deeper or shallower until the land marks just show.
I then measure the seater stem in the dies length with verniers and record this as zero for a reference point. Once done you can tune the seating depth either way till you find the most accurate depth for that projie/powder combination

It's a bit fiddly not smudging the marker pen but seems to work OK. There are a stack of OAL gauges on the market so if you want to spend some dough go for it, they will all do the job. Me.... I am just too tight

cheers
KY

DITTO - What kenny said

Hi

I use a shell that I put a 2 thin cuts down the neck of using a dremel tool. Then I neck size the case and seat the projectile out very long. Put it in the rifle and close the bolt.

The measurement I get here is a soft seated length, and from here can decide if I want to go off or in the lands.

You should try to avoid measuring OAL from the base to the bullet tip, and use a tool like a stoney point comparator to measure from the base to the ogive.

If you measure to the tip you'd be getting different readings from each reloaded round as the tips differ the length. Also, the tip does not touch the lands, butt he ogive does so measuring to it will result in more uniform rounds.

Cheers
AI