New to CBTO Loading & .222 Remington
Posted: 14 Mar 2023 06:11
After diagnosing and overcoming the mechanical issues (*see below) with a Savage 340C in .222 that were causing over-pressure (with OEM and handloaded ammo) and using the Hornady Cartridge Headspace Comparator measuring tool to set my dies to bump the shoulder back enough (** see below), I am at the stage where I need to find the seating depth. I don't have any other centerfire bolt actions and all my rifle and pistol loading has been to book OAL (*** see below).
I sliced a resized case neck with a Dremmel, started a Sharpie colored bullet long, and chambered it using the bolt five times. There are marks from the rifling on the bullet (very small but they're there). I am using the MidwaysUSA bulk version of the Hornady (CLICK HERE TO SEE SIMILAR) 55 grain, V-MAX ballistic tip flat base bullet. That gave me the OAL to the rifling of 2.179". To make it easy and sticking to the 0.003-0.005" jump I settled on 0.004" or an OAL of 2.175". Then I got to worrying because the SAAMI spec is WAY shorter (even Hornady book says so) at 2.130". I also have read that up to 0.020" of jump could be fine. I will not be working up a load. It is not my rifle. I will be trying to find a load that is accurate enough and safe. After buying $100 of tools I don't want to spend more on tools, just want to hear others' experiences.
Yes, the 2.175" OAL fits the magazine and I can take a base to ogive measurement at this OAL to use as comparison to subsequent rounds I load.
* Although the bore and chamber looked clean to the naked eye, results proved I had a significant carbon ring. A thorough (over a week's time) took care of the mechanical portion.
** The brass I was using was previously enjoyed by someone in a different rifle. The vintage dies I had could not get the should back where it needed to be to fit my chamber. I bit the bullet and got a new full set of Lee dies and got the shoulder bumped 0.004".
*** Exceptions are bullets with no load data and I worked up a load for my Ruger P95 that is well over length and therefore over-charged a bit.
I sliced a resized case neck with a Dremmel, started a Sharpie colored bullet long, and chambered it using the bolt five times. There are marks from the rifling on the bullet (very small but they're there). I am using the MidwaysUSA bulk version of the Hornady (CLICK HERE TO SEE SIMILAR) 55 grain, V-MAX ballistic tip flat base bullet. That gave me the OAL to the rifling of 2.179". To make it easy and sticking to the 0.003-0.005" jump I settled on 0.004" or an OAL of 2.175". Then I got to worrying because the SAAMI spec is WAY shorter (even Hornady book says so) at 2.130". I also have read that up to 0.020" of jump could be fine. I will not be working up a load. It is not my rifle. I will be trying to find a load that is accurate enough and safe. After buying $100 of tools I don't want to spend more on tools, just want to hear others' experiences.
Yes, the 2.175" OAL fits the magazine and I can take a base to ogive measurement at this OAL to use as comparison to subsequent rounds I load.
* Although the bore and chamber looked clean to the naked eye, results proved I had a significant carbon ring. A thorough (over a week's time) took care of the mechanical portion.
** The brass I was using was previously enjoyed by someone in a different rifle. The vintage dies I had could not get the should back where it needed to be to fit my chamber. I bit the bullet and got a new full set of Lee dies and got the shoulder bumped 0.004".
*** Exceptions are bullets with no load data and I worked up a load for my Ruger P95 that is well over length and therefore over-charged a bit.