oal of 308

[shepheard]

I am new to rifle loading and am in the process of loading for 308. The gun is a savage 10fcp.I lightly set a Sierra 168bthp in a case and cycled the action to see the max length. After 2 times my dummy round measured 2.814 oal. With my comperator it was 2.225. The max oal listed for this round is 2.810. Can it be that max oal is only .004 less than lands in my barrel.

 

[2506]

Yes to your question. Different rifles have different throat lengths. The OAL listed in loading books are given to tell you that at that length the pressure was within the safe limits. These OAL also are those common that will work through the magazine of most rifles. You will need to experiment with seating depth to see what your barrel likes. I would start at ten thousands off the lands and do a ladder test with the powder at .5 gr intervals and find your most accurate load. I would try different primers also to get the most accurate powder load. Then I would try a few different seating depths. Sierra bullets like to jump a bit to shoot best. Also, if you are going to use a magazine make sure your rounds OAL will work through the magazine. One thing to keep in mind. I know that people find with some bullets that they shoot best jammed into the lands a bit, but if you jam a bullet into the lands and have to remove that round like you would hunting etc. most often the bullet is going to stick in the barrel and dump all the powder into your action. I found out the hard way about seating bullets too close to the lands in a hunting rifle. I was shooting the bullet what I thought was 2 thousands off the lands in a rifle I was deer hunting with. I got a different lot of the same bullets and did not measure the O-give. I just loaded up the bullets as usual and went hunting. When I got into my tree stand I loaded my rifle and after not seeing any deer that morning I decided to go shake a leg if you know what I mean. When I opened the bolt to remove the round so I could climb down out of the tree with an empty chamber the bullet stuck in the barrel and the powder dumped into the action. The O-give on the bullet was different and longer. I did not have a cleaning rod with me but I did have a coat hanger in the truck. I started walking out to the truck to see if I could get the hanger wire to pop the bullet loose. And you have probably guessed what happens next because it always happens this way. Yep, that big old buck stepped right into the logging road as I was walking to the truck and here I am with a fouled rifle. I did get the bullet out with the coat hanger wire thank goodness I had my short barreled 21 1/2 inch 308. I never did see that buck again. Now I shoot my bullets for hunting at least 10 thousands off and some of my rifles like it even much further off. So experiment with it. Good luck.