Ned Ludd
Silver $$ Contributor
I've used a carbon cleaning rod with no jag screwed in to push bullets out in the Hornady OAL gauge for going on 15 years. It works just fine. Likewise, a wooden dowel rod of the correct diameter and sufficient length should also work just fine. In fact, the use of a cleaning rod or dowel rod to ease the bullet out of the chamber can also be used to help assess whether the Hornady OAL gauge itself is being used correctly.
When trying to measure "touching", if the bullet is pushed so hard into the chamber with the little plastic stick of the OAL gauge that the bullet actually sticks in the throat and the cleaning rod (or wooden dowel rod) needs a hard push and/or tapping to dislodge it backwards, then that measurement wouldn't have been worth anything anyhow because the bullet was likely jammed at least .005" to .010" into the lands, maybe more. "Touching" means touching, not jammed into the lands. If one can feel resistance when pushing the bullet out with the cleaning rod/wooden dowel rod, then it was likely pushed into the lands past "touching". The feel of pushing out a bullet that has been properly seated to "touching" with the Hornady OAL gauge is part of the process of learning to use the tool correctly and provides important feedback.
When trying to measure "touching", if the bullet is pushed so hard into the chamber with the little plastic stick of the OAL gauge that the bullet actually sticks in the throat and the cleaning rod (or wooden dowel rod) needs a hard push and/or tapping to dislodge it backwards, then that measurement wouldn't have been worth anything anyhow because the bullet was likely jammed at least .005" to .010" into the lands, maybe more. "Touching" means touching, not jammed into the lands. If one can feel resistance when pushing the bullet out with the cleaning rod/wooden dowel rod, then it was likely pushed into the lands past "touching". The feel of pushing out a bullet that has been properly seated to "touching" with the Hornady OAL gauge is part of the process of learning to use the tool correctly and provides important feedback.
