Hunting Washington Forum

Equipment & Gear => Guns and Ammo => Topic started by: Wetwoodshunter on August 04, 2018, 08:27:48 PM

Title: Cartridge length question
Post by: Wetwoodshunter on August 04, 2018, 08:27:48 PM: How close are your reloads to S.A.A.M.I spec?

I just made a load progression for 168gr Long range accubond for my 7mm mag, reloader 22 (62,63,64gr). I cheated and fitted the bullet in my chamber and then shortened its length by .02" from the lands to start the progression. My OAL ended up being 3.380" S.A.A.M.I spec was 3.290"

Curious to see how your guns vary. My gun is a full custom Rem 700.
Title: Re: Cartridge length question
Post by: Magnum_Willys on August 04, 2018, 09:14:57 PM: Make em as long as you can and still fit in magazine and extract ok. I don't know of any reloaders that have any care what the sammi spec is.
Title: Re: Cartridge length question
Post by: Biggerhammer on August 04, 2018, 09:20:53 PM: If it’s a “Full Custom” then SAAMI doesn’t matter. Get yourself a Hornady O.A.L gauge. Kiss the bullet then back off from there.
Title: Re: Cartridge length question
Post by: Oh Mah on August 05, 2018, 12:50:39 AM: As stated above use the Hornady gauge,get that measurement then measure your magazine length.if max o.a.l is longer in chamber than in magazine go about .03 short of magazine and that will be as good as you can get unless you get custom mag work done or plan on load one in chamber shoot then repeat.If mag well is longer then i start at around .03 off the lands,Then i put it on the lands if better on then off the .03 go back to on and done if better off the .03 gradually move farther off until you find accuracy falling. :twocents: :tup: Most off the shelf rifle chambers are a bit over .150 longer than sammi.
Title: Re: Cartridge length question
Post by: jasnt on August 05, 2018, 05:58:17 AM: Saami specs are for loading rounds that should work in any rifle. You loading custom loads for your rifle. Never had one close to spec fwiw
Title: Re: Cartridge length question
Post by: Wetwoodshunter on August 06, 2018, 09:10:03 AM: I had the chance to get out and shoot yesterday. I had a clear winner with the rounds that I loaded. I shot a .75" group, 2 in a clover and one I think I pulled a little, with the 168 gr. LR-Nosler Accubond, over 63 grains of reloader 22 from the bench.

I think from here I'm going to load up another 40 rounds and stretch it out from 100 - 700 yards on steel and make a dope chart for my hunts.

Caribou and wolf in AK is only 20 days away!
Title: Re: Cartridge length question
Post by: dmoua on August 06, 2018, 09:58:53 PM: I would load another 10 to verify first before loading 40 but that's just me.
Title: Re: Cartridge length question
Post by: j_h_nimrod on August 06, 2018, 10:09:49 PM: Quote from: dmoua on August 06, 2018, 09:58:53 PM
I would load another 10 to verify first before loading 40 but that's just me.
:yeah:

Quote from: Wetwoodshunter on August 06, 2018, 09:10:03 AM
I had the chance to get out and shoot yesterday. I had a clear winner with the rounds that I loaded. I shot a .75" group, 2 in a clover and one I think I pulled a little, with the 168 gr. LR-Nosler Accubond, over 63 grains of reloader 22 from the bench.

I think from here I'm going to load up another 40 rounds and stretch it out from 100 - 700 yards on steel and make a dope chart for my hunts.

Caribou and wolf in AK is only 20 days away!

I have a .257 Wby. that did the same thing with Re22, and then the next day with different conditions was all over the place. I have no confidence in Reloader 22 for that gun any longer, but other powders shoot consistently so I know it is not me or the gun.

For a hunt of this type I would certainly make sure my loads shot well in all conditions.
Title: Re: Cartridge length question
Post by: blackpowderhunter on August 07, 2018, 08:35:13 AM: when doing a load with the 190 ABLR in my wby i started with the longest i could get to fit in the mag and cycle, didn't even reference saami specs for OAL.
Title: Re: Cartridge length question
Post by: Wetwoodshunter on August 07, 2018, 08:36:19 AM: I loaded 25 up last night, I'm going to go out and shoot again. Problem is, its 60 degrees here and will be about 40 degrees on my hunt. I do have some H1000 and IMR 4831 I could make a load with.

I had never heard anything bad about Reloader 22 before.
Title: Re: Cartridge length question
Post by: jasnt on August 07, 2018, 10:04:43 AM: I have seen re22 be temp sensitive but nothing like re17. I dout you’ll be out of your nose with 20f change. I have had much better results with h1000 than re22 in my rifles.
Could always refrigerate your test loads and keep them in a cooler on the way to the range
Title: Re: Cartridge length question
Post by: Wetwoodshunter on August 07, 2018, 10:07:31 AM: Great idea Janst, my office is about 10 minutes from the range so I will throw some loads in my mini fridge and try them out on my lunch break this week.
Title: Re: Cartridge length question
Post by: jasnt on August 07, 2018, 10:17:39 AM: :tup: