Question OAL 300 win mag

jarheadhunter

jarheadhunter

New member
I am loading up some 185 GR Berger Hunting Hybrids and I am wondering can I just Seat the bullet so it just fits in my magazine?

Or is there a OAL that I should be seating them to?
 
Seating depth is one of the things that effect accuracy. In a hunting rifle, rounds not only have to fit in the magazine, they have to feed well. With the Hybrids the seating depth is not suppose to be as critical as the VLD type.

I'm old school, so I find the lands by seating a bullet long in a unprimed and resized case. I place the rifle in a cradle, chamber the round and try to close the bolt. It won't close, so I gently push the round out with a cleaning rod. Back at the press, I screw the seating stem down a 1/8 turn and seat the bullet deeper in the case. Then back to the rifle to see if the bolt will close. I keep doing this until the bolt will close. I then write on the case, what rifle, what bullet, and this max OAL. I store this dummy round in the box with my dies. For single shot rifles, this is where I start when I work up a new load, just touching the lands. Some of my rifles this dummy round will fit in the magazine with room to spare, other rifles the depth has to be shorter.

What I'm saying is maximum magazine length is not a good way to set OAL, you need to know what the chamber maximum OAL is and work from there.

An E-mail to Berger might be in order, they will give you load info, as well as a suggested seating depth.
 
I want to be able to hold the rounds in my magazine though. I don't want to be limited by one round just to have them the closest to the lands that they can be. So if I want to use my magazine it will not hurt anything to have them longer then what the SAAMI spec for OAL is?

I have sent an email to Berger and have yet to hear anything back.
 
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I think what ninehorses was saying.
Just because it fits the magazine you'll still need to check the chamber. Fitting in the mag is only one step you still need to be sure the round fits the chamber properly. Work up the dummy round so you'll have a test round that shows where the lands are. Just because it fits in the mag it still might be too long and get jammed into the lands. Which is no good for a hunting round.
 
How do you know your mag length is shorter than the max COL the chamber will allow? I like to look over all the possible limitations, then go from there, that would include the magazine limit, max chamber COL to lands, and book listed COL. They do make tools where you can measure the chamber for/with a specific bullet.

To long of a COL for the chamber could cause a bullet to be pulled out while unloading, a pain while hunting. Usually the book listed COL will keep you out of trouble, not always though. I once loaded to book COL in a Hornady manual & had a bullet pull out in a Savage 110, 30-06.
 
Just recieved an email from Berger they say COAL 3.340". Then they say Optimal performance may be achieved in your rifle at a different COAL. I belive when I measured the rounds I loaded they were 3.425". So that is less then 1/10th difference.
 
Should be OK then. Inspect them for new marks on the bullet, if none seen you should be good to go. I'd still want to know my chamber size if it was me. But I'm anal that way.
I use these: Precision Mic I have one for just about every rifle caliber I shoot and that's a lot.
 
Originally Posted By: jarheadhunterSo do you guys just load one round at a time and not use a mag if your loading your rounds just off the lands? Nope, I load mine to fit in the magazine. I want them to work in hunting situations. I just like to know the full specs for the caliber I'm reloading for.
I do try different COAL's to see about changes in accuracy. Just so I know what is possible.
 
Yes, I also would want to use the magazine, especially while hunting. It sounds you are pretty much set. If you don't have a tool, you could find max chamber COL by testing with longer COL 'dummy' rounds. That may not be necessary though.
 
Originally Posted By: jarheadhunterThanks for the help everybody. Sorry about all the questions. NP; that's how we learn.
 
First, establish what the seating depth is that your rifle likes.
After you have established the accuracy at what the rifle prefers in OAL, then go to max length in magazine to see the difference in accuracy at the longest distance that you can shoot(200,300 yds, etc)

I can not remember the last time that I shot more than one round at a deer...

You may want to, Load most accurate round seated to what the rifle likes in the chamber, and have other rounds as back up in the magazine that are seated shorter. If this does not suit you, then you may just seat to the Max mag length and say "it is what it is". My next door neighbor used to tell me that it was no fun just shooting them one time.
 
Jarheade- your avatar looks cold. what rifle?? there is a whole thread on this on longrangehunting.com. i load mine 030 off the land for hunting 010 for targets. mine are shorter than the magazine.
 
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Originally Posted By: RONINFLAGJarheade- your avatar looks cold. what rifle?? there is a whole thread on this on longrangehunting.com. i load mine 030 off the land for hunting 010 for targets. mine are shorter than the magazine.

Yeah that was a cold day, but when that double came running in we forgot all about the cold. The rifle in the Avatar is my R15 Byron South Edition. I bet it was around zero that day or below zero with the wind chill. Great day of calling in WY.


Here is a little update on the rounds I loaded. Found that my rifle likes the 185 gr Berger Classic Hunters and max load of H1000.
My 5 shot group at 100 yds was under 1 MOA I had a hard time getting it exactly because the paper and particle board I was using blew up.

C5D1B6F3-5780-4313-A20D-1C5A44AF74A1-22055-00000F2F5FD287E4.jpg
 
Originally Posted By: orrbull48im loading berger 210vlds out of mine, currently at 3.544oal also using H-1000.

Yeah I am at 3.475" OAL right now and don't think I could get much more out of them and still fit in the magazine.
 
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