Jump to content
Military Firearm Restoration Corner

Oal Question From Newbie


Bob58

Recommended Posts

I'm fairly new to handloading and have a simple question about the above referenced bullets, powder and OAL of a 308 Win handload. I reference Lee's Reloading Manual and note the max OAL as 2.81 and for the powder above a min AOL of 2.745. Fine, I can reload according to instructions, which I understand to be highly recommended. One problem. The min OAL does not seat the bullet to the cannelure. Should I seat to the cannelure and be below min AOL (lots of freebore), or seat to min AOL and ignore the cannelure?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Bob. I don't shoot or load .308, but heres my logic. I assume you are thinking about volume of case changing with bullet depth and perhaps pressure variations resulting from this. I personally ignore cannelures except in magnum handguns where a tight crimp is needed to ignite some slow powders like H-110 or WW-296. With rifles I use a Stoney Point gage set and a dial caliper. I seat the bullets to .015"-.020" from the lands max. (Some later Rugers have so much freebore, if you try to hit the lands, it won't fit in the magazine!) If I feel a crimp is called for I use the lee factory crimp die.

Hope this helps.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...