260 Remington OAL

[bower4311]

I'm new to reloading. I have a Savage 11 in .260 and started right off with reloading, I'm 20 years old. I'm seating the bullets at 2.800" OAL. How can I know if I should be seating them further or shorter for increasing accuracy? I have a good gunsmith I work with, but wanted to get some opinions here. I don't know a lot about the lands and where it meets the rifling. I'm using Hornady A-max 140's, if that makes a difference.

Thanks.

 

[42769vette]

I'm new to reloading. I have a Savage 11 in .260 and started right off with reloading, I'm 20 years old. I'm seating the bullets at 2.800" OAL. How can I know if I should be seating them further or shorter for increasing accuracy? I have a good gunsmith I work with, but wanted to get some opinions here. I don't know a lot about the lands and where it meets the rifling. I'm using Hornady A-max 140's, if that makes a difference.

Thanks.

If your using 140 amax's and your oal is 2.8 you probably need to seat the bullets further out.

Im running 140gr amax's 2.97. If the AI mag would hold longer I would go longer.

The only way im aware of to be certain if its a more accurate load is to try it and see what happens

 

[bower4311]

Do I have any safety issues to worry about? Ways to check to make sure I won't stick one in the gun?

 

[Truc]

Make a dummy round, seat a bullet then pull it (this will lossen the neck a little) then seat a bullet long and close the bolt. The bullet should push back into the case and still just touch the lands. Then double check length to see if it will fit in your magazine. You may have to seat the bullet and pull several times to loosen the neck tension.
As always start low and work up load, don't just start at max powder load.

 

[bower4311]

Thanks for the tips. I'll try those suggestions.

 

[jkrueger]

WHat I usually do is take a fired case, put it in my press with the ram up then screw in my neck sizing die makes contact with the case mouth, lower the ram and turn the die in 1/2 turn. then when you size the case you will only size the case mouth down about .035" that will give you enough tension to hold your bullet from moving but allow it to be seated deeper in the case by the lands in your barrel.
Load a round real long and then chamber it, eject that round and measure to the tip for OAL and you should have a good starting point, if you have a comparitor then measure to ojive and you will have that distance to the lands for any bullet you might want to load in the future

 

[bower4311]

I only have a full length sizing die. Will it work the same or no?

 

[jkrueger]

never tried it with a FL die, i think you might encounter resistance from the body sizing before hitting the case mouth but maybe not, its probably worth a try.

 

[8andbait]

Are you able to seat them out further and fit in the mag? Or, were you planning on feeding one at a time?

With a short action I typically go as long as will fit in the mag and also have a bullet diameter seated in the neck. If I have both of those I do an OCW test to determine the best load. My 6.5 Creedmoor shoots lights out with 130 bergers .120 from the lands, that is as close to the lands as I could get and still have .260 in the neck. The 140 bergers are seated at .070 and the 140 AMAX are at .030 all three loads are .5 moa due to OCW testing and are not dependant on seating depth.

gary

 

[bower4311]

I should have room in my magazine.. What are the dangers of seating too far out? Just jamming around in the chamber? Wouldn't I be able to feel the bullet meeting the lands when I pushed the bolt in? Or if it jams and I shoot it will there be potential damage?

 

[8andbait]

The possible dangers would be higher pressure and the bullet staying in the barrel when ejecting an unfired round causing powder to spill into the action. For a hunting round I would stay at least .005-.010 from the lands. I don't think you would be able to feel it hit the lands but you should be able to see the rifling marks on the bullet if it stays in the brass.

I would invest in a Hornady OAL guage to be sure.

gary

 

[bower4311]

Geez I feel like everywhere I turn around I gotta spend some more money. But I don't want any pressure issues either.

EDIT: I'm going to just see if my gunsmith has one I can use.

 

[bower4311]

I set the bullet longer then kept shortening it until it fell out with gravity, which would insure for sure that it is not touching the lands? Or should I shorten a little more? I was setting at 2.800, it stopped falling out at 2.8735. But my increments weren't really small, I think 2.877 was before the final number it stuck at.

Should I see some decent accuracy increase? Should I back off further?

 

[Truc]

You need to find someone who reloads to walk you through this as you obviously have never reloaded just to be safe