How to find lands?
- Thread starter bdchorn
- Start date
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Buffalobob
Well-Known Member
Several different ways.
With a little practice this one will work- more or less.
Take a fired case that will lightly hold a bullet. Put the bullet in it and take a sharpie and color all of the area near the beginning of the bearing surface of the bullet. As carefully as possible insert the cartridge into the chamber and carefully and slowly close the bolt. This should jam the bullet into the lands and also shove it back down further in the case. Try to extract the cartridge with the bullet still in the case. If it sticks in the barrel then you need more neck tension.
Don't get stupid with the bullet stuck in the barrel. The female end of a cleaning rod inserted from the crown end will catch the tip of the bullet and push it out without doing any damage. Many other methods of getting it out will cause you grief.
Now then, let us assume you have now gotten the cartridge out of the chamber with the bullet still in the case. Look at the bearing surface and see if there are six small equally spaced scrapes in the sharpie coloring. These are the lands marks and the lenght of the marks tells you how far you had the bullet jammed.
Measure the overall lenght of the case and bullet and then go and seat a new bullet in a new case to the overall lenght of the last one. Color the bullet with the sharpie and insert that into the chamber and close the bolt. Check for lands marks. If the are the same as the last one you now know the oveall lenght of a "jammed" bullet.
Get a new case and a new bullet and seat it just a little deeper than the last bullet and color it and insert it. Extract and look for land's marks. Keep doing this and seating the bullets just a little deeper each time until you have a bullet that has lands mark and one that does not.
At this time you should have the distance to the lands within a few thousands.
If all you ever wanted was a numerical value of the distance that can be gotten from the first cartridge.
With a little practice this one will work- more or less.
Take a fired case that will lightly hold a bullet. Put the bullet in it and take a sharpie and color all of the area near the beginning of the bearing surface of the bullet. As carefully as possible insert the cartridge into the chamber and carefully and slowly close the bolt. This should jam the bullet into the lands and also shove it back down further in the case. Try to extract the cartridge with the bullet still in the case. If it sticks in the barrel then you need more neck tension.
Don't get stupid with the bullet stuck in the barrel. The female end of a cleaning rod inserted from the crown end will catch the tip of the bullet and push it out without doing any damage. Many other methods of getting it out will cause you grief.
Now then, let us assume you have now gotten the cartridge out of the chamber with the bullet still in the case. Look at the bearing surface and see if there are six small equally spaced scrapes in the sharpie coloring. These are the lands marks and the lenght of the marks tells you how far you had the bullet jammed.
Measure the overall lenght of the case and bullet and then go and seat a new bullet in a new case to the overall lenght of the last one. Color the bullet with the sharpie and insert that into the chamber and close the bolt. Check for lands marks. If the are the same as the last one you now know the oveall lenght of a "jammed" bullet.
Get a new case and a new bullet and seat it just a little deeper than the last bullet and color it and insert it. Extract and look for land's marks. Keep doing this and seating the bullets just a little deeper each time until you have a bullet that has lands mark and one that does not.
At this time you should have the distance to the lands within a few thousands.
If all you ever wanted was a numerical value of the distance that can be gotten from the first cartridge.
