Is this even possible? Rem 700 Incredible length of cartridge OAL to lands

[Highbrass1227]

Hello forum members,

I've had very good luck measuring the OAL of my other cartridges to improve accuracy.

I have a beautiful low mileage 700 BDL in 30:06 and for the first time measured the OAL. You can see from both of these photographs the first being 150 in the second being 168 grain bullet that they are sticking far out of the neck of the cartridge. Is this even possible? To boot both of these bullets are boat tailed so is it even safe to load them at these long o a l's in terms of neck support? The rifle is currently shooting about 2 MOA. Could the long throat jump be a contributor to this relatively marginal performance?

Thanks in advance!

 

[The Oregonian]

Would be helpful to see a bullet next to those bullets in the case. How much bearing surface is down in the neck?

 

[K.E.C. Darkside]

How does that Beautiful Low Milage 700 shoot at Mag Length.
Or are you wanting to build a single shot.

 

[Grizzman47]

Yes, it's entirely possible, even probable, for your 700 to have a very long throat. The general rule for a .30:06 is to have .30" of the bullet's bearing surface contacting the neck. If this isn't the case, then seat the bullets further until adequate bullet/neck contact exists.

Another option, though it's probably not going to meet your ideal, is to use heavier (longer) bullets or ones with a shorter boattail.

I recently measured a 700 chambered in 308 Winchester, and with 169 grain SMKs, the COAl to reach the lands is 3.010", which is way beyond an acceptable loaded length.

 

[Highbrass1227]

Would be helpful to see a bullet next to those bullets in the case. How much bearing surface is down in the neck?

 

[Highbrass1227]

Is there enough depth to seat and shoot these safely? 150 and 168 grain.

 

[Mikecr]

IMO, people worry too much about reaching lands. After all, why do you want to reach lands?
The only thing that matters is the seating depth that tests as best.
If you don't feel like there is enough friction to hold loaded bullets (like you can move bullets by hand), then seat deeper with your seating testing. But it looks like plenty to me. I'm sure it would take a lot of force beyond recoil to move em.

 

[K.E.C. Darkside]

Typically you will find a couple different seating depth that work. If you didn't use a custom reamer and barrel and mag box.
I start at Mag Length and work my way back. Hope this helps.
Happy New Year's.

 

[243winxb]

The 220 gr factory loading needs room to chamber.

 

[YZ-80]

I hate it when this happens but it does. If it were me, I'd consider the published COL for the Bullet and Mag length. Somewhere I had read that you should always have the equivalent of the bullet diameter as bearing surface in the neck. Anyway, I've always found that closer to the lands (but not too close) is better. I almost always end up .015 or .020 off where I find the best accuracy. But when you are pushing the bullet completely out of the comparator case with the OAL gauge, the guessing game begins. My TiKka did that to me with both a 123 SST and a 143 ELDX. In the end, I ended up right at tha bottom of the cannelure with the SST and like, .050 off with the ELDX and it shot great. Sometimes those OAL gauges don't give you a hard stop at the lands and you can have .030 (or more) variance on the reading, depending upon the ogive profile. Very frustrating. Thank God for Bourbon.

 

[K.E.C. Darkside]

ROY WEATHERBY never thought about getting close to the lands.
Seriously work off mag box length and back. You will find what you need.
Happy New Year's.

 

[MagnumManiac]

I have several custom rifles with deliberate long throats and long jumps to the lands…my Weatherby chambers all, but one, have the proprietary length throat of .500" before SAAMI accepted them. The only modern throat (.376") is my factory 257 Weatherby, and it is the most finicky of all the Weatherby's I have.
My wildcats all have long throats, as do my custom chambers for the 300WM using the A191 chamber.
Forget how far from the rifling you are, play with mag length and adjust powder to get accuracy…

Cheers.

 

[VinceMule]

I would run 180g in that long throat and consider it a blessing, Sierra BTSP, Hornady BTSP, Nosler ballistic tip. I have one barrel that I am shooting 168g LRAB in at 3000 fps with R#22, a Rem 700 LR that is simply unbelievably accurate for a $550 gun.

Bed the rifle, free float the barrel, and make sure the mag box is loose between the floor plate and action, you will have a very, very accurate rifle. A Speer 165g BTSP would put more bullet shank in the case than those poly tip bullets, so would a 165g Sierra BTSP, and the Sierra 165g BTHP Game king is tougher than any of these std cup and core bullets...very accurate bullet also.

 

[duckhunter175]

It's definitely possible especially in a mass produced rifle. I was tinking with 2x .270win today-- one custom and one completely factory (Remington 700 Ti Gen1).

The custom was SAAMI spec and measured as such... the Remington... nearly .175 LONGER to the lands.

Used the Hornady OAL/Comparator.