Overall Length decision - Limitations

[catorres1]

I have a new Weatherby Accuguard that I am loading for and am having a bit of problem with OAL choices.

My length to lands is 3.545 using 200 gr ELD-X's. However, my box will not accept anything over 3.50, putting me .045 from the lands, at a minimum.

Considering that I am not trying to push these (I only want 2725 to 2750 or so), additional powder capacity is not helpful.

And considering that .045 is the best I can do, is there any point to loading them long? FYI, 3.340 is standard length.

Thanks!

 

[Bravo 4]

Can't tell you where you will find the best accuracy, but can advise on a start point. You have two options; if you don't mind a single shot then start just shy of the lands, and if you want it to feed from the magazine then start just short of magazine length (where it will feed properly).
You never know, even if you start long it may want a jump far enough that you can load from the mag.

 

[lilharcher]

Best option may be to buy an extended box and bottom metal........i'd be easy if it were a R700, because you could swap out the standard BDL with an extended box at either 3.825" or 3.99".

 

[J E Custom]

I believe that accuracy can be achieved with Mag length ammo. So I always load .010 to .020
shorter than the magazine. some loads require even more clearance(Shorter that the mag length
by as much as .100 thousandths.

If there is not enough powder capacity loaded to mag dimensions go to the next faster powder and
you will get the same velocity if the same pressure is reached. In fact you should be able to load harder without pressure signs if you have more free bore and get more velocity.

If you load close to or touching the lands, you will have to reduce the powder charge to keep it within same spec.

J E CUSTOM

 

[Plinker147]

In my 338 rum I had the same issue. After shooting .020 off lans and seated to length of magazine, I found the accuracy to be the same. All you can do is try and make your decision after you see how each seating depth shoots

 

[catorres1]

Well, I went out and shot some of my loads today...unfortunately, I got to the range late, so as the sun went down, the Chrono started misreading, and finally stopped reading. So I missed velocities entirely on some loads, including the one load in the window where I wanted to be (pretty sure it will turn out to be the velocity area I was targeting.) So I'll have to retest.

As to accuracy, wish I could scan the targets in for some interpretation on where to go with my loads. I'll probably do something like that on a seperate thread.

But basically, I got to test 7 different loads before having to give up. Velocities ranged from 2500 to 2680 (the 7th load, I don't know).

Most were 2 shot, just testing for pressure and velocity. Most strings put the two shots touching. The last 3 groups were 3 shots each. 1st was .64, second was .44. The third was dreadful, 1.92, but this group was rushed as I was trying to beat the sun and I had at least 1 called flyer in that group that really opened it up. But overall, it was just sloppily shot as I was hoping to shoot 4 more loads and not have to haul the chrono back out. No luck, it was too dark and no velocity was captured on this last group.

Most interestingly, except for that 1 called flyer, the rifle put 15 shots into 1.18 inches (when you superimposed the targets). These from 7 different loads.

I think it's definitely going to be a shooter. I've only had 1 box through it before today....just doing the shoot and clean....and I did not get to finish it, so less than 10 shots down a clean bore.

So I'll be going back and reshooting that 7th load to capture velocity data and see if I can do better when not rushed. Every other load grouped so well that I am optimistic that it was just me, so hopefully, I've got a decent hunting rig going here and now I just need to learn to dial it in.