reading the hornady oal guage

[stevesmith]

first ,hi my name is Steve, im new to the forum here..
i am just starting to reload. havent loaded one yet but for 3 past 2 months ive collected material to read bought books read everything i can find about it..ive loaded thousands of shotgun shells but never a rifle..well i purchased a savage 110 ba 338 lapua as you already know the rounds are expensive so in order to shoot as much as i want to shoot im gonna have to reload..so ive got everything i need to do it with . last thing im trying to do is to determine where the rifle lands are in the gun so i can set my col. i have the hornady oal guage. its pretty strat forward on how it works. only thing is this when i insert the bullet in the brass and slide it into the chamber do i stop when i feel it barely touch..i ask this because if i just wiggle it very very easy the bullet will go in a bit further with very very little pressure mainly just making sure im in full contact with the lands..so im not sure do i make it a fine line as to when i feel it just barely touch and call that it or do i let it sorta settle in the lands for my reading? now im not saying force it in cause either way its not staying in thelands when i lock it down and pull the guage out the bullet comes back out with it so its not in there hard enough for the lands to keep it in there if i let it just barely touch or if i move it around to make sure it is imaking good contact with the lands but the differeces is big..if i just touch the lands i get a reading of 3.585 if i wiggle it just a bit to make sure it seated in the lands i get a reading of 3.720 thats 135 thousands difference,..thats major i think anyway..i dont know where i should be taking my measurements at..please gice me any info. in this are because im not gonna load one until i know exactly what im doin and why..because i know this is very dangerous..my magazine will hold either so thats not a issue..specs say maximum length is 3.681 but from what i read thats sort of a across the board maximum..ive been told and read all over where i need to back off the lands at least 20 thousands to star so it will have some jump..the rifle may or may not like it closer but i have to know where it is to know where to start 20 thousands off the lands.so please use as much detail as possible so i want have to guess at nothing cause any guessing is like guessing if this will blow up in my face..
thanks in advance for any information that you guys can give me in this are..and if theres anything else that i need to know again please let me know im open to everything..
im 50 years old and worked in a machine shop for many years so i understand how to read calipers and mic's. i know what runout is and how to read it..in other words im not totally dumb just dont know how to load a rifle bullet..lol
again thanks for your time in this matter for me..
hope you have a blessed day..

 

[DocDoc]

I use a coated cleaning rod in the barrel. That way I can push from both directions till there is a firm touch of bullet to lands, but not sticking. The measurements become much more repeatable. I check the loaded length with a bullet that has been painted with a felt tip marker to be certain that I am not touching, or barely touching the lands. That becomes the max OAL, if it fits in the magazine. Start with a low charge, do the Berger seating depth test, use the best seating depth to run a ladder test to find nodes on the way to the maximum.

 

[stevesmith]

i understand how to do that kind of test i guess my main thing is do i firmly get on the lands or do i do it until i barely feel it touch the lands..barely touching the lands i cant make repeat but if i go kinda firmly touching the lands bt not enough for the lands to retain the bullet i get some semi. repeatable numbers..im leaning that way cause i can see the marks on the bullet without marking on them at the point where they touch the lands and where they actually are firmly against the lands. when i read the bullet diameter its not to .338 when it starts to touch if i read the marks on the bullet where the diameter is at .338 on the bullet that is when i get semi. repeating numbers

 

[travelhunter]

My 2 cents:
If you put it into the lands as the latter methodology suggests.... No wiggle and set on the lands i would call that ttl (to the lands) back off 20k and start the tomfoolery we cal finding the magic node

 

[stevesmith]

i agree with that but when i just set it on the lands ive even took a coated rod and come from the other end and wedged the bullet in and out of the groove..if i just lightly touch the lands i cant get a repeat at all..if i put the bullet in the lands with a solid touch on the lands i can get it to repeat there..so ur saying the smallest touch that i feel of the bullet touching the lands is on the lands?? dont let it seat in the lands just barely touch in the lands and call that touching the lands..

 

[travelhunter]

seat it with a more than feather touch, when you know its touching call it quits..........as you sayy yourself it is repeatable.

 

[stevesmith]

seat it with a more than feather touch, when you know its touching call it quits..........as you sayy yourself it is repeatable.

thanks for all your advice when i get home im gonna give it a shot and see..it only seemed right to me that to place it a little more than a light touch as that was the only way to get any repeatability at all that had to be it,..so i think that will give me a good start..when i actually load the first one ill use some marking on the bullet and load it in the gun to make sure its not (on the lands) to start and then start ladder loading for the so called node..
again thanks for your input..

 

[IAHNTR]

I say, don't over think it. I use the gauge 10 times with 10 different bullets, record the measurements, throw out the outliers and average the other ones and go from there. Your going to be trying different seating depths anyway. So what if your 15 thou off is really 20 thou off. The gun doesn't know.

 

[boscodog]

I'd like to ask a question, a tad off point but not to far. When beginning to work up a load, is it best to start at the lands or not, if not where? This is my first build, I'll be putting together a 338/ 300 Edge using 300 grn. Bergers.
Thanx,
Tom

 

[stevesmith]

I'd like to ask a question, a tad off point but not to far. When beginning to work up a load, is it best to start at the lands or not, if not where? This is my first build, I'll be putting together a 338/ 300 Edge using 300 grn. Bergers.
Thanx,
Tom

well i may not be the one to ask but with my searching over the past few months its all according to what your gun likes..i think im gonna start about 20/000 off the lands to find a accurcy load then after im comfortable with that im gonna move closer to the lands to check for a increase in accuracy. if it gets better ill start over with my load at 5/000 off the lands and work my way in or out to what ever the gun likes because it will let you know what it likes..ive only loaded a 223 caliber and doin what i said worked for me and my gun..im gonna do the same here..only problem is i was having a hard time determining where the lands were with this large caliber on my 223 it was obvious..
i hope this helps any, if not someone else will sure be able to tell you on here cause there are some very nice and knowledgeable folks on here..

 

[tbrice23]

I am OCD about getting repeatable measurements for oal. I tap my fired cases and use no (zoro) neck tension on the bullet. That way the bullet never gets pushed into the lands. I use a dowel to push the gauge out after i lock it.

 

[stevesmith]

I am OCD about getting repeatable measurements for oal. I tap my fired cases and use no (zoro) neck tension on the bullet. That way the bullet never gets pushed into the lands. I use a dowel to push the gauge out after i lock it.

Thanks very much for your reply..after reading it many times I'm not quite sure exactly what your saying. I'm sorry for having to ask you to please explain but if I don't know what to do if I didn't ask you to explain there wouldn't have even been a need to ask for help to start with. So please explain and I appreciate your time and effort

 

[tbrice23]

I make my own gauge from a case fired out of my chamber so it head spaces to my chamber. I drill and tap the flash hole with a 5/16×36 tap. I dont size the neck of the case so the bullet has no resistance when moving in and out of the case neck. That way i know that I am not pushing the bullet into the rifling.
I place the bullet barely inside the case when i insert the gauge, when im sure the gauge is fully inserted i tighten the lock screw for the gauges sliding stem. Once it is locked i push the bullet and gauge out of the chamber with a wooden dowel of the appropriate diameter from the muzzel end. I then measure with a bullet comparitor and repeat until i have a truly repeatable measurement.
If i have a large enough quantity of the same lot # of bullets for that rifle i can monitor and measure throat erosion and wear.

If you're unclear about about anything let me know and I will elaborate further. ( i struggle with descriptives)

 

[stevesmith]

I make my own gauge from a case fired out of my chamber so it head spaces to my chamber. I drill and tap the flash hole with a 5/16×36 tap. I dont size the neck of the case so the bullet has no resistance when moving in and out of the case neck. That way i know that I am not pushing the bullet into the rifling.
I place the bullet barely inside the case when i insert the gauge, when im sure the gauge is fully inserted i tighten the lock screw for the gauges sliding stem. Once it is locked i push the bullet and gauge out of the chamber with a wooden dowel of the appropriate diameter from the muzzel end. I then measure with a bullet comparitor and repeat until i have a truly repeatable measurement.
If i have a large enough quantity of the same lot # of bullets for that rifle i can monitor and measure

If you're unclear about about anything let me know and I will elaborate further. ( i struggle with descriptives)

Thanks I understand exactly what your saying. That's how I used the oal guage I have. I loosened the dow rod left the bullet long. When the case hit I made sure it was bottomed out. I tightened the set screw pulled it out and measured..I get it to repeat every time that way..whem I do it by the instructions I can't make it repeat. now that you say you do it the way I did I feel like I know how now
.Thanks for your time and effort in this matter. I appreciate it greatly.
Hope you have a blessed day