hornady OAL Gauge help

O

ohihunter2014

New member
so I just measure 55gr hp nosler varmageddon with the OAL tool and threaded the case on tight and inserted the bullet into the modified case and entered the case into the chamber and lightly pushed the rod forward until it stopped. I don't yet have a bullet comparator as they are backordered so I measured to the tip instead of OGIVE. I came up with the following below. this was 4 separate bullets measure several times. I'm taking it that I will need a bullet comparator for a better measurement but to me some of those are extreme spreads.

Another issue I noticed was Nosler calls for 2.260 for an OAL. all of these are very far from the recommended OAL.

whats your thoughts?

1)2.180
2)2.175
3)2.195
4)2.190
5)2.140
6)2.170
7)2.165
8)2.160
9)2.160
10)2.175
 
Last edited:
You're wasting your time if you are using four different bullets. The points are all over the place in any given box. You take one bullet and keep THAT BULLET as your reference for down the road. Without a comaparator it is hard to get good numbers to translate to your dies.. You can come very close just using a sized case mouth as the comparator body.. It will not be dead nuts but will give you a good reference as the curvature is consistent out of the ogive.

If those are real numbers on a 22 Nosler and really are base to tip you have a seriously out of spec barrel. You would be ABOUT 0.080 to 0.120 in the lands and that would be less than marvelous.

Greg
 
Originally Posted By: GLShooterYou're wasting your time if you are using four different bullets. The points are all over the place in any given box. You take one bullet and keep THAT BULLET as your reference for down the road. Without a comaparator it is hard to get good numbers to translate to your dies.. You can come very close just using a sized case mouth as the comparator body.. It will not be dead nuts but will give you a good reference as the curvature is consistent out of the ogive.

If those are real numbers on a 22 Nosler and really are base to tip you have a seriously out of spec barrel.

Greg

I will try again with one bullet. I usually do the black marker trick and haven't had issues but wanted to do it right. I load 55gr v max and book says 2.250 OAL and I have to be at 2.230 OAL or I get lands marks on the marker bullet. I sent the gun to savage for the extraction and bolt issue and told them about the short chamber and they said it was fine just load for the barrel so that's what ive been doing. I got the Nosler OAL off their websites load data and said [beeep] when I compared it to what I got with the tool.

forgot to mention I'm loading 223rem in a savage axis.
 
Last edited:
Not unusual to have one short throated. How is the head space on a fired case? If it is not overly long ion shoulder movement I would just go with it. I load to the barrel. The book is a catch all and chambers will be all over the place.

If any thing I would prefer short myself in this instance.

Greg
 
Originally Posted By: GLShooterNot unusual to have one short throated. How is the head space on a fired case? If it is not overly long ion shoulder movement I would just go with it. I load to the barrel. The book is a catch all and chambers will be all over the place.

If any thing I would prefer short myself in this instance.

Greg

I just got a headspace comparator and all are within a thousands of each other. I ran a 55gr v max in the tool and the marker trick shows 2.230 good but the OAL tool shows 2.230 in the lands.
 
Back
Top