The Firing Line Forums

Go Back   The Firing Line Forums > The Skunkworks > Handloading, Reloading, and Bullet Casting

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Old June 24, 2011, 12:23 AM   #1
Kayser
Senior Member
 
Join Date: May 29, 2002
Location: Illinois :(
Posts: 550
Hornady 150gr bt-fmj. Oal and cannelure issues.

This seems to pop up in various places on the internet, and I have yet to see a definitive answer.

The Hornady 6th edition manual lists an OAL of 2.780" for 150gr bt in 308 win. When you seat to this depth, the cannelure is way outside the case.

Many people have noticed this. There are a number of threads out there, with advice ranging from

- "seat to listed OAL. ignore cannelure"
- "seat to cannelure"
- "I've talked to Hornady and they said the 2.780 is an error"
- "The newest hornady manual lists 2.700"

Anyway, here's an assortment of threads on the subject

http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=264416
http://www.thehighroad.org/archive/i.../t-555089.html
http://www.ar15.com/archive/topic.ht...&f=42&t=322515
http://www.gunandgame.com/forums/pow...nual-data.html

In that last one, the guy claims he ends up in the lands at 2.72" which also seems crazy to me (that can't be right, can it?). I personally have had a few cartridges of this load (3 out of 100?) fail to close the bolt at 2.78" for reasons I could never determine.

For me, the kicker is this. Of the rounds I've shot at this load (several dozen at 41 gr 4895, 2.780" oal) quite a few of them give mixed pressure signs. I get a lot of backed out primers (0.01" in the extreme case) indicating low pressure. But I also get some minor flattening from time to time, indicating potentially high pressure. I load right in the middle of the range : about 41 gr). So, clear as mud, I guess.

I'm tempted to just seat at 2.73, where the cannelure just reaches the mouth. But I honestly don't have a good feeling after all these years for how dangerous that sort of thing is. Some people seem very cavalier about playing with lengths. I'm paranoid

Does anyone actually have the 8th Edition Hornady manual? What OAL do they list for the 150 gr bt-fmj? If you have one of these bullets handy, how long are they? The ones I've got are 1.12"

Thanks for any expert advice, gurus.
__________________
-----------------
Box Of Truth Afficionado!
Kayser is offline  
Old June 24, 2011, 12:52 AM   #2
Ideal Tool
Junior member
 
Join Date: October 6, 2010
Location: Michigan
Posts: 1,080
Hello, Kayser. Is there a need for you to crimp the bullet in case? If not, I would just ignore that cannelure. As for your question of the guy with bullet in lands at 2.72..This doesn't sound crazy to me..anything that is manufactured either by a corporation, or a private smith is going to have tolerances..and how is Hornady going to control that? What you have to do is get your mindset out of the reloading mode..and into the HANDloading mode...load to what YOUR rifle is most accurate..and safe with. It will tell you if you listen, and pay attention. Was out to range once, guy next to me was shooting paper plate size groups with a Hornet..I also had my Hornet..he complained of it's accuracy compared to my targets. I asked how he loaded..how far off lands etc, he very huffily replied that he only loaded to SAAMI specs. No wonder he couldn't get any better accuracy. The SAAMI specs are mainly to insure mfg. A's high end toleranced ctg. will fit into mfg. B,C,D,E's low end toleranced chambers.
Ideal Tool is offline  
Old June 24, 2011, 01:07 AM   #3
Kayser
Senior Member
 
Join Date: May 29, 2002
Location: Illinois :(
Posts: 550
To clarify : what I'm after here is just covering the bases in terms of safety. I am all about incrementally adjusting loads to find what my rifle likes . I'm just concerned that the weirdness of this phenomenon could lead to safety issues.

For what it's worth, these bullets blow every other factory round I've ever tried (from cheapo to super-ultra-elite-deerkiller-4000's) out of the water. My 700 has always been extremely intolerant of anything above 150. And even the best factory 150's yield ok results. Meticulously made reloads using these Hornady bullet are like night and day. It really makes the gun feel truly accurate.

But again, I'm just interesting in minding the safety issues. That's a lot of explodey badness right near your eyes and fingers.
__________________
-----------------
Box Of Truth Afficionado!
Kayser is offline  
Reply

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 05:48 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
This site and contents, including all posts, Copyright © 1998-2021 S.W.A.T. Magazine
Copyright Complaints: Please direct DMCA Takedown Notices to the registered agent: thefiringline.com
Page generated in 0.03678 seconds with 10 queries