COAL in remington 700

[akinswi]

I found and interesting way to get a good target coal for my remington 700 SVF in .223.

I met an old timer at my local range, me being in my twenties at the time i was very keen on listening to what he had to say. I asked how he measured his COAL.

He said he started the bullet barely seated in the neck sized case, and he would load the round in the gun until he could finally close the bolt adjusting the seating die as he went. He said then take out the round and measure it thats how it got his COAL completely on the lands.

I know it doesn't sound very scientific, but after I tried it really shrank my groups. I actually do this method now on everybatch I reloaded, On hunting rds I just load to factory specs but for target loads i want that bolt to barely close was his advice and it worked.

he did say I need to measure with a bullet comparator instead of using tip of the bullet

[FiveInADime]

Originally Posted by akinswi

I found and interesting way to get a good target coal for my remington 700 SVF in .223.

I met an old timer at my local range, me being in my twenties at the time i was very keen on listening to what he had to say. I asked how he measured his COAL.

He said he started the bullet barely seated in the neck sized case, and he would load the round in the gun until he could finally close the bolt adjusting the seating die as he went. He said then take out the round and measure it thats how it got his COAL completely on the lands.

I know it doesn't sound very scientific, but after I tried it really shrank my groups. I actually do this method now on everybatch I reloaded, On hunting rds I just load to factory specs but for target loads i want that bolt to barely close was his advice and it worked.

he did say I need to measure with a bullet comparator instead of using tip of the bullet

The best way to do this is to remove the firing pin assembly from the bolt body so there's no tension and the bolt can just fall free. Using a micrometer seater you can step down in one-one-thousandth increments until the bolt falls all the way to into place freely. Then you can feel exactly where the bullet is touching.

[Idaho Spud]

That's how I've done it for years. No it's not scientific, but I'm not a scientist. I make up dummies this way for each bullet I shoot in each rifle chambering. I do check several times to get an accurate figure. Then mark each one with a dremel burr. Got a whole drawer of 'em. Plenty accurate for me, and I have some particularly accurate 223 & 243 loads.

edit: I DO THIS WITH EMPTY, DECAPPED BRASS!!!!!!! ...in case I wasn't clear!