chamber depth?

[oxn316]

well i just recieved my barrel today an AA 24". I was so excited i assembled the rifle and proceded to check the cycling. First rounds to cycle(by hand, with the charging handle) were hornaday 123 amex factory rounds. No problems there. Then i tried some 123 grain smk hand loads. length was measured at 2.256. The round stuck in the barrel. I assuming its getting stuck on the lands. Well after some fooling around with round lenght i found that 2.250 is the longest that i can chamber. Is this normal? i thought i should be able to atleast chamber to mag length of 2.26.

[Sniper20]

Every bullet has different dimensions, so that is not the case. You might want to check into a comparator if you want to load off of the lands. Doing OAL is decent, but inaccurate. Get a Hornady Comparator and it measures the length of the round off of the ogive. A ton more accurate and it will eliminate that problem. You can also play around and see that every brand of bullet is different, and every weight of bullet is different.

[sgt_murf]

To backup Sniper20's comments. Each manufactuer uses a differant ogive (radius, that varies from manufactuer and bullet weight/type ie pro-hunter/ Serria Match King) on the bullet points this will contact the throat grooves for each bullet differantly. So as Sniper advised a Comparator works wonders, once you get the correct setting for your Rifle annotate the Length. Or use dummy rounds to set up your dies for each differant type of bullet for your seating dies. Some Type such as the JLKs VLDs seem to like a 0.010" jump before contact the lands and grooves in the throat some like to be within 0.001" or less from the lands the bullet design vs the compound throat that AA uses will dictate which. For pressure it is "usually" best to be around 0.005" away is what some will advise, some say a bit further, bottom line is to set the bullet to where it shoots best for your Rifle and go for it. The word of caution here is if it is engaging (or touching) the lands when chambered the pressure will be higher even with a reduced loading.
LR1955, sniper,bwaites, or someone else interject if I have made a incorrect typo or statement here please.
Good luck and best wishes, with your new barrel

[Clod Stomper]

You are both correct. Every bullet is different. I know of at least one bullet that WILL stick in the lands if loaded to magazine length. Two, if I include the 123 SMK that oxn316 mentioned.

Use the comparator. It will save you time and frustration when trying to find an OAL that will work safely.

Will

[rasp65]

The best way is to measure your coal for each different bullet. Here is a link to my method: http://www.65grendel.com/forum/showt...jump-amp-crimp

[Sniper20]

I'm waiting for my local Scheels to get in a 6.5 case for the OAL gauge that Hornady makes. It reduced groups in my .308 and .223 by half when I used it to measure the OAL (combined with the comparator)... It's only like 20-30 bucks, but totally worth it in my opinion.