help with .270 reloading

**zeus50** · October 4th, 2011, 08:16 AM

thanks for all the pointers. I think i'm going to start over, but from the low charge and see what happens.

**zeus50** · October 5th, 2011, 09:23 AM

ok another question.

I borrowed my bosses OAL gauge.

i've read the instruction, i'm think i may be missing something.

I measured the OAL of the bullet after putting it in the chamber and following instructions.

I get a measurement of 3.48
when i use the other thing on the caliper i get 3.89

what is the second measurement? i don't understand that.

also, 3.48 seems really long.

the factor rounds i shoot are 3.24 and Max oal from the book says 3.21

what am i not getting?

**zeus50** · October 5th, 2011, 12:30 PM

so i also tried using a cartridge and bullet with out seating the bullet and closing bolt.

i got around 3.5...is it me or is that really long if book oal is 3.21?

**cephas** · October 5th, 2011, 05:26 PM

The maximum SAAMI length for the 270 Win is 3.340. As eluded to by previous poster this is what, should, will fit in normal magazines. What rifle are you loading for?
Be aware some rifles have such a long throat, "free bore", that even with bullet seated out to max magazine length they may still be off the lands.

**zeus50** · October 5th, 2011, 07:19 PM

Remington sps

So going past 3.34 is bad? The dummy I made still loads in the magazine.

**dk99358** · October 5th, 2011, 08:40 PM

If longer than 3.34 works in your magazine and a smoked bullet doesn't show any marks from the rifling when you carefully chamber and extract it, then you are good...for that rifle. Another rifle, maybe, maybe not.

I had a Ruger in 6mm Rem, gave some shells to a buddy who had a Remington, he had to single load them, they wouldn't feed from his magazine. Murphy being Murphy, it was opening morning when he discovered that fact.

What exactly did you borrow? Overall length is simple to measure and should only give you one reading. From the tip of the bullet to the bottom of the case.

Dale

**Tomcat088** · October 5th, 2011, 11:41 PM

Originally Posted by dk99358

What exactly did you borrow? Overall length is simple to measure and should only give you one reading. From the tip of the bullet to the bottom of the case.

Dale

I'm also curious what he borrowed. He may not have borrowed something to measure the overall length; he may have actually borrowed a bullet comparator. If that was the case, it would give a different measurement because it would most likely be measuring off the ogive of the bullet. If you haven't zero'ed the calipers for the comparator gauge, it would actually look longer than it was even though it was measuring from the ogive because it had the added distance of the comparator insert.

To the OP, knowing exactly what you borrowed could help us better answer your question. If you don't know exactly, photos could help, or you could sort of tell us how it looks and we can show you photos so that the tool can be identified. I'm not trying to be a jerk, but are you sure that the caliper or tool was zeroed properly? It would be pretty easy to just turn it on and assume it's zeroed, and get incorrect measurements. If it is in fact a bullet comparator gauge, the inserts have to be taken into account if you want a "true" measurement to the ogive, and then use a different tool or measure it without the inserts to get the COAL. Depending on the bullets, it's not uncommon to get a little variation in length. Hollow points are notorious for not quite having a consistent meplat, and you can get some or a fair amount of variation.

**zeus50** · October 6th, 2011, 09:08 AM

It gives both the Ogive and the OAL. you use a device added to the caliper to get Ogive, and take it off to get OAL.

I didn't smoke the bullet. If I smoke the bullet what do i do?

**dk99358** · October 6th, 2011, 05:14 PM

Load a dummy round to the overall length you want.

You can either light a match and rotate the dummy cartridge in the flames/just above them to get soot on the bullet or use a Sharpie pen to coat the bullet.

Then carefully insert the cartridge into the chamber and close the bolt. Carefully extract the cartridge (watch that it doesn't get sideways pressure from the extractor and drag on the chamber/action side).

Look for small marks in the soot evenly spaced around the bullet. These marks would be the beginning of the rifling if your OAL is too long.

Some folks do it the other way, they seat long, smoke, and seat deeper until they no longer see marks. If you're close to the lands and you change bullets, you will need to smoke again as different bullets have different shapes.

Dale