Are rifle chambers supposed to adhere to SAAMI spec OAL or longer? My story: I developed loads for Steyr M-III pro .30-06 using Nosler's max OAL. The rounds fit in the rotary mag without issue and the rounds are stacking great averaging 1/2" groups at 100 yds. During deer season, I went to unload the rifle and the round wouldn't eject. Ended up pulling the bullet out of the case. The bullet was obviously pushed into the lands. I thought maybe it was a fluke as I checked the book spec and measured the rounds and they were correct but when I reloaded the mag and tried to cycle the rounds, the same thing happened. the 2nd round pushed into the lands. I then purchased a hornady OAL gauge and found the OAL was actually .024 shorter than SAAMI spec. I reseated the bullets to .020 off the lands and groups went to about an 1.2". What a disappointment. The rifle has always been a great shooter and knowing what it's capable of doing, I not going to be happy with 1.2" groups. The same thing happened with my Kimber montana 7mm08. The rounds weren't jammed into the lands but were only .002 off, seated them down to .020 off too and the groups opened substantially. I guess I could try .030 and .040 on each to see what the result will be but just hate starting over. Is this a common occurence?

Yep, that situation is not unusual. You'll find that different bullets will have a different OAL before they touch the lands. Some bullets may exceed the listed OAL and others will touch the lands beforehand. That Hornady OAL gauge is useful and you should use that with all the different bullets you intend to load. You could try just going .010 off the lands to see how that shoots.

Duckboat is right. he OAL simply tells you that the round will function through a magazine. The part that is critical to loading is called the ogive. The exact location on the bullet where it reaches the bore (not groove) diameter is the point that determines the optimum relative bullet seating depth. That is the reason that different factory loads have slightly different OAL's. This is particularly noticible with some monometal and flat nose designs.

+1 duckboat.
As you suggested, you can try several OAL's.
start at .01 off and work in. I have one rifle that shoots one hole groups at a given OAL, but they open up to well, about 1.2" like yours did if it's .005 shorter.

thanks all for the feedback. I was once told that I'd have pressure issues if loading inside .020. I didn't notice any pressure signs with the loads I developed described above but I also don't want any explosive receiver issues either. I love me too much!! Is there a chance that .010 off could create more issues than the bullet sitting on the lands?

We can hear a lot of stuff that isn't quite true as it's stated.

If we do our load development at what ever OAL we wish, the pressures will automatically be taken care of. The 'problem' with high pressures from seating on or into the lands comes from doing so with a load that was developed off the lands.