I typically get the best accuracy out of my rifles by seating right up to the rifling. Some of my rifles will allow this and still enable the cartridges to fit in the magazine. However, the down side for hunting applications is that if you have to remove a round from the chamber, the bullet can sometimes stick in the rifling and you end up spilling powder into the action. I would like to know what OAL you guys seat to when creating rounds specifically for hunting.

I load my ammunition to the longest COL that will reliably function in my rifle�s magazine. However, I also find the COL that would be used to place the bullet just off the lands to make sure that the magazine measured COL isn�t to long for the chamber. So far all my rifle magazines have shorter COLs than my chambers, so anything that will fit in the magazine will be safe in the rifle. In my opinion, reliable functioning is the top priority of hunting accuracy, assuming that the load is decently accurate to begin with.

Ben

I start at .005 off the lands. If that is too long for the magazine, then I go longest reliable in the magazine. My experience is this is usaully only an issue in large maganums when free bore is more generous.

I load mine to the best accuracy COL, if that makes sense. I don't worry about the magazine. I normally only load two rounds (one in the chamber and the other in the magazine) this allows me to use the entire "magazine" not the magazine box. I've never needed more than two rounds anyway.

BTW, if the bullet is being pulled by the rifling, the bullet is really get jammed into the rifling and you may want to seat the bullets deeper. I have had bullets pulled by the rifling before and it creates a real mess. Your pressure will usually spike with the bullets seated this far into the rifling also.

Just my thoughts and opinions FWIW,

Jim

In a hunting rifle, load for the magazine as suggested by some here...function and reliability is more important than accuracy in a hunting rifle...

Thanks for the feedback all.
I am loading some up tonight in .30-06 and am loading them to just kiss the rifling (not jammed into it). These do not pull the bullets and fit the magazine fine. I appreciate the feedback and would welcome more comments on OAL in hunting rifles.