Whats the best way (with out a lot of investment) to measure bullet to lands space/
many claim 3 to 5 thou is best for my Rem 788/
Going to friends to start working up some loads
for my 22-250

Ron, the best way to find your lenght to lands is with a stony point tool or something similar. They aren`t too much $25+/- and save alot of headaches. The distance your bullet travels to the lands is a variable and isn`t the same between rifles., just because joe blows 22-250 likes .005 travel doesn`t mean yours will. It pays to experiment.
Headspace is a different measurement altogether. For a good idea of it, try going to www.mcrgo.org/reference_lib_headspace.htm

Put one of the bullets you are planning on loading into the bore. Hold it in to the lands with a rod of some sort. Insert a cleaning rod into the bore at the muzzle end, with a bore diameter piece on the end, preferably flat. Mark the cleaning rod at the muzzle when it's pushed tight up against the bullet in the bore. Remove the bullet from the bore, insert the bolt. Insert the same cleaning rod, push it up against the bolt. Mark the cleaning rod at the muzzle again. Remove the cleaning rod and measure from mark to mark. This will be your COL with the bullet touching the lands. Repeat at least ten times (with differant bullets from the same lot) to get a usable average (sometimes there is substantial variance in bullet length within a given lot, it depends on the manufacturers' QC). Once you have the average COL for that particular bullet in that particular rifle, you can just adjust your seating to put the bullet to lands distance where you want it. Note that this may or may not allow you to use whatever magazine you have (probably won't actually). This is the cheapest way I know of to get a reasonably accurate COL. The gauges work better, but this will get you pretty close. - Dan

[ 10-27-2002, 21:06: Message edited by: dan belisle ]