I'm having my CZ Short Action Sporter .243 re barreled in .260 Rem. I bought it with that intention. I chose the short action over the long action because only the short action has a removable box magazine. So, the longest OAL I can achieve is 2.9" I don't have the new barrel on yet but I think that I can safely say that this OAL won't allow the ogive to come in contact with the lands on cambering a cartridge. I'm assuming that I will have a window of from 2.75" to 2.85" of seating depth. Should I bother to find a sweet spot in that range? I plan on crimping my loads. I've found that it increases consistency. What experience have you all had reloading for short action rifles?

You are having a new barrel put on why don't you have the smith cut the chamber for the length of the ammunition you are loading.

+1

Would he have to have a reamer made just for that?

No, you just need a throater ($50) and he can make the throat as long as you want.
Another reason I do not use short actions for anything. I build everything on long actions, even 308 length cartridges. It solves a multitude of problems/issues/concerns/desires. Yes they still feed fine.

CZ doesn't make a long action sporter with a detachable magazine. And I didn't want a Mannlicher stock.

Just load to your magazine length and you'll be fine. If you're worried about over length, just load a dummy round to magazine length and blacken the bullet with a magic marker. Chamber the round and when you remove it, if there's not copper showing through the blackening, you're good to go.
Thing to remember is he HAS a short action so he has to work with what he's got. I've rebarreled two 788s from .243 to 260 w/o any problems.

I find that a Stony Point gauge is better.

quote:

I plan on crimping my loads. I've found that it increases consistency.

Really? I wonder why the benchrest crowd hasn't caught onto this trick. No telling how small they could make their groups if only they knew to crush the case mouth into the bullet jacket.

quote:

Originally posted by Stonecreek:

quote:

I plan on crimping my loads. I've found that it increases consistency.

Really? I wonder why the benchrest crowd hasn't caught onto this trick. No telling how small they could make their groups if only they knew to crush the case mouth into the bullet jacket.

Most people only crimp a couple of thousandths. (reductio ad absurdum ?)

My 22.250AI and my 243's 1,000 yard loads showed lower standard deviations and better grouping using the Lee factory crimp dies set at a minimum crimp.

I use it on my 375 H&H with the Barnes bullets since I don't crimp in the relief groove of the bullet for recoil. It also showed a measurable improvement in group sizes at 300 yards with the Barnes 230 grain and 300 grain bullets and the CEB Raptor 235 grain bullets.

I didn't see any improvement in the long range loads from my 6.5x284 or 260 though so I don't use it on them.

quote:

Originally posted by Stonecreek:

quote:

I plan on crimping my loads. I've found that it increases consistency.

Really? I wonder why the benchrest crowd hasn't caught onto this trick. No telling how small they could make their groups if only they knew to crush the case mouth into the bullet jacket.

When I shot 1000 yd BR I loaded bullets with .010” jam into the rifling. You obviously don’t crimp bullets you want to jam. On almost everything else I use a Lee Crimp die.

Keep it simple with a long throat, seat the bullet .260 deep into the case..Same with any caliber..

We only use two seating depths.

Maximum for the cartridge, or the longest that will fit in the magazine.

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
We only use two seating depths.

Maximum for the cartridge, or the longest that will fit in the magazine.

^^^^^ this