In working up some loads for my .270 Win. I checked the OAL case length and find that it verys quite a bit. How important is case lenght to how well the gun shoots? I know there is alot more to it than that but I was just wondering about the case length thing.

Cycle them in your rifle,If they all go in with no problems you should be ok.

I don't worry about it till it gets close to max dimension. Unless I am loading match grade stuff then It's a ritual

The advice already given is correct.
But if you want to crimp your bullets it works better if the case lengths are, within reason, the same. Also if you are into wringing the last bit of accuracy out of your loads, equal case lengths are a good thing.

muck

Consistency in every detail is very important to how well a gun shoots.

I agree with Buliwyf. Consistancy in all parts of the reloading procedure leads to better accuracy. In my rifles (1 is a .270 Win. too), I always trim. Occasionally, I'll have cases slightly shorter than the "trim-to" length in the book. In this case, I'll trim to the shortest one.
For the .270 Win., the Min. "trim-to" length is 2.530"
Just what I do.
Bear in Fairbanks

Thanks all, I guess its time to pay a little more attention to detail. It sure can't hurt and might just help.

quote:

Originally posted by Buliwyf:
Consistency in every detail is very important to how well a gun shoots.

I'll add to your modest statement.

Consistency in every detail is not only very important to how well a gun shoots It is critical to ones accuracy.

quote:

Originally posted by 257 Rock:
In working up some loads for my .270 Win. I checked the OAL case length and find that it verys quite a bit.

First you have to define how much "quite a bit" is and how you are measuring it...

Measuring the OAL from the base of the cartridge to the tip of the bullet is really only important in that it needs to cycle through the magazine.

As far was getting a consistant measurement for accuracy, the trouble with this method is very often the tip of bullet is deformed slightly...This is particularly true with traditional soft point ammo that has lead exposed at the very tip..

To get consistant accuracy, the measurement we are really interested in is from the base of the cartridge to the ogive of the bullet.

To measure this you need some sort of "bullet comparator"..

There are few different sorts available, but I use the Hornady one in the pic below. Sinclair Internation do an almost indetical one which is a bit cheaper.

Basically you have the body of the comparator, which fixes to theblade of your caliper, and the the appropriate "insert" or "collar" for the cartridges you reload for..

Its a fairly cheap tool, is easy to use and gives me good results that are plenty accurate enough for reloading purposes..

Regards,

Peter