Is there anything I can do about an excessively long throat in a .270 Win? I originally had trouble finding the lands using the candle method. Eventually, I got a Stoney Point OAL gauge. With Nosler Ballsitic tips the COL to just hit the lands is 3.545. This measurement is consistent. However, Speer lists max COL at 3.340 and 3.380 is the longest COL that will fit in the magazine. This seems like I am excessively far from the lands. Is there anything I can do about this? Presently, I am just loading to 3.380.

If the gun is shooting well, why worry about it?

You could have the barrel set back and rechambered almost any way you like, pretty inexpensively.

Another thing I've stumbled on as a target shooter is moly bullets. Many of mine seem to like a loooooooooonng jump into the leade of 50 thousanths or so! Skeery. Moly may or may not be appropriate for a hunting rifle, depending on what you do with it but it's something you might try.

Cheers!

Redial

It is not shooting as well as it should. I am not getting better than 2" groups at 100 yards.

Set the barrel back and rechamber with a reamer that has a shorter throat, or one that uses a seperate throater to finish the job.

Rechamber for a longer cartridge, 270/300 Ultra Mag maybe.

Really heavy Sierra bullets might get you closer to the lands, might even fins a good shooter out of them too.

An extended magazine box such as Wyatt's would give you almost an additional .100" in length if that's what you need. George Gardener at G.A. Precision will install one of these if you don't want to.

I like .015" - .020" tip clearance at the tightest point in the mag box.

Single feeding them will tell you if you'll find an accuracy gain seating on the lands, or closer to them than you magazine box allows.

Thanks for all the advice and information. Since I am almost .2" from max. magazine COL to COL to the lands, I think I will have the barrel set back.

Jim, have you tried to set it to the minimum and boost your loads way up. Lot of times this works, also, I you could go to the nosler partition in a semi spitzer which would likely reach the lands. I had a weatherby in 270win, and it also had the excessive throat, with the 150 partitions it grouped real well with the bullet seated in a minimum and a case full of H4831, with mag primers.

It may not be what you want or do the trick but the 170gr. Hornady round noses when seated out to a max. Magazine length. might come close to touching the rifling. Just a thought.roger

Before you start rechambering, how does it shoot with the bullet seated to touch? Your barrel may not be any better than a 2 incher! You might be better off wit a new barrel, could save you a few bucks in the long run.

To me a long throat is a good thing, more velocity (if you need it) and more accurate at lower pressures.

Brent's suggestion about a longer magazine from Kevin Wyatt is an inexpensive idea. ( I know Kevin, and he does EXCELLENT work on anything).

Pablo's suggestion also about seeing if the barrel is a better shooter than 2 inches to begin with. I hope that long throat is not a product of throat erosion, If so the turn back of the barrel and rechamber are the best alternative to just getting a new barrel put on her.

Good luck with the project.

I recently checked my late 80's rem 700 adl 270 with a stoney point gauge right before hunting season to get it ready, with the nosler ballistic tip and the hornaday interbond in 130 grain, the bullet would have to be seated 1/8" out of the case in order for it to touch the lands. I also think my throat is excessive, but took it out the next day with the hornaday interbonds the average of my 3, 3 shot groups was .80, good enough for me and the deer sure thought it was pretty effective too.

I've never done this, only read about it. With some magazines you can file down the front lip allowing you to use longer bullets. I'd give some thought to it. I recently measured some loaded rounds for 11 different calibers and numerous bullets with my Stoney Point OAL guage.
Some of the OAL's are ridiculous. Some bullets don't even come close to the lands. Apparently SAAMI specs don't mean much to the manufacturers. Best wishes.

Cal - Montreal

Before you think about spending a couple hundred bucks to rebuild the rifle, there are some more basic questions:

1. What make of rifle is this? Some manufacturers use very long throats. I have two Mark X Mausers in which it's impossible to come near the lands with any bullet. One shoots acceptably well with some loads. The other shoots very well with almost any reasonable load.

2. Have you tried any other bullets?

3. Have you checked your cartridges for concentricity -- even neck thickness, low neck and bullet runout?

4. What kind of stock does your rifle have, and how is it bedded? Screw tightness OK?

Almost any of these (except a totally new stock) will be easier and cheaper than setting back and rechambering.

John

Isn't this what Weatherby calls "Freebore"? At least they charge for it!

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Mike

Try some Hawk bullets and just seat them to a length that works in your existing magazine. Hawks are soft annealed pure copper jacketed, and slug up like no other bullet made. In addition, they have gentle ogives, which puts the lands contact point further forward on the bullet. They are famous for shooting well in shot out bbls with long throats.

Last, but not least, they are LETHAL!! They expand to 3X and will not, repeat NOT, come apart.

I like a long throat in my rifles..I can seat the bullets way out and get more powder in and more velocity and less pressure...

A prime example is the wonderfull Brno Mod 21 and 22, they have the longest throats you will find anywhere and they ALL shot great...

An interresting article in A-Squares manual on long throated rifles, sometimes mistakenly referred to as free bore..

Also goes into funnel and stright throats, and the funnel throat can be problematic apparantly.