What are the pros / cons of a very short throat on rifle? I tend to hear of a lot of people complaining about having too long of a throat and can't reach the rifling. I'm having the opposite problem. I had a .270 built a while back and the throat is very short. I never really noticed it until I decided to give an old favorite bullet a revisit, the 150 gr. Hornady Spirepoint. I normally start about 1/16" of the lands for a hunting load and seating to this depth, the bullet is very deep in the case...well past the canneleure. This gun definitely has a tight chamber as I get pressure signs much earlier than other .270s in the past. Anyway...just wondering if anybody has any tips since I don't see much on this topic.

Thanks,

Lou

Obviously this was chambered with a reamer without throater on it. Maybe they were going to cut the throat later, and forgot.

Sounds like you need to have just the throat lengthened a bit. Not a big job if you have ateh throater.

Terry,

Thanks. What can I do to verify this is the problem?

-Lou

where is the base of the bullet(full dia. if boattail) in relationship to the junction of the neck /shoulder of the brass? If the base of the bullet is a lot below the junction of the neck/shoulder of the brass, presure may go up. You will also lose some powder capacity as the bullet goes deeper into the case. The throat may have been cut for light bullets (shorter).It should shoot just fine. Remember to reduce the max powder charge by 10% when starting loading, and work up.

It definitely shoots fine. I've used mostly factory ammo out of it due to space restrictions since I've gotten it, but have recently bought another house and started reloading again...which is basically when I noticed it.

Some bullets will definitly protrude past the neck. The gunsmith who built the gun did say he was putting a minimum spec chamber on it. After having several guns with very long throats, I thought this was a good idea.

So, now I'm paranoid since Terry mentioned that the gunsmith might of done something wrong. Anybody know a quick way I can check that the throat is OK. As I said before, I've been shooting factory ammo without issue (which makes me think it's ok, at least that it has a throat), but I also don't want to inadvertantly blow anything, including me, up.

Thanks,

Lou

All standard rifle chambers are cut to SAMMI specs, so they will accept any and all factory ammo you may buy. By standard I refer to any cartridge that is not considered a wildcat cartridge. Seems strange to me you have no problem firing factory, but reloads give you a problem. The 270 cartridge with the 150 grain bullet is a long bullet and may extend into the shoulder area of the case when seated. Run a spent case into your sizer die so just 1/16" inch of the neck is resized. Seat a 150 grain bullet so it is just barely started into the case. Next chamber the round very slowly until the bolt is closed. Then slowly remove the cartridge and the bullet will be shoved into the case by the riflings. Now see how far it extends into the case compared to a factory round.

Lou, I have a tip! Select the bullet you will use most often, then load several "diummy" cartridges with that bullet to the overall length you wish to use. I generally use "seated to the base of the neck" for this purpose, but choose what suits you best. Then take the gun to the gunsmith who built the rifle for you, and tell him "lengthen the throat in this barrel to use these here cartridges"!! This is what I did with my 6mm/.284 using Speer 105 grain spitzers, and boy, do this rifle shoot!!

[ 11-01-2003, 18:28: Message edited by: eldeguello ]

But if you use eldeguello's tip, don't forget that if you want to use your magazine the cartridges can't be too long to cycle through the magazine. I can't seat my bullets out at all with my M70 7mm Rem Mag or .300 Weatherby Vanguard. The M70's throat's short enough so the bullets are very close to the rifling when seated to factory load length anyway. The Vanguard has the typical long Weatherby freebore and shoots fine with a 3/8" free run for the bullet. As long as the freebore is a close fit to the bullet diameter, I don't see any reason why it shouldn't. That should hold for any chamber; the problem wouldn't be with the distance from the case mouth to the rifling leade so much as whether the bullet has a few thousandths of diametrical "slop" to wobble around in on the way to the rifling. It's got to stay aligned straight with the bore center if it's going to fly true.