Relative novice but have loaded for a while with success. Took a break for a couple of years due to space and am starting back. Got a new 30-06 and started trying to load for it. I have shot some factory ammo out of it just to get a feel for it. Finally shot (1-1.25") with some hornady 165 SST's. I loaded some 180 AB's and was trying to figure out my OAL. Hornady round feeds and chambers well and shoots fine. OAL was 3.220" at the tip. I measured everything to the ogive with a comparator but I'm listing base to tip length for comparison's sake. Loaded a few dummy rounds and could not get anything to chamber in the gun (bolt would not close-magazine is fine) until I got to the length of the factory round. Used the match soot and did not get any contact with lands. When loaded again slightly further out, would not chamber. Loaded at factory length or shorter it chambers great. Loaded a few rounds today at that length and nothing shot well at all. Got my OAL tool tonight and with the 180 AB's at the tip, I contacted the lands at 3.402" This is over .25" from the measurement from the longest round I could get to chamber. That is very long. I have not tried any further loads and am a little confused as to why nothing would chamber. Tried some 1x and new brass both full length sized. Empty cases will feed into chamber and the modified case on the gauge seems to go in fine. Anybody know what my problem is? I'm sure there is an obvious and simple explanation but I am not sure what it is. Thanks in advance.
Lee

LEE,

HOW ABOUT YOUR CASE LENGTH? ARE THEY ALL TRIMMED THE SAME? COULD BE THAT YOUR RIFLE DOES NOT LIKE THE 180'S. TRY A DIFFERENT BRAND TO SEE IF THEY CHAMBER ANY BETTER, WORSE, OR THE SAME. MAY SHOOT BETTER, WORSE, OR THE SAME ALSO.

What kinda 30-06? Is it a controlled feed? Are you feeding it from the magazine?
Let's see, a resized case chambers fine and the bolt closes, right? A dummy round in a resized case that's the same size as a store bought round chambers fine and the bolt closes, right?
If you try to go longer, the round won't chamber nor the bolt close, right?
Hmmmmm, what's an AB?
To begin with, if you're measuring from the ogive,and are using flat based bullets, you can just start to resize the neck of a fired case, just enough to hold the bullet, and seat a bullet in there backwards. Then chamber the case, forcing the bullet into the case and that will tell you how long your rounds can be to the ogive. Or you can put the rifle in a cleaning cradle and using a cleaning rod, measure from the muzzle to the face of the closed bolt and mark your rod. Then poke a bullet that has been blackened with a magic marker lightly into the lands (it helps to have someone hold it)and measure from the muzzle to the tip of the bullet and mark you rod. The distance between your marks LESS the distance from the tip of the bullet to the marks left by the lands is the length of your chamber.
If your rounds are shorter than this, you'll nedd to look somewhere else your the solution to your problem. Start out by blackening the entire case and bullet with a magic marker and seat the bullet long. Then see exactly where the round is binding. If the bullet is stopping it, give the seater a turn down, reblacken the bullet and try it again. And so forth.
Keep us posted
Don't forget, every company has their own idea of what shape an ogive ought to be so if you change brands of bullets, often you had to refigure your bullet jump.

Cases are all the same length. AB is an Accubond. I just loaded a dummy round of 155 Berger VLD's and measured it out at .080" off the lands. It chambers just fine. Maybe I had a case problem before as I resized, chamfered, deburred this one at appropriate length again to be sure. I thought that I had done that with the others but maybe there was a problem. Will try another AB and see. Thanks for the help guys.

Got it fixed I think. I tried again today and think that there was a problem with my resizing. The decapper pin was way down and I didn't realize it. The primers were popping out and I wasn't getting a full stroke. I took the pin out, resized a few cases and made some dummy rounds and they chambered fine. I set a 155 VLD at 0.080" off the lands and the 180 AB at 0.060" off and everything went great. I think that the case was somehow the problem. Thanks for all your help. I knew that eventually I would figure it out but just couldn't.