The Accurate Reloading Forums THE ACCURATE RELOADING.COM FORUMS Guns, Politics, Gunsmithing & Reloading Reloading Seating bullets by magazine limits and feeding in bolt actionsGo | New | Find | Notify | Tools | Reply | |
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If your COAL is limited by the magazine for a particular bullet and rifle, what difference in length do you find gives reliable feeding? I understand this may depend on the particular rifle, but is there a rule of thumb you start with? This is for hunting and not ultimate accuracy. And assumes a floorplate or blind mag bolt action. I recently set some 0.050" shorter than the mag and they fed fine. Reloading was a bit slow as I had to look and wiggle a bit when trying to reload from the top. | ||
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I have a dealt with a couple of bolt action rifles that wouldn't let me seat bullets anywhere near the rifling lands because of magazine limit. One of them is my model 600 Remington chambered in 6mmRem. I like cup and core bullets seated 0.010" off the lands because that is usually where I find an accurate load the quickest and easiest, but after working up an accurate load for this rifle with the bullet seated to this length I found I had a single shot. I then seated my bullets short enough they would work through the magazine but when shot in this length, my accurate load had opened up from 1moa to 3+ moa. I then started my load workup from scratch and found I needed a different powder to get this rifle loaded to this shorter COAL back to 1 moa. There is no shortcut to accuracy with any hand load, but some loads are easier to stumble onto than others. You just have to find what works in yours. If you aren't opposed to mono-metal bullets such as those made by Barnes, you may find an accurate load easier, as they need to be seated for more jump than the cup and core bullets. Dennis Life member NRA | |||
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It only matters if it will feed; the OAL is not important; .050 shorter than the mag, or something else. Fit and try. | |||
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Couple of examples. My .300 WM has long magazine and throat lengths. No feeding issues if bullet seating depth is deeper than shown. My .358 Win BLR has short magazine and throat lengths. Bullet profile can affect reliable feeding. Doesn't like flat nose bullets.   | |||
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When my most accurate loads don't fit the mag, I seat some so they do feed and then check impact. Normally, not a huge difference. I can then shoot a long one up the spout. Alternatively, sometimes you can feed one reliably from the mag, so you essentially have two shots. I think a big reason why the 28 Nos, 30 PRC etc are popular is that you can seat the bullets way out there and they still feed. Real case capacity difference is not that much different. | |||
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I believe your question is if my desired COAL is say 2.910 but if my magazine is only 2.9 how close can I load to 2.9. I would start with 12/1000 of clearance 2.888 and see if that works. Mike Never under estimate the internet community's ability to reply to your post with their personal rant about their tangentially related, single occurrence issue.  What I have learned on AR, since 2001: 1. The proper answer to: Where is the best place in town to get a steak dinner? is…You should go to Mel's Diner and get the fried chicken. 2. Big game animals can tell the difference between .015 of an inch in diameter, 15 grains of bullet weight, and 150 fps. 3. There is a difference in the performance of two identical projectiles launched at the same velocity if they came from different cartridges. 4. While a double rifle is the perfect DGR, every 375HH bolt gun needs to be modified to carry at least 5 down. 5. While a floor plate and detachable box magazine both use a mechanical latch, only the floor plate latch is reliable. Disregard the fact that every modern military rifle uses a detachable box magazine. 6. The Remington 700 is unreliable regardless of the fact it is the basis of the USMC M40 sniper rifle for 40+ years with no changes to the receiver or extractor and is the choice of more military and law enforcement sniper units than any other rifle. 7. PF actions are not suitable for a DGR and it is irrelevant that the M1, M14, M16, & AK47 which were designed for hunting men that can shoot back are all PF actions. 8. 95 deg F in Africa is different than 95 deg F in TX or CA and that is why you must worry about ammunition temperature in Africa (even though most safaris take place in winter) but not in TX or in CA. 9. The size of a ding in a gun's finish doesn't matter, what matters is whether it’s a safe ding or not. 10. 1 in a row is a trend, 2 in a row is statistically significant, and 3 in a row is an irrefutable fact. 11. Never buy a WSM or RCM cartridge for a safari rifle or your go to rifle in the USA because if they lose your ammo you can't find replacement ammo but don't worry 280 Rem, 338-06, 35 Whelen, and all Weatherby cartridges abound in Africa and back country stores. 12. A well hit animal can run 75 yds. in the open and suddenly drop with no initial blood trail, but the one I shot from 200 yds. away that ran 10 yds. and disappeared into a thicket and was not found was lost because the bullet penciled thru. I am 100% certain of this even though I have no physical evidence. 13. A 300 Win Mag is a 500 yard elk cartridge but a 308 Win is not a 300 yard elk cartridge even though the same bullet is travelling at the same velocity at those respective distances. | |||
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When my loads do not fit the magazine, I remove the mag box, weld an extension on it, machine out the receiver for the longer mag box, re-inlet for the stock, and re-assemble. Problem solved. Alternatively, I: remove the barrel, and fit it to a long action. Sell the short acton and stock. Problem solved. Easier than all the drama of discussing how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. And the like. BLUF: if you really need a longer cartridge OAL, get a longer action. | |||
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I have 2 rifles with short magazines, a Ruger M77 in 22 Hornet, and a 1963 Sako L461 in 222 Rem Mag. Since these are coyote guns, I seat the bullets deep enough to fit and feed properly, and have been able to find very accurate loads for each. Plastic-tipped bullets are a challenge to fit the magazine of the Sako and the Ruger. | |||
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I also have the same rifles in the same calibers, and it is true that long spitzers, particularly those with the poly tip, may present some difficulty in overall length. In the Sako .222 I stick to lead-tipped conventional bullets and have no problems, whereas something like a 55 grain Ballistic Tip would have to seat so deep that its ogive taper is below the case mouth, leaving a little groove for dirt and foreign matter to collect in and making a lip that can potentially hang on the edge of the chamber (although this hasn't been a problem with the Sako. In the Ruger 77/22H the best bullet ever was a 45 grain Sierra semi-spitzer, which Sierra conveniently stopped producing about the time I discovered it. GRRR.  | |||
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The Accurate Reloading Forums THE ACCURATE RELOADING.COM FORUMS Guns, Politics, Gunsmithing & Reloading Reloading Seating bullets by magazine limits and feeding in bolt actions
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