Now that I have your attention, let me thank you in advance for your thoughts!

In all seriousness, I discovered something a bit unsettling the other day. To make a long story fairly short, my reloading partner and I found that my Stoney Point .270 Case (used for measuring the distance of the bullet's ogive from the lands) indicated about 1/4 inch too long!

In the past, this was never a factor (we think!) because the magazine on my M70 limited overall length.

In working up with a long bullet (130 gr. Hornady Interbond), we decided to by-pass the magazine via "single-shots", with the intent of getting .01 inch off the lands. When I jamed a bullet into the lands, we discovered that something was amiss!

In using the Stoney point .270 case w/ the Stoney point gauge (the curved, "semi-auto" type), the bullet "pusher-rod" always came to the very edge of the case mouth--leaving us to believe approaching the lands would be impossible, at least with a bullet seated deep enough to hold properly in the case.

Here's where it gets interesting...

In their directions, Stoney Point explicity states that the case is not to be sized in a die. You simply screw it onto the guage and insert into the chamber.

Wondering if the die was somehow "oversized" (or maybe my chamber was tight, or maybe both), we ran it through the die and re-expanded the mouth with a 7mm die & its exapander ball.

Having resized the case, we chambered it and pushed a bullet to the lands.

It indicated about 1/4 inch deeper in the case after resizing!

Does that make any sense--have I explained clearly what happened? Have any of you had a similar experience?

Thanks for the help,

friar

Sounds as though the resize solved the problem. I use the same tools but mine is a straight one for bolt actions and the 270 works fine. I guess you got that one in a thousand flawed case.

I think that the problem is with the new bullet.
Have you tried another bullet or your old bullets that you were using.
Larry

Friar, it sounds like your onto the solution, but I agree,that is a little spooky.

That situation is why I like the RCBS precision mic, and the Nosler OAL length/ seating depth methodology, e.g. seating a bullet into an UNSIZED case and pinching the mouth just enough to hold a bullet, and closing the bolt on this dummy round, doing it several times and comparing/averaging the measurements to get a true read for that bullet in that rifle

We're all crazy---we reload.
I've re-read your post a few times and I still can't figure out how you or the gauge didn't get the same length no matter what?

With or without a "resized" cartridge---Even if you reset the case shoulder you won't have pushed it a quarter inch, and the cartridge wasn't reduced in total size to the point where it is now "swallowed" in the chamber, and your still just measuring in one direction.

If the head (primer end)of the bullet is inserted into the proper chamber location correctly, and If the case is snuggly screwed on to the Stoney stick, and if you were able to gently slide the bullet to a contact with the lands and set the gauge, then you should get the same measure everytime.

Unless your using their oglive comparitor tool for one measurement and then not using it and getting and Over all length from case head to bullet point.

Or may be it's all in the words--for example you said the
"Stoney Point .270 Case (used for measuring the distance of the bullet's ogive from the lands)"----where as I look at it as measuring from the oglive to the case head, and leaving us to calculate how much further to pull the bullet off the lands or how much to shorten it fit in the magazine.

Thanks for your help everyone! We do use an RCBS die/bullet seating micrometer, and I agree whole-heartedly, it's indespensible.

And I worried whether I was explaining the situation accurately--I wasn't exactly sure how to put it, and I write for a living! Just goes to show how tough it can be to write well.

I think what happened, Bigdog, is that, when we sized the Stoney Point case, it reduced its dimensions just enough for it to slip a little further into the chamber (?), even if only by fractions of an inch.

What was unmistakable, though, was that after resizing, the same bullet "showed" a greater seating depth within the case (a bullet-depth about 1/4 inch greater).

The more I think about all this, the more beautiful the simplicity of the Nosler method becomes. Like you said, Fish, a true read for that bullet in that rifle.

Thanks for the help everyone!

friar