It would appear that your rifle does have a lot of freebore which, according to my experience, is not unusual for factory rifles. My most recent purchase, a Savage 12VLP in .204 Ruger caliber, has the chamber cut so deep that I cannot touch the lands with either 32 gr. V-Max or 35 gr. Berger FB HP and have the base of the bullet in the case mouth. I can, however, seat the 40 gr. V-Max out far enough to touch the lands, but this is NOT a seating depth I would use in a hunting situation because not enough bullet is inside the case neck and the bullets, if touched lightly, may get out of concentricity with the case neck, rifle bore, etc.



If you want to shoot your rifle as a single shot, then you can seat the bullet longer than the magazine. I do that with my Tikka Master Sporter in 22-250 using the 40 gr. Nosler BT bullets. However, be careful so that the bullet doesn't get stuck in the lands and then you try to remove the cartridge without fireing the round. You will have a mess of powder all over the inside of your action.



Your bullets don't have to be on or a few thousandths off the lands to shoot accurately. I have found with my rifles that there are many times two or more sweet spots for seating depth. One of those sweet spots may be 0.100" off the lands or even more.

My brother just purchased a new savage FV in 22-250. I tried to determine the seating depth by creating a dummy round with the 50 gr vmax slightly seated. I chambered the round and continually seated the bullet more and more until the round chambered easily. The COL measured 3.505!!!! Everything I found listed 50 gr bullets with COL of 3.35. What seating depth should I use? I know that 3.5 is too long b/c not enough bullet is in the neck. Does his rifle have too much free-bore? (if that's the right term). My 22-250 has a magazine so I load to a 3.365 COL. How much is too long?

Any help would be appreciated.

Well we are going to start with a COL of 3.400 and see how that works, that is about .1 off the lands which is a long way. I wanted to try to keep at least .224 of the bullet in the neck casing, 3.4 is where we will start. I just didn't know if .1 jump would hurt accuracy or not. Magazine length in this Savage is definitely not a problem.

Magazine length really is the problem. For my heavy bullets, they are a single shot load. Never needed anything more. Consider that too. My 69 grain sierra matchkings DO NOT like to be too far off the lands, and the 68 grain hornady match bullets have to be in the lands a touch. However, I have had fair luck with the nosler BTs off the lands. the ogive of the hornady bullets (like your vmax) seams to like less jump and won't accept a whole lot of it. One VERY important thing: Try HOLLOW POINT BULLETS!Cuts out the plastic nose and bumps you right into the lands at a SHORT OAL. I never had great luck with light bullets in my fast twist, especially seating deap. However, I tried the 53 grain HP flatbase bullets from sierra and they got me to within .005" from the lands while still feeding from the magazine (short magazine in rem788). This load shot .5" which was better than the groups I got with other light bullets (but the heavy stuff won out hands down in my fast twist). Try the HP bullets. Many out there and you won't have the problems with seating depth. Try 52, 53 grain HP bullets with H380. Works for so many people!

My custom rifle is like this with even the really long bullets (I have a 1:9" twist). My 69 grain SMKs are only half way in the neck and they give me .2" groups when i do my part. If you have more than this the better off you are, but it isn't going to hurt anything unless you can pull those bullets out with your hands. Your loads will just have to be adjusted for the particular seating depth. IMPORTANT: My rifle as well as many other 22 cal rifles I know like the seating depth .01" OFF the lands. Once you seat the bullet deap enough you do not see the riflings anymore, seat them .01" farther than this and work on your loads at that seating depth. After finding a good load, adjust seating depth a touch to find exactly what your rifle likes best. My guess is you are IN the lands right now and not on the lands. BIG difference between in the lands and on the lands. Again, try .01" off the lands for starters.

It isn't at all unusual for .22 centerfires to be chambered where a bullet can't be seated to touch the rifling. Start with the bullet seated about .250 into the case and adjust seating depth for best accuracy. If it'll feed through the magazine, has at least 1 caliber of seating depth to hold the bullet in place, don't worry about what the manual says about OAL. You may have to adjust powder charge as your .22-250 will now have more capacity.

Maybe I don't understand your post Shilen30. My problem is that when I reach the lans, the length is 3.5. The magazine will accomadate this length, but I am afraid that there is not enough bullet in the casing to be safe. My concern is that when I seat the bullet to a safe length, around 3.4, that the bullet is going to get too much jump causing accuracy problems. I really don't want to load heavy long bullets if I don't have to. It will be mostly used for coyotes and the 50gr vmax does the trick for me.