Chasing the Lands

[johngfoster]

I'm reloading for my 22-250. In the last 100 rounds I've noticed the throat erode 0.012" (12 thousands). I've been trying to keep my bullets 5th off the lands, but each box of 50 rounds I seem to have to seat them another 5th further out. I'm loading 55gr V-MAX and if I seat them kissing the lands, they come out at 2.562" COL. I can't even load 40gr V-MAX unless I forget about trying to get close to the lands. 50gr V-MAX would be iffy. My rifle is a Remington 700, so it had a long throat to begin with. Round count is 980ish.

I realize this caliber is not the friendliest on barrels, so I'm not too surprised about this. However, at what point do you stop trying to chase the lands?

 

[Country]

Re: Chasing the Lands

When the rounds are too long to fit the magazine or when the bullets are not deep enough in the neck to hold the bullet straight after seating or to resist chambering pressure.
Remember that concentricity of the loaded case and bullet is just as important as getting to the lands . If the bullet is sent into the lands dead straight then a small jump to the lands will not usually cause a big problem.
If you load ammo one round at a time by hand then you can have less bullet in the case neck and lower neck tension as long as the bullet is seating straight.

 

[Fuzzball]

Re: Chasing the Lands

"..at what point do you stop trying to chase the lands?"

IMHO, stop when you actually start finding the jump that shoots best insead of simply picking some specific point that is likely to be less than ideal.

 

[Hummer]

Re: Chasing the Lands

I have seen a 308 barrel with no visible rifling three inches downbore and it shot 1.5" at 300 yards. They cut it off and set it back and it still shot 1.5" at 300 with same ammo. If you take care and clean frequently they can last many rounds.
The M16A2 went 12000 rounds SS109 before it got to rejection point. This was hot scedule and much worse than the average shooter would drive his own.

We had a M249 go 25,000 rounds without a stoppage. Gov't ammo acceptance barrels (30 cal.) would go 15,000 to 17,000 before they were replaced.