Hornady coal tool

[Brettmparker1]

I have a 270 win I’m trying to tune some loads for. I used the Hornady tool to find the lands and while pushing it in I stopped at the first point of resistance, ran a ladder .020 off but the rifle still won’t group. So I thought I would check the measurement again and decided to push a little harder. The bullet slid in more and then hit a hard stop. The new measurement which I checked over and over with the same result and the jump turned into 180 thou. I really don’t think this is right. I’ve used this tool on a dozen rifles and this seems to be the only one I’ve had trouble with. Looking for opinions, advice etc.

 

[spife7980]

If it’s a saami chamber with a coned neck then that could be the cause of your issues if there is any misalignment. Make sure the case is pushed in solid and centered?

How do those align with your mag lengths? My 270 was limited internally so that made my decision on where max seating for me, maybe you can luck out too lol

 

[Flightmurse]

I have had this happen before where the bullet almost catches and then goes to a hard stop. I think it’s something to do with carbon in the throat, or some rough edges. Go for the further out hard stop and jump from there, that’s where I found accuracy.

 

[Brettmparker1]

Thanks, I have lots of room in the mag for length I swapped stocks this year and it’s running aics now.

 

[SnowMan]

I had one of those, best thing I did was throw it away. I got a nice digital caliper and just started with what ever the book said for OAL. Consistency/Accuracy improved dramatically. Used that for the reference point and worked from there. Typically I didn't end up to far from book OAL.