Loading to mag length problem?

[pepperbelly]

I managed to finally take my .308 SASS out to play Saturday. I loaded about 40 rounds to try, and used a COAL of 2.80". All of those seemed to work fine.
I had some loads I had made for another rifle- bolt action. From the note I had in the box they were loaded slightly longer. They still loaded into the mag, but I had several rounds that did not want to feed from the mag into the chamber.

Will an overall length that is slightly too long do that or should I be looking at something else?

Jim

 

[Victor N TN]

Re: Loading to mag length problem?

Why not just run them back through the seater die as you have it set now? If the length is the only difference, shorten them. Push the bullets just a little deeper in the case.

 

[pepperbelly]

Re: Loading to mag length problem?

There were only 5 of them. I just wanted to be sure if that could cause the rounds to not be stripped from the mag or if I need to look elsewhere.

Jim

 

[Victor N TN]

Re: Loading to mag length problem?

Long rounds will cause the bullet to rub on the front of the mag and cause a failure to feed.

 

[vman]

Re: Loading to mag length problem?

If the round isnt leaving the magazine its because of either

1) the projectile nose has jammed up and is not allowing the bullet to move up
2) the projectile is hitting the feed ramp. Some rifle/magazine combos arent matched. My feed ramp for instance, does not allow me to load to mag length without having rounds snag up on the feed ramp. A dremel fixes this.

Also, depending on how those cases are sized, if the sizing is minimal (only 0.001 bump back on the shoulder) and your rifles chamber dimensions are different, theres a chance the case itself will not chamber.

 

[pepperbelly]

Re: Loading to mag length problem?

These were just full-length resized. I am not savvy enough to just measure shoulder set-back.
For what it's worth I was using P-Mags. The rounds that I had a problem with may have been loaded to 2.815" to 2.82". I think they were some I had tried in a bolt rifle I had. They were left over so i shot them to get the brass. That and I wanted to shoot the rifle. I fired around 50 rounds and those were the only few that gave me a problem.
I did notice that the rounds I loaded the day before to 2.80" were very close to the front of the mag. I didn't have a problem with them, but it is close enough that the slightly longer rounds may have hit the front of the mag.

Jim