I'm slowing acquiring tools to reload...but in the meantime, I wanted to start making some decent handloads. Being a convert from the FAL arena, where WECSOG is a necessity, I set out to begin reloading ammo as accurately as I can, with what I have on hand, until my gauges arrive. I'm hoping those with some insight, and open-mindedness will read this and give some straight answers. I know this is probably one of those posts, where I'll either get great advice, or have to endure flaming for trying something different.
So I've been trying to measure the chamber of my newly acquired GAP 308. It looks like the best option is the Hornady system. Until it shows, I'm trying to replicate similar results with a little home ingenuity borrowed from many others around the net. I did the usual...took a case and drilled the primer, tapped it 1/4x20, then resized it to 2.0150 exactly. I cut grooves into the neck, placed a bullet right on the edge and pushed it into the chamber.
Result:
So, I want OAL not COAL, because bullets aren't the same...blah, blah, blah...so since my OAL gauges are sitting in a package somewhere rather than in my hot hands, I figured that a perfectly trimmed and sized case would give me poor man's gauge. I mean the necks are sized, so they should stop at the ogive of the bullet. Here's what I did, took the empty sized case and placed it in the mics, then zeroed it out. Its my OAL gauge:
Then placing the chambered round in question into its neck, I figure I'm measuring the OAL off the ogive:
I repeated this 5 times.
My mean OAL is <span style="font-weight: bold">2.1478</span>
My standard deviation is 0.0031
I just want to know if I'm in the right ballpark here. Do the numbers look suspect or are they reasonable?
I'm thinking to be safe to seat the bullet .015 less at 2.1328. Does this seem reasonable? Thanks.
So I've been trying to measure the chamber of my newly acquired GAP 308. It looks like the best option is the Hornady system. Until it shows, I'm trying to replicate similar results with a little home ingenuity borrowed from many others around the net. I did the usual...took a case and drilled the primer, tapped it 1/4x20, then resized it to 2.0150 exactly. I cut grooves into the neck, placed a bullet right on the edge and pushed it into the chamber.
Result:
So, I want OAL not COAL, because bullets aren't the same...blah, blah, blah...so since my OAL gauges are sitting in a package somewhere rather than in my hot hands, I figured that a perfectly trimmed and sized case would give me poor man's gauge. I mean the necks are sized, so they should stop at the ogive of the bullet. Here's what I did, took the empty sized case and placed it in the mics, then zeroed it out. Its my OAL gauge:
Then placing the chambered round in question into its neck, I figure I'm measuring the OAL off the ogive:
I repeated this 5 times.
My mean OAL is <span style="font-weight: bold">2.1478</span>
My standard deviation is 0.0031
I just want to know if I'm in the right ballpark here. Do the numbers look suspect or are they reasonable?
I'm thinking to be safe to seat the bullet .015 less at 2.1328. Does this seem reasonable? Thanks.
