Im new to reloading rifles and im starting with my AR. Does my COL matter for accuracy? Im going to follow what my Lyman book says but I don't know if that's another variable that I need to tweak for me to get a great match load. Throwing a 69 grain match king if that helps with an answer.
- Thread starter nikdanja
- Start date
nikdanja,
Max OAL for the 223/5.56 is 2.260". That's mag length, and will allow it to function in any SAAMI length mag. That said, the bullets themselves will vary in length by a substantial amount, with .010"-.015" being both perfectly normal and fairly typical. You have to account for this in your seating depth, or troubles ensue (trust me on this). I normally seat to a max of about 2.250", to allow for the longer bullets to still clear the face of the mag without dragging. Load a bunch, and you'll see them varying from, say 2.248" all the way out to 2.257" or so. Point is, you need to make sure that the absolute longest rounds still seat, feed and function through the mag without dragging the tip (meplat) of the bullet on the face of the mag. We're just trying to account for all this and ensure reliable functioning. Remember that were seating off the ogive, not the meplat, which is why we need to allow for these variations. And no, this won't affect accuracy a bit, since the ogive/throat relationship remains constant despite the OAL differential. Hope this helps.
Max OAL for the 223/5.56 is 2.260". That's mag length, and will allow it to function in any SAAMI length mag. That said, the bullets themselves will vary in length by a substantial amount, with .010"-.015" being both perfectly normal and fairly typical. You have to account for this in your seating depth, or troubles ensue (trust me on this). I normally seat to a max of about 2.250", to allow for the longer bullets to still clear the face of the mag without dragging. Load a bunch, and you'll see them varying from, say 2.248" all the way out to 2.257" or so. Point is, you need to make sure that the absolute longest rounds still seat, feed and function through the mag without dragging the tip (meplat) of the bullet on the face of the mag. We're just trying to account for all this and ensure reliable functioning. Remember that were seating off the ogive, not the meplat, which is why we need to allow for these variations. And no, this won't affect accuracy a bit, since the ogive/throat relationship remains constant despite the OAL differential. Hope this helps.
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