O.A.L for 30-06 Fail Safe

[tenauto]

Hello,

I've measured the bullet seating depth in my Interarms Mark X for a 30-06 Fail Safe Bullet (180gr.).
The measured O.A.L is 3.258 until the bullet touches the lands (max. should be 3.340 from Winchester Reloading Catalog)!.

What is the nominal overal length for this bullet / caliber combination? Should these bullets normaly touch the lands in a hunting rifle?

Thanks in advance and sorry for my english, I am posting from Germany.

Ati

 

[Bigdog2n]

The normal "Over All Length" OAL for a 30-06 is as you said 3.340" This is the length from the base of the cartridge to the tip of the bullet. This distance is normally not exceeded because it can effect how the shell feeds into the chamber or even fits in the magazine in the first place.

If your specific gun has a distance to the lands of 3.258" that's good to know but that's the distance where the curvature of the bullet hits the lands. The problem is how to judge the curvature of a particular bullet to the OAL of the shell which is not directly related to Distance to Lands.
Remember there's a different curvature of each different style of bullet.

Most guns show an improvement in accuracy when the edges of the bullet are kept back from the lands. I believe the range is 0.005" to 0.01"

I've heard some who claim that loading to the lands is best---BUT it's too easy to seat the bullet too long, and this can make the gun hard or impossible to close and fire. Not a good thing when hunting.

"Stoney Point Manufacturing" makes a bullet comparitor that will help measure and judge these relations to ensure that you can reload different types of bullets that will properly work in your rifle.

In short---Seating the Bullet to touch the lands-----NO

 

[tenauto]

Thanks for your answer, but that is not the point!

The chamber of my gun has standard C.I.P. Dimensions!

The point is the discrepancy between the O.A.L. of the Fail Safe (180gr) Bullet in a .30-06 case published in the Winchester Reloading Guide (3.340) and the maximal possible OAL of this bullet / calibre combination measured in my gun which is 3.258 until the bullet touches the lands! (Comment: I know how to measure OAL!)
So a reasonable OAL is (3.258 minus 0.040 that the bullet is before the lands) 3.218 and this is much less than published in the above mentioned Guide!!

Has anyone experiences with this bullet / calibre combination or what is the nominal OAL published by NOSLER??

Thanks
Ati

 

[Anonymous]

Our published data in Nosler Reloading Guide #5 for the 30-06 Spingfield is 3.340". Is it possible that your rifle is just got a short throat? I spent some time over the weekend trying to find out it C.I.P. dimensions are different in the throat than SAAMI. However most of the websites I found were not in English. Keep us updated.

 

[tenauto]

Hello

I posted this question in a German Forum and became many similar replies.

Some people replied even shorter possible O.A.L. in their rifles.

I measured a new 30-06 Winchester CXP3 with the Fail Safe bullet and the O.A.L is 3.071!! This will fit into most chambers!

This is much shorter than I thought - so 3.200 should be a good value for overall length in my gun!

@Nosler: You should update your reloading guides concerning all CT Fail Safe Bullets!

Thanks for your answers
A. Timm