Win Mod 70 30-06 OAL???

[nosler06]

I was wondering what other people have for an oal for the 30-06, and specifically the Win Mod 70. I am finding there is some differences with my oal with the 180gr Nosler Part. If the tip has any slight disfiguring to it that will change the oal especially just how close to the lands the actual bullet sits. Am I assuming this to be correct? When you look at a new box of the Nosler Parts you can see slight differences in the lead tip that you would not have with a polymer tip. I am trying to dial in the most accurate oal for my rifle, but am wondering if I am going to measure differently to compensate for the deformities. Or maybe I am trying to measure it too closely than ever would be necessary for a hunting rifle. I would like to know what others have used for oal for the 30-06, especially Win Mod 70 and someone using the Nosler 180gr Part. Thanks in advance.

 

[tddeangelo]

What you might want to do is get a bullet comparator. With that, you can measure to the ogive and not to the tip of the bullet. That allows you to use a much more consistent point of reference for your measurements, avoiding the issues you mentioned with tip deformities.

 

[Guest]

I can't speak to the 180gr Partition, as I'm a 168gr Ballistic Tip guy, myself, but Tom is right, you need to use a bullet comparator and measure from the ogive. It will be far more consistent and relieve you of the tip variation issue with lead-tipped bullets.

 

[roysclockgun]

You could use the old, coat the bullet with a fiber tipped pen and push the OAL back until no ink is disturbed.
First, get a number of cartridges ready to load, with propellant already in the case. Barely seat the bullet in the case. Put the cartridge into the chamber and slowly but firmly, close the bolt. Carefully extract the cartridge, making certain that the bullet has not stuck on the lands. If the bullet does stick, remove it with a rod.
Seat the next bullet .005" deeper and coat it with fiber tipped pen. Take a reading on the OAL of the cartridge, before loading. Chamber that bullet and close the bolt into battery. When extracted, the bullet should show marks from making contact with the lands, by the ink having been scuffed in that area of the Oglive.
Again take the OAL. It may be slightly shorter than before you chambered it. This will give a close enough reading on how long is too long, because you now know that at that length, the bullet is contacting the lands firmly.
Take another loaded cartridge and shorten the OAL by .005" and repeat the procedure. Shorten the OAL on each bullet loaded, until no marks of the lands show at all. Then, shorten the next cartridge by .015". Load 4 or 5 test loads and try them out at the range. If you want to speed up the process. Load five more at .005" longer and five more at .005" shorter.
Shoot those three different lengths in slow fire strings, allowing the barrel to cool between firing.
Doing this will give you a good start on finding the best length to the oglive, as the oglive is what will touch the lands, regardless of any distortion to the point of the bullet.

 

[Guest]

I'd do that COL test with no propellant in the case, and no primer, by the way. You'll dump a bunch of powder in your chamber and action otherwise, because at least one of the bullets will stick and pull from the case.

 

[roysclockgun]

After my initial try at the "ink on the bullet" OAL test, I have never dumped propellent into the action. I hold the rifle, muzzle up and carefully extract until I can see that the bullet is still in the case. If it is not, I grasp the case, as it extracts and remove it, with the mouth still up! If done slowly, no propellent spills out of the case.
The reason that I do this, is because I end up with a number of cartridges, having the bullet not seated where I want them. All I need do, is to run those through the seater, which is now set to the desired OAL. Just saves time for me.

 

[joelkdouglas]

After my initial try at the "ink on the bullet" OAL test, I have never dumped propellent into the action. I hold the rifle, muzzle up and carefully extract until I can see that the bullet is still in the case. If it is not, I grasp the case, as it extracts and remove it, with the mouth still up! If done slowly, no propellent spills out of the case.
The reason that I do this, is because I end up with a number of cartridges, having the bullet not seated where I want them. All I need do, is to run those through the seater, which is now set to the desired OAL. Just saves time for me.

A braver man than I...

I use a Hornady comparator.

 

[Ridgerunner665]

I have a comparator...but to set up my dies I use a blank round that I loaded and crimped just for that purpose.

The actual OAL of the loaded rounds is ~3.34 when using Nosler BT's...take note of the fact that you can seat bullets long enough to jam into the rifling in a model 70...even Berger bullets...and they will feed just fine from the magazine.

 

[nosler06]

You could use the old, coat the bullet with a fiber tipped pen and push the OAL back until no ink is disturbed.
First, get a number of cartridges ready to load, with propellant already in the case. Barely seat the bullet in the case. Put the cartridge into the chamber and slowly but firmly, close the bolt. Carefully extract the cartridge, making certain that the bullet has not stuck on the lands. If the bullet does stick, remove it with a rod.
Seat the next bullet .005" deeper and coat it with fiber tipped pen. Take a reading on the OAL of the cartridge, before loading. Chamber that bullet and close the bolt into battery. When extracted, the bullet should show marks from making contact with the lands, by the ink having been scuffed in that area of the Oglive.
Again take the OAL. It may be slightly shorter than before you chambered it. This will give a close enough reading on how long is too long, because you now know that at that length, the bullet is contacting the lands firmly.
Take another loaded cartridge and shorten the OAL by .005" and repeat the procedure. Shorten the OAL on each bullet loaded, until no marks of the lands show at all. Then, shorten the next cartridge by .015". Load 4 or 5 test loads and try them out at the range. If you want to speed up the process. Load five more at .005" longer and five more at .005" shorter.
Shoot those three different lengths in slow fire strings, allowing the barrel to cool between firing.
Doing this will give you a good start on finding the best length to the oglive, as the oglive is what will touch the lands, regardless of any distortion to the point of the bullet.

What would happen say to doing the using the bolt to seat a bullet and then measuring to the end of the coooper jacket just before the lead tip. Should the copper jacket all be pretty much identical in length? There would not be any distoryion the the copper jacket at the tip as it is protected. Any thoughts to this I know that if I do this my oal will be different from the manual, but once I have a bolt seated bullet I will know the max oal that this rifle will take. Then all measurements would be just minus the lead tip.