When loading boat tail projectiles, is it common to use the same OAL as used with other types of projectile?

I load them all the same. The most important thing that comes to my mind is making sure it closes in the chamber. The next is just finding loading data for each bullet to make sure chamber pressure is not going to be an issue.

Why would they not close in the chamber? I havnt loaded any boat tails yet (plan to pick some up in a few days) but some of my regular old non boat tail's wont close in the chamber correctly. I have to shut the chamber hard to get it to close. Only a few of them have done this but I cant figure out why. For now I just set them aside. Thanks TCman you brought me right to my next question.

Is your brass trimmed down to the right length,and overall length doesn't mean anything for reloader's. You have to set each type of bullet up to your chamber, And or magazine. Most of my problems arose with brass length and trying to set my die's up just once and see if i could get away with anything. You see the boat tails are narrower and so the have to be set out a little more. I set mine .002 off of the rifleing but depending on your cartrage you might want to go more(because of pressure).The factory overall lenght spec is alway's very conservative to be on the safe side , because of so many type's of rifles.I just had a few thoughts , hope it helps.

Lars

I think case length is my problem, but im not positive yet. I am under the impression that not seating the bullet far enough is much safer than seating it to far/deep??? So, since im just learning I have used this theory and it has worked fine so far.

The farther you seat the bullet down the more pressure it creates. But it is not usually a big deal. The biggest thing bullet setting has an impact on is accuracy. The big difference comes when you start loading round nose bullets or throw a different style of nose in the mix. The best advice I can give is just make sure they can all close in the chamber. Maybe someone else can help more than I?

Lhunter03 is right on about the case trimming. I just did all of my 22-250’s because they were actually starting to affect my groups.

you have got to make your ammo fit your gun/chamber. whether or not a bullet has a boattail has no bearing whatsoever on oal, unless you were seating really really long for a long throated chamber.

i would highly suggest that you get a couple good reloading manuals and study up extensively.

OK, I remember you said that you are only neck sizing the brass. Each time the brass is fired it expands a little more and does not "relax" back to original dimension. You have reached the point that it fills the chamber, and most likely the shoulder area has moved ahead just enough to make the action close hard. It's time that you full length resize or adjust the resizing die to bump the shoulder back so the case fits the chamber with a little room.

The other possibility is the overall length of the empty case is to long. The chamber has a distinct step where the case mouth stops and the rifling begins. Like I said when fired the case expands in all directions and does not quite "shrink" back to original dimensions. The brass will "grow" forward and cause the case mouth to lengthen. When the case mouth comes up against the step it will make the action close hard. You are trying to "force" the over sized brass into the chamber. Take a set of calipers and measure an empty fired case and compare it to a cartridge drawing to see if you need to trim a little brass off the end of the case mouth.

Any good loading manual will have a section in the front that describes this process well. I really like the Sierra and Hornady manuals the best. They cover the loading process well and have the most data for our sport. I cut my teath reloading with a Hornady 4th edition. Hornady is up to edition 7 I belive.

Just trimmed one of the ones that was hard to chamber and that fixed it...thanks guys.

Popeandyoung,
You might want to invest in a Stoneypoint chamber gauge. Once you have the gauge you buy the dummy cartridge blanks which screw onto the gauge then you insert the bullet which you intend to load into the brass. After the dummy cartridge is inserted in chamber a rod pushes the bullet up in contact with the lands and is locked in place with a set screw. the unit is removed and measured with calipers at thatpoint you know the absolute OAL for that bullet in your gun a good place to start is .030 off lands and then tweak it from there hope this keeps you out of trouble.

I have had my eye on one...its about half way down the list.
Thanks

Glad we can help.

Reloading is a great little side adventure to hunting. It's the most fun in the dead of winter at night. TV is a waste of time. I like to sit in my gun closet and prep brass, clean guns, load rounds, mount scopes, modify grips and apply finish,....ect. Just makes it easier to have it all ready for the spring charlie season.

I'm assuming you are loading for a T/C? First off make sure your cases are all prepped the same. Trim the case after they have been FL Resized. You want to have the OAL 0.010-0.015" shorter than the max OAL of the chamber.

As for seating bullets in a Contender/Encore, the best way I have found is to take a empty/deprimed case and seat a bullet into the case. Have the barrel removed from the frame. Place the cartridge in the chamber and push it into the chamber. Now take the barrel and point the barrel muzzel end up vertically. If the round stays in the chamber the bullet is engaging the rifling. Remove the round and seat the bullet deeper into the case and do the same as previously stated. When you get to the point that the round falls out of the chamber use this as your starting seating depth. Work up loads at this seating depth. Keep the dumby round so you can set-up your seating die for that particular bullet. Do this with all the bullets you will try. Work your load up using this seating depth. If accuracy is good keep it there. If not, seat bullet another 0.010" deeper to fine tune the load.

I know some like to seat bullets into the lands or have them just touching, but in a contender pressure spikes will wreak havoc on accuracy. It's best to be off the lands. Remember you want a hunting round that will work in the field. A T/C is not a benchrest rifle. Even in my BR rifles I have gotten great accuracy with seating into the lands or just touching (one hole 5-shot groups). However, it usually causes fliers when you least expect it. Moving off the lands allows for a better, more consistant pressure curve and leads to better consistancy on the target.

Mike