newbie question about col

[hardly]

somebody explain COL for me.  shooting a remington 700 vssf in 22-250.  the literature say 2.350 col but am seeing other posts with different numbers.  help please.

[beemanbeme]

It is how long the loaded cartridge can be. It is a generic term more often based on the magazine length.  You may thru empirical methods find that YOUR COL is xxx only to find that the cartridges won't fit into the magazine.  This may be fine with something like a 22-250 --I've had several and don't think I've ever had a round in any of their magazines-- but would make a difference with a hunting rifle.

[myronman3]

many of us make our ammo for a specfic rifle.  this allows us to seat the bullet at the optimum o.a.l. for our rifle. chambers for a given caliber can and often are slighty different. 
  commercial ammo makers cant do this, because they need to make ammo that will fit in any rifle chambered for a given caliber.  this is more where o.a.l. comes into play.