oal length what is normal distance to rifling

[zlngr]

I am just beginning to load for my NEF 22-250 and after reading lots about seating bullets closer to rifling I have a question.  I slip a bullet loosely in a once fired case and chamber it in the rifle  it ends up at 2.458" overall.   minimum I believe is 2.35  is .1" normal ?  seems to me that it might be a bit much, I'm wondering if that may be part of the reason I was having trouble finding an accurate factory load for this rifle.  any advice???

[wncchester]

"oal length what is normal distance to rifling "

There is no "normal distance."   Even the "same" rifle chambers from the same plant will vary by production runs.

Book OAL is no more a law that their powder charges are; they just tell us what they used when developing the data.  It's up to us to find what works best in our rigs.

Loading to the lands is rarely the most accurate position for factory rifles.  Most shoot better from .020"  to as much as 5 times that off the lands for best accuracy but we do need to know with some accuracy where the rifleing is to do that. 

[SHOOTALL]

Normal is what is deemed to work in most all actions and mags. My experince has been different rifles like different OAL's. My 25-06 likes to kiss the rifling , i know because when loaded this way i get one small hole at 100 yards . A 7 br was the same. My 300 WM won't shoot worth a hoot if the bullet starts out near the rifling. With some rifles you have feeding problems . With shigle shot rifles you might want to use a sized case as it will be ready to chamber not expanded from fireing . If you set the shoulder back just a very small bit then seat your bullet to what you got from the once fired case you may in effect chanve the relation of the bullet to the rifling as the case may go in farther. With pistols it is about feeding and revolvers its about not locking up the action and using crimp groove.

[Graybeard]

I believe this is a subject that too many people worry about and spend way too much time and effort over rather than getting out and shooting more. I long ago stopped chasing the "perfect" seating depth in factory made rifles. I'm not saying it's useless in all of them but I do believe it is in most.

Now if you have a varmint/target rifle that you are expecting to find a load that shoots half inch or less groups with then yeah you might eventually need to play around with seating depth a bit to minimize group size but then you also might not.

What I do these days is to make sure the C.O.L. is such that it fits the magazine of repeaters. I do that by looking in the bullet maker's manual to see what length they suggest first and often just start there. If not then I try to seat the bullet so the base of bullet is about where the case neck begins after the flare from shoulder. I will almost always use one of those two methods to seat the bullets initially in a load development program.

I chose the bullet or bullets I might want to use for the rifle and scour the loading manuals (I probably have around 50+ of them) to see what powders seem best suited to the caliber and bullet weight I'm interested in. I long ago gave up starting at the starting load as I know I'm not gonna use that even if it were the most accurate load. So I begin at some point near or just below what multiple manuals tell me is the middle of the weight range useable.

I'll load three or six rounds with that load and do the same at either half or one grain intervals until I get a grain or so less than the max load determined by averaging several manual's info. I never initially load to the max as I've found over the years that it can be too hot for my rifle and so don't wanna hafta pull the bullets in those too hot to shoot.

I'll then take them to my range and shoot three shot groups with them being as careful as I can with each shot and never firing more than six shots in that rifle before letting it cool. I'll generally take 2-4 rifles or something else to shoot while barrels cool. After all test loads have been fired and targets annotated as to what's what I'll take them back inside and analyze the results.

Most times I will have found a pretty decent load within that initial trial or perhaps two or more that look promising. I'll then load more of those and also some others a half grain or so each side of them unless I was using half grain increments first time. If so I'll go up and down by a quarter grain or so.

For big game rifles by this time I will normally have found a load that meets my accuracy criteria and if so experimentation is mostly over for that rifle. If it's a big game rifle and will be used only or primarily here in Bama where shots are almost always less than 100 yards then accuracy of 1.25" or less regularly is good enough. Almost all rifles tho I can find a load that does an inch or less for three at 100 yards. Mostly I don't mess with trying to improve that.

My Remington 700 LSS in .257 Whby. Magnum gave me two loads one with Nosler 120 PT and one with Barnes 115 TSX that shoot half inch three shot 100 yard groups with no further effort. The only load development work left for that rifle is to find equally accurate loads with the Nosler 110 AB and Nosler 115 PT. Then I figure I have all bases covered for that rifle. It's such a hot rod that I don't want to burn out the barrel trying to find more accurate loads when it is already more accurate than any use I might ever put it to will require.

For my varmint/target rifles I expect half inch or less five shot groups and like a significant percentage to fall under that half inch mark. Rarely do I need to play around with seating depth to get there. If you are obsesive/complusive then perhaps you enjoy burning out a barrel to find a load that gives you a quarter inch smaller group. I don't enjoy walking down range to change targets that much anymore.

[zlngr]

thanks for all the input,   I had no idea barrels were so inconsistent.       The best groups I've been able to get out of this rifle were about 1 1/2" with store bought stuff.       If I can get hand loads to do better than that I'll be happy.  I was getting frustrated paying good money for storebought ammo to find out what doesn't work.    I am just getting started and  I appreciate all the advice from those with lots of experience. 

[necchi]

The NEF is notorious for long throats, and with the small size of the 22-250 bullet trying to reach the  lands can leave little of the bullet in the case neck,,the chamber neck on my 223 is so long I can't measure it, the bullet falls out of the case before it contacts the lands
That can lead to "run out",, the bullet not being seated straight in the case and not parallel with the case/ bore center lines.
(an THAT was a big deal for accuracy)
I was having trouble with my NEF 223 and 308 until I started paying attention to run out. When I learned to stay near the SAMMI COL and keep thing straight, the groups went from 2xmoa too inside a dime at 100

 Instead of trying to reach out to the lands,,Try seating with at least 1 diameter (.224) into the case neck or more, then roll the case watching the bullet tip for wobble or better yet use a gauge.

[Catfish]

I chase seating depth alot, but mostly in rifles I`m trying to get the ultment out of. If your happy with you accuracy don`t worry about it unless your just wanting to see what happens. You can use your present load and try setting the bullets out .010 at a time and fire 3 shot groups too see if you can find a sweet spot. I would recomand you do not get into the riffleings as presure will jump when you do.