Real long throats on .223 barrels

[tomf52]

Haas anyone else found that the throat on their .223 barrel is exceptionately long? I slit a case mouth longitudinally and barely started a Sierra 55gr fmjbt to close the action on and see where the bullet would start to engage the rifling. With the gun fully closed the bullet did not even move a bit further into the case. I then dropped a bullet (projectile only) into the chamber and measured from the base of the bullet to the face of the barrel at the breech. The bullet was .010 short of even starting into the case mouth. This was with a case trimmed to spec length. Anyone else encounter this? Accuracy with this barrel is not great. I think I now see why. Thanks for any help you can give with this.

[quickdtoo]

Yup, been discussed more times than I can recollet, almost all H&R chamberings have lots of freebore with a few exceptions, the 223 is just one of em.  Most just load to SAAMI spec and leave it at that, you'll have better luck with 1:9" barrels and longer bullets, but that's not to say short bullets with lots of jump can't shoot just as good, my 1:12" Ultra Varmint shoots 45gr factory Win White box into ½" @ 100yds.

Tim

http://www.gboreloaded.com/forums/index.php/topic,78769.msg487021.html#msg487021

http://www.gboreloaded.com/forums/index.php/topic,118948.msg1098392420.html#msg1098392420

Long Throats

[OR-E-Gun Bill]

Here's a good example of what my Handi 223 with 1:9 twist bullet load sitting 0.010" off the lands looks like. Another I load is the Win. 64 gr. PP and it touches the lands at 2.440".

In my other Handi 223 with 1:12 twist I just do as Tim suggests, just load at SAAMI specs.
 
Bill

[tomf52]

Quick - As always, thanks for the help. It's just that I have tried a number of powder/bullet combo's with little to no success with accuracy. Will continue to play with it.

[gcrank1]

On a single shot you do not need to use the book OAL as that is to be able to feed from a magazine. An old 'rule of thumb' is to use one bullet dia. as a seating depth on long throats, in your case (pun intended) .224 deep; and some guys get by with substantially less than that.
An advantage you may have is that you wont ever have to trim cases?

[AccelR8]

On my 223 using one of those OAL measuring tools, I can push a 45 grain v-max completely out of the case before it touches the rifling. A 55 gr. FMJBT contacts the rifling when the body or shank of the bullet has left the case neck and the boat-tail portion is right at the mouth of the case. If I set the COAL with that FMJBT crimp groove at the case mouth the bullet has to jump something like .150"-.160" (if I remember correctly). They don't shoot well at all.
 
I have some flat-base, 55 gr. soft points and the shape of the ogive is entirely different than those fmjbt's. Crimped in the groove, the jump is about .017"-.018." I think they're Winchesters maybe, I bought them in bulk.
 
With Hornady 55 gr. SX bullets, the bullet contacts the rifling when the flat base of the bullet is right at the bottom the case neck, where it meets the shoulder (I know my terminology is not correct, I hope you know what I'm trying to say). Maybe tommorrow I'll take a picture to help explain.
 
The point is I guess, different bullets even with the same weight can be vastly different and can effect the distance the bullet has to travel before it contacts rifling. Try as many different ones as you can, you may find one (or more) that works!