7wsm w/ hornady oal gauge

[roby]

had a quick question for you guys.
I just recently picked up a hornady oal gauge and comprator. My normal load was 7 wsm with an OAL of 2.965" w/ a 175 smk bullet. I was getting hit or miss accuracy (.295-1 moa) mainly due to me loading on OAL vs o give I am assuming. So I use the OAL gauge as instructed, get a reading of 3.151", 3.152", & 3.151" (This would be the oal with the bullet touching the lands (cant move any further)).

I am wondering if i am doing something wrong as I am sifting through this thread and dont see anyones OAL that long for a 7wsm using a similar bullet. Measured to the Ogive using the comparator and I got lengths of 2.508", 2.507", 2.507".

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[slayer_21420]

Re: 7wsm w/ hornady oal gauge

that just means your throat is longer than the others, might actually be a good thing as you get more case capacity

 

[sandwarrior]

Re: 7wsm w/ hornady oal gauge

roby,

Get a die that is open in the bullet seater or open yours up. That way, you'll always be loading on ogive and not oal. If that makes sense, The more open ended seater touches the bullet down on the ogive where all the bullets are a lot more uniform rather than catching the tip of the hollow-point where uneven tail-offs are a lot more common. Even the newer teflon tips have a bit of variance in them where they get cut off.

 

[roby]

Re: 7wsm w/ hornady oal gauge

ok makes sense. I have a forster micro seater I bought for the application. Thanks for the help guys. Just wondered about the OAL since the bullets are way out there.

 

[sandwarrior]

Re: 7wsm w/ hornady oal gauge

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: roby</div><div class="ubbcode-body">ok makes sense. I have a forster micro seater I bought for the application. Thanks for the help guys. Just wondered about the OAL since the bullets are way out there.</div></div>

FWIW, my 7WSM is loaded @ 3.040" OAL with 180 JLK's. I wouldn't worry about OAL as long as you don't spike pressures by pushing the bullets into the lands and not working back up with the powder to your pressure limit. I've seen guys go into the lands and not back off and it causes a bunch of loose primers. In the case of the 7WSM it would prove to be a spendy mistake as brass for them isn't cheap.