338 federal seating depth in savage model 11 - help requested.

[michiganmike]

Does anyone have seating depth information for the .338 Federal? I am looking for an approximate starting point. Please read further for the reason for my question and more information.

This past Friday I picked up my new Savage Model 11. It is chambered for the .338 Federal. It came as a scope/rifle package with the Nikon 3-9X scope. I am impressed this far. Smooth action, detachable clip (4 rounds) and the Savage Accu-Trigger.

In anticipation I had already purchased the Lee C338-220-1R bullet mould and their sizing die. I have about 160 cast, sized gas checked and lubed (BLL) bullets. The bullets were cast with COWW and sized to .339. And all 160 keepers weigh 217 grains, +/- 1 grain.

The brass is military surplus 7.62X51 manufactured by Federal. It came cleaned inside and out and the primer pocket swaged.
Seating Depth is now the question. The Lyman Cast Bullets Handbook, 4th Edition, shows an OAL of of 2.69" for this same Lee bullet in their Universal Receiver. A first time experiment shows that is not realistic.

Thank you in advance for any information you may be able to provide.

MichiganMike :lovebooli

[Ben]

Considering that 10 different rifles of the same identical caliber will take 10 different OAL's, that question is a bit difficult to answer.

I simply seat the bullet out and try to chamber a round, if the bolt is " hard " on closing. Remove the round and seat a bit deeper.
Once the bolt closes , record the OAL .

You're good to go.

Ben

[michiganmike]

[QUOTE=michiganmike;3353517]Does anyone have seating depth information for the .338 Federal? I am looking for an approximate starting point. Please read further for the reason for my question and more information.

This past Friday I picked up my new Savage Model 11. It is chambered for the .338 Federal. It came as a scope/rifle package with the Nikon 3-9X scope. I am impressed this far. Smooth action, detachable clip (4 rounds) and the Savage Accu-Trigger.

In anticipation I had already purchased the Lee C338-220-1R bullet mould and their sizing die. I have about 160 cast, sized gas checked and lubed (BLL) bullets. The bullets were cast with COWW and sized to .339. And all 160 keepers weigh 217 grains, +/- 1 grain.

The brass is military surplus 7.62X51 manufactured by Federal. It came cleaned inside and out and the primer pocket swaged.
Seating Depth is now the question. The Lyman Cast Bullets Handbook, 4th Edition, shows an OAL of of 2.69" for this same Lee bullet in their Universal Receiver. A first time experiment shows that is not realistic.

Thank you in advance for any information you may be able to provide.

MichiganMike :

Considering that 10 different rifles of the same identical caliber will take 10 different OAL's, that question is a bit difficult to answer.

I simply seat the bullet out and try to chamber a round, if the bolt is " hard " on closing. Remove the round and seat a bit deeper.
Once the bolt closes , record the OAL .

You're good to go.

Ben


Ben, Thank you for your reply.
I did a little more work. With an empty case I finally got the case with bullet to seat easily, without any hard pressure on the bolt. It was 2.28" OAL. That is with about 3/4 of the bullet seated below the mouth of the case. I think I can back the bullet out a little. But that seems to be seated pretty deep. But it it work, it works for me.

Granted the Lee bullet is nothing close to a spire point, which most of the commercial bullets are. The Lee bullet is .328" in diameter up to .234" of the tip. So, I will be working to refine the OAL further with 2.28" as my starting point. That will wait until tomorrow.

MichiganMike

[TheCelt]

Michigan Mike, I built a .338 Fed rifle on a Savage 10 action and shoot 300 gr boolits that are sized .340" and the gas check is at the bottom of the cartridge neck!!! Did you mean your boolits are .338"?? If I were you I'd do a pound cast of the throat to see what it looks like.

[michiganmike]

IMPORTANT RULE OF LIFE If something does not work, you think you are doing everything right, and the results don't make sense: WALK AWAY FROM IT.

The initial results that I refer to in my original post were done Sunday night. It was late. I thought I was doing everything right. Nothing made sense. So, I left it on the bench, turned off the light in my shop and watched War Stories with Oliver North and went to bed.

The show as about Tarawa, which was of particular interest to me. My father was a member of an underwater demolition team with the USN Amphibious Forces that took part in the invasion. He told me that his small unit suffered 60% casualties killed and wounded during their tour of duty. So I am blessed to be here today.

So, after a restful night's sleep and taking my wife to work this morning, I came home and tried again. I believe I was doing everything as I did it last night. But now I have an OAL of 2.59" and the bolt closes, as my father would say "slick as a gut." I'm happy. I don't understand it. But I am happy.

Moral of the story: Don't attempt to work on firearms related projects if you are tired.


Michigan Mike, I built a .338 Fed rifle on a Savage 10 action and shoot 300 gr boolits that are sized .340" and the gas check is at the bottom of the cartridge neck!!! Did you mean your boolits are .338"?? If I were you I'd do a pound cast of the throat to see what it looks like.

[Ben]

MichiganMike

This comment is not targeted at you, it is offered for all the beginning cast bullet shooters out there.
------------------------------------

For some reason with cast bullets, some shooters seem to believe that there is one lone " magic OAL number " for each caliber.

With all the different cast bullet styles, ogive shapes, nose lengths, nose diameters, variations in throats, minor chamber variations, etc. there is no "magic OAL number ".

[TheCelt]

MichiganMike

This comment is not targeted at you, it is offered for all the beginning cast bullet shooters out there.
------------------------------------

For some reason with cast bullets, some shooters seem to believe that there is one lone " magic OAL number " for each caliber.

With all the different cast bullet styles, ogive shapes, nose lengths, nose diameters, variations in throats, minor chamber variations, etc. there is no "magic OAL number ".


Ben, you are spot-on!!! It's been my experience that to develop an accurate cast boolit load it is important to know Chamber and Throat dimensions. Not to say you can't develop an accurate load without that info, just that it helps tailor the boolit to the rifle. My most accurate cast boolit loads FILL the chamber neck with the boolit ogive lightly engraving on the rifling when loaded. With bore riders (314299 in the .308 and Tom's 340300D in the .338s) I like the boolit nose section to engrave .001" to .002" as well.