I just bought an FN commercial sporter (98 pattern) and slugged the bore. I have the discontinued RCBS 82020 (180 SPGC) mould which has a long nose section that measures .304. My groove diameter is .3095 and I intend to start out sizing them .310.
The diameter across the lands is smaller than the .304 nose so I will have to seat these bullets quite deeply in order for the round to chamber as the nose is not small enough to "ride" inside the tops of the lands. Is this customary? I am assuming it is and that there is no harm when there is a significant portion of the bulled that is deeper than the shoulder/neck junction.
I don't know what my diameter is across the tops of the lands but I suspect it is in the .290-.300 range. A cast bullet nose doesn't come close when I try to start it in the muzzle just as a test. I'm not sure these dimensions are going to let the bullet's full diameter fall under the neck of the case. I am waiting on components so I haven't made up any dummy rounds yet to confirm this.
I've just never cast for rifles before and the above issue obviously never came up in the thirty years I've been casting for revolvers.
I searched this forum and I did find a few shooters who have experience with this bullet. I'm hoping they are still around.
Thanks everyone.
Ed