6.5x55 OAL

dennis53

I'm working up a load for a 1907 mauser. H4831 with WLRM primers with Hornady 140 SP. The books all call for OAL of 3.025", but the cannelure seems to be at 2.960". The 140 gr factory stuff that shoots great is all 2.965" or so. The 3.025" handloads feed and chamber properly, but they sure look odd. Since I'm starting with light loads (37gr and up), what length should I use?

Dennis53

HandgunHTR52

If you are not crimping the bullets, the position of the cannelure is not that important. It is in the position that the factory crimps are applied.
I would say use whatever OAL shoots the best in your rifle. Try the 3.025" and if they shoot poorly, start seating the bullet in about 0.010" at a time. Once you start getting good groups, then start adjusting the depth up and down by 0.005" until you find the "sweet spot".
A word of caution, make sure that the bullets are seated far enough in to keep them off of the rifling. If you seat them too far out, you can get sharp spikes in pressure.

jonk

Ditto. The cannelure isn't very important, especially in a bolt action with handloads. What I'd do is take a fired shell, size it just a bit- about 1/32" of the neck only- just start a bullet in to the case a hair, then put it in the gun and ram the bolt closed. Open the bolt. The bullet should be driven into the case to the point where it touches the rifling. Seat 1/1000" to 1/100 of an inch deeper and you are good to go. This is not necissarily the depth for best accuracy, but is the best starting place- if the loaded OAL isn't too long for your mag.

sandwarrior

dennis53,

Or you can buy the Stoney Point bullet seating guage. It's a stem with a plastic rod that runs up the middle. It has a little finger clamp and a 5/16"x36tpi threaded end. They run about $20. and then you need the case of the caliber you reload. They run about $5. You screw the case onto the threaded end and insert a bullet. Bring the rod up to the base of the bullet and insert the whole thing into your chamber. When the case is fully into the chamber then push the plastic rod up until the bullet hits the lands. Do this for each bullet you load and write it down in your reloading notes so that you will always have that OAL when you go back to that bullet. If you shoot a lot and have erosion going on, then recheck it every few hundred rounds.

dennis53

Thank you for the helpful responses. I use a Lee Factory crimp die, so I will ignore the cannelure. The bullet length item sounds like a great thing for any caliber- I will check into that. By the way, I checked the OAL by pushing a bullet into the rifling, and it came out at 3.120".

Thanks again,

Dennis53