I’ve loaded these quite a bit and they shoot fine. I wonder if this is normal.
These are Hornady 150gr FMJBT from Hornady in bulk.
Brass trim length is 2.005".
COAL is 2.8".
Yes, this is normal.
When I loaded those bullets in .308 to the same COAL, the cannelure never touched the case mouth either. I never had an issue.
Could the cannelure be positioned for .30-06?
I’ve done the same and had fine results. Just shoot them, all will be fine.
I load either to max length for mags or til taper break on boat tail is even with break at neck/shoulder of case. Once chased lands with 175smk on my 308 bolt gun and wudda had maybe 1/8in (or less)of bullet seated in case. Shitcanned that idea. Call it looong jump to lands, but rifle still holds 1 moa to 1000 if I close my eyes and jerk the trigger at the right time…
Cannelure for crimping if you choose? Never got that right for tube fed 30/30…
2.800 oal length is .308 sammi max length. Smaller bullets have shorter oal. I seat my 150 grains to 2.735 as per bullet mfg reccomendation. If you don’t, you may or may not have enough neck tension due to insufficient bullet depth. You also are losing pressure and hence, velocity if you are using a reccomended charge and not seating the bullet in far enough. Measure a factory 150 grain round, I doubt it is 2.800” oal. If you did that with a 125 grain bullet, you’d have hardly any bullet in the neck! A good guidline is to have a minimum of one caliber seating depth of bullet in the case. So a .308” minimum of bullet depth in the case.
I hope your case length isn’t 2.1. Should be 2.015 and trim is 2.005.
I have also always trimmed down to 2.005
For best precision with most match bullets there’s a sweet-spot that may allow slight jump, perhaps some contact, or tight into the lands – it will depend on the chamber’s throat and quality of the bullets.
A cannelure for mass-produced military bullets or high-recoil weapons (to prevent set-back on feeding or lengthening due to firing recoil) may not have any relation to best precision but rather to a crimping of the case mouth.
Factory Remington 700s were notorious for long throats so that factory-loaded 200-grain round-nose bullets didn’t go over-pressure while 168s and 175s would have to “Jump” from factory length until they started engraving on the leades and lands.
I used over 2,000 of the Hornady 150g FMJBT bullets for M1 Garand loads over the past few years. The cannelure didn’t come close to touching the case mouth. Load for optimum C.O.L. for function and accuracy and ignore the cannelure.
Yeah, WTF? I meant to type 2.005"
Must have been a typo.
This is the only useful post in the thread.