O.A.L. for 7.62x39?

[221 Fireball]

Working on a new reload project, thought I'd ask for some weigh-in from my TGO subject matter experts. I've got a Ruger M77 in 7.62x39 with a .308 bore. I've got some .308 Sierra Varminter HP 110 grainers I want to use. I've gone through five loading manuals but cannot find an O.A.L. for that particular bullet. I'm using 24 grains of 4198, and my Hornady manual says 2.200 for the 110 spirepoint. Those HPs though are really short and even at 2.175, there not seated very deep into the neck, maybe a third in. I feel I should maybe seat even deeper, but that's going to really back me off the lands. At 2.175 it does feed easy and the bolt closes smoothly.

 

Any reloaders out there ever use this bullet? Any ideas for a starter depth?

[221 Fireball]

Went to the range today...with two loads, the 2.175 length and some 2.165 length. The 2.175s went MOA at 50 yards (only 7x scope, so kept the range short to cut down on human error, me), the deeper seated 2.165 three shot groups all touched for nice ragged clover hole, under 1/2". So much for the theory that bullet should be close as possible to the lands for tightest group. The 2.165s seat the bullet better than halfway down the neck. Think I'll run 100 of them and try recovering some bullets to check for expansion. This is going to be a fun gun, recoil is minimal, I can stay on target through the scope. Groundhogs beware. Been wanting a 7.62x39 bolt for awhile, because I though it be a great plinking centerfire rifle ... I think I'm on the right track. Any other "7/39" bolt owners out there?

[Garufa]

I always fancied a 7.62x39 bolt gun due to a previous life's ammo cost and availability.  If I'm not mistaken Remington and CZ both offered one a few years ago.

 

That's all I got.  ;)

[221 Fireball]

Yeah, I can relate to that previous life. But when I sold my evil assault weapon, I kept a bunch of those low price rounds, so I have a pretty good supply of ammo. But the handloading is really impressing me with this rifle, as the military stuff I tried really didn't group well, but makes a good stash for SHTF shtuff.

 

I looked at a CZ, which I really like their rifles, that's what my Fireball is, but I came across this M77 Ruger and its pretty nice.

[Guest K7Sparky]

If this is old hat just blow it off.

The friend that started me on this trek and said for turn bolts only. I never owned a straight pull and never tried on it on an auto loader. Maybe someone that has tried it on something other than a turn bolt can chime in?

This is a sort crip on the bench resters reloading ideas with out getting into a lot of expense.

The idea is to use your fired cases in only the rifle that fired them and gain some accuracy.

Get a candle and smoke the neck and shoulder of the case.

Back off the resizer 2 turns and run the case in as usual. You should see most of the neck sized and the rest of the neck and the shoulder still black. You need about a bullet diameter of the neck sized to properly hold the projectile. This is a take on the neck sizing dies.

Your case is now fitted to your chamber.

The unsized portion of the neck centers your case on the chamber and the case body fills the chamber The shoulder not being set back works the brass less and lengthens the case life.

A picker option is use a Sharpie mark or scribe on the case head to give a 12:00 reference orientation on chambering so any chamber offset is constant.

Next step in picky is using a bullet run out gauge and that helps as far as I am concerned.

I do this on all my turn bolts and think it helps. Myth? No eye deer..

Edited April 16, 2013 by K7Sparky