I'm trying to work up a load for a brand-new Savage 7-08. I've already tried a couple different powders and have zeroed in on a charge weight to test further. Now I'm ready to play with the bullet seating depth. I'm using the old "mark up a bullet and insert it into a fired case with the mouth crushed slightly and push it in until it engages the lands" method to determine my maximum length to the lands. I don't have a comparator. I have used this method successfully a dozen times before and have set my COL longer than book max on several bolt action rifles.

Here's my problem: Book max COL for the 7-08 is 2.850" After several tries, the longest COL I can measure is 2.810" The bullet comes out at the same place every time, with no backing out of the neck. There are no rifling marks on the bullet. I have made the neck very tight and no matter how hard I push, I cannot seat the bullet into the lands. Is it possible the leade is shorter than normal? Is it possible the leade has a taper on it and the bullet is being stopped by the leade before it even reaches the lands? Is there something peculiar about this rifle or this cartridge? What am I doing wrong?

Throw out the books on this.

Load it way long, and chamber it.

Find out where YOUR rifling is. I've got some 7mm-08's that are over 2.870"

Have you cleaned it?

I still can't figure out what's going on.

Yes, I have cleaned, fired, and cleaned again several times.

I don't understand, what do you mean you can't figure out what's going on?

I use brass with the neck cut, instead of the marker, leaving very little neck tension. Load it long, measure to OGIVE! chamber, eject, measure to ogive. About 5 tries and I know where rifling is. There's a chance your rifling is where your numbers are saying it is.

If its is a factory rifle the chances are low that the bullet contacts the lands a decent amount before the listed book max length. Add to that there are no rifling marks in the ink and I think something is preventing the bullet from reaching the lands.

Exactly. He already said he didn't have a comparator, so the thing to do IMO is to seat bullets at max length where they will fit in the mag box/magazine and go from there. I do it like this every time.

Increase your neck tension. It should leave a mark. I had one bullet that would only go 2.812”

What bullet are you using? Lead tipped bullets are usually shorter in COAL than Accubonds, Ballistic Tips, ELD's because of the plastic tips. Like wp said to increase neck tension and color the bullet and jam it into the lands and find your COAL. You have mentioned you made the neck very tight on the first post,,,,,still can't find rifling marks? Are you getting a ring on the bullet after trying to jam the bullet ? I've seen a ring once, when the barrel wasn't cut right.

I have loaded for 4 different 7mm-08s 3 Remington and one Browning. On all of them I used the seat it long and keep seating deeper to find the lands. On 3 of the 4 that length with 140gr Nosler BT the length was too long to function as a repeater. One was short enough to load to the lands.

I like accuracy but Function has to be there, if I wanted a single shot I would be using a single shot.

There are several methods that let you find the lands with the bullet. The Hornady or Sinclair tools, split case necks, seating the bullet long then keep seating it deeper until you find that spot.

Also if planning on jamming the lands be sure to work up your load that way as a little free bore can lower pressure a little. I have seen factory rifles chambered but manufactures other than Weaterby (which has lots of free bore) blow primers with factory ammo. There is a Factory Weatherby in the safe that shoots about half MOA with a factory load and I got quite a few with the gun. Those bullets have a quarter inch free bore. Reloads with the same bullet seated the same shoot the same af ter finding the sweet powder amount.

This is how I do it.

This is the method I use and it's very consistent. I've all but given up on the Hornady tool because it's not consistent...I can give two guys the tool and both with come back with different measurements but they don't using this method.

Good luck.

Good video.

Question: Is there a factory rifle made today that will allow you to seat a bullet at max mag length while at the same time allowing this bullet to be seated into the lands? I would think SAAMI wouldn't allow for this? I would also think this could be potentially an over pressure problem waiting to happen?

Depends on the shape of the bullet, there are some that it easily happens and others that you are beyond mag length to reach the lands. SAAMI ammo in a SAAMI chamber generally takes care of this so you are not into the lands and still works in the mag. Getting to the lands is generally speaking a reloading thing

I hear you and am not arguing that point, but it seems that factory rifles that alllow any loaded case/bullet to be loaded into the magazine and allow bullets to be jammed into the lands is a problem. I'm not aware of any factory mfg rifle that allows this, so to the OP it is probably a moot point......load to max mag length and proceed, at least the way I see it.

Do say a rem 700 for example 30-06 and 300 win mag have the same mag length?

Well, I'm not making much progress. I tried the loose neck and the tight neck approach...keep coming back to the exact same spot. I started the technique on the video, but my bolt makes a heavy lift right at the top, I guess because it's cocking the firing pin spring, so I didn't go any further.

I tried resizing the brass and seating the bullet very long and could not even close the bolt. I set the bullet deeper and deeper in small increments until I could finally close the bolt. I ended up at the same spot, 2.810" COL. (I realize the COL depends on the particular bullet being used.) In every case, I get a shiny ring right at the ogive, 2.180" from the cartridge base, which happens to be where the leade taper begins, according to the SAAMI standard drawing. My only conclusion at this time is that the bullet is seating hard on the tapered leade and not even reaching the lands, so I have no idea how far I am from the lands. Could the factory chamber have been cut incorrectly?

By the way, the magazine length is not an issue. I could probably go 1/4 inch longer and it would still feed.

Also, I have no intention of seating into the lands. I just want to know where they are so I can adjust seating depth to minimize group size.

I have a couple of Stony Point tools for this. Takes five minutes.

Papa, if you seat bullets to max mag box length, will the bolt still open and close easily? It should, so I'd start there so you won't be "single shot" loading it.

This is what I assumed could be the issue like i mentioned in my comment above, I have been there once. Ask a gunsmith to check your chamber.

If I do that, I won't be able to close the bolt. See my previous comment: "I set the bullet deeper and deeper in small increments until I could finally close the bolt. I ended up at the same spot, 2.810" COL."

Yes, I thought about your earlier comment when I was reaching my conclusion. That should probably be my next step.

Do you have any factory ammo to try? See if those will allow you to close the bolt. I can tell you that with 2 Tikas and one Mcwhorter I load for in 7mm08, 2.805 is max OAL due to mag box constraints. I have no clue where the lands are and don't care. They're all way under MOA shooters.

Are you sure you're brass is trimmed correctly?

What bullet are you using? If it’s something like a partition you will not get the oal you’re looking for. Saami spec is 2.800” not 2.850”.