Berger 250 grn Elite Hunter seating depth

[4t4mag]

I thought I would try the Berger 250 grn Elite Hunter in my .338 Win Mag Browning A-bolt. I am having an issue with seating depth. My brass is trimmed to length. In the picture provided, the loaded case is loaded to the max COAL 3.340. In comparison, the 250 grn tip shows one faint perpendicular band where it would be resting on the lands. Did I do something wrong? Or is there not enough free bore on my browning to use these 338 Elite Hunter tips? They are not the VLD and are said to be compatible with SAAMI spec chambers.

I know I am in the right place to figure this out.

 

[kaseyfied]

Hmm.. thats ur length to lands? Or ur magazine length? Somthing does not seem right at all. U should have.more room than that u.less u had it reamed for a spacific depth. Thanks

Kasey

 

[4t4mag]

Yes, I am so confused. The max over all length of the cartridge with bullet is 3.340. The magazine length on my Browning mag will not allow much more at all. I have fired a few hundred rounds over the years, from 200 grn to 250 grn TBBC's. I have not had any reaming done at all.

 

[kaseyfied]

So ur talkin like book overall.length then? Have u measured ur length to lands with a gauge of anykind to see what the length to ur lands is.. that is very short.. too short in my opinion. Have u actually measured ur inside mag length..

 

[4t4mag]

YIP, I figured it out, I guess I was too excited about these new bullets. The Hunting Elite are NOT for SAAMI standard bores. Well, I guess I now have 99 bullets that I can't use. I should have read better.

 

[4t4mag]

Using my Sinclair seating depth measuring tool, win brass trimmed, and 1.626 on the 250 grn Elite Hunter I would be sitting at 3.595 OAL. That is .245 too long for my chamber. I imagine, if I really wanted to shoot these I would have to have th throat hollowed out? If I had this done, would that mess with other bullets? I know Mfgrs. change bullets from time to time so if it would mess with other bullet seating depths I should probably not do it.

 

[mrultramag]

While I have no experience with this bullet, reading your post it sound like you are limited in magazine length to 3.340 but to reach the lands in your gun you need to be at 3.595. So... unless you want to shoot them as a single shot and not use your magazine (clip) you could load them to 3.595 and load them one by one. Otherwise to use the gun as a repeater you are limited to using 3.340 so they fit the clip. So it sounds like you already have plenty of free bore and adding more would only make the situation worse. Does this make sense?

 

[4t4mag]

Thank you for your help. The factory mag requires a very deeply seated bullet. It has been figured out using my Sinclair seating depth tool. Factory magazines are too short.

Today I went to the range, I found that for my Browning A Bolt .02 off the lands. I could only stand 12 rounds, but I am now shooting 1/2 MOA. Now I need to start load development and tweak.

I want a new stock, this piece of plastic with hard rubber butt pad can really hurt. I am thinking McM A5. Anyone have any recommendations?

 

[alaska]

3.340"
coal

 

[barefooter56]

YIP, I figured it out, I guess I was too excited about these new bullets. The Hunting Elite are NOT for SAAMI standard bores. Well, I guess I now have 99 bullets that I can't use. I should have read better.

4t4mag,
You are right on our Elite Hunter bullets being long and not really made for being seated to magazine length. You would have to use the loaded cartridges in a "single shot" mode. The bullet is seated in the cartridge case way to deep at magazine length in your picture.