Hornady OAL Gauge is Driving me Crazy(er)!

[nksmfamjp]

That actually sounds much easier than jacking with the hornady tool

I would love to see a repeatability study on that.

 

[Korhil78]

This has been gone over multiple times on different threads. That OAL gauge is not very accurate. It will get you in the ballpark at best. The best way to do it is this video below. Takes a little time but it's not hard.

 

[cohunt]

Have you checked the bullets to see how consistent they are?

 

[L.Sherm]

Two things, are you trying to measure with a primer in the case and as stated above sort your bullet to batches and measure with that batch only.
I use the hornandy tool also while not perfect I dont have the problem your describing.
Next time you haver a barrel chambered have your smith run the reamer in the muzzle end that he should be cutting off before he crowns to just barely short of the shoulder and it works great for finding the lands on a new barrel and measure your bump.
On a dummy round you can feel it drag on the lands when your touching them by just rotating a dummy round

 

[The Oregonian]

i use the wheeler method but still learning what to feel for, so I also color with a sharpie. It makes it pretty **** easy and there are no tools or modified cases to buy. I'm done with the Hornady tool.

 

[L.Sherm]

I might be confused here when you talk about CBTO are you using the comparator to measure or just trying to find the lands?
If your just trying to find the lands i suggest Alex's method also if possible then measure with a comparator for CBTO for a starting point.

 

[DUSTY NOGGIN]

stripped bolt method with the same mic seater , with a perfectly bumped shoulder

keep that example on a shelf .. marked gun and a new one for each bullet

 

[User4302021]

Two issues with Alex Wheelers method:
1) I don't want to punch out the roll pin and remove my ejector everytime I work up a load.

2) Finding your exact "touch" point is irrelevant. It is just one particular datum point to start from. It is no more useful than any other datum point. The precision comes from any subsequent adjustments from that datum point.

 

[L.Sherm]

Two issues with Alex Wheelers method:
1) I don't want to punch out the roll pin and remove my ejector everytime I work up a load.

2) Finding your exact "touch" point is irrelevant. It is just one particular datum point to start from. It is no more useful than any other datum point. The precision comes from any subsequent adjustments from that datum point.

I do it when the rifles new should be stripped when checking headspace from getting chambered anyway.

 

[L.Sherm]

On a 700 it takes about 60 seconds to strip a bolt.

 

[L.Sherm]

Finding your exact "touch" point is irrelevant. It is just one particular datum point to start from. It is no more useful than any other datum point. The precision comes from any subsequent adjustments from that datum point.

That is highly debated.

 

[User4302021]

On a 700 it takes about 60 seconds to strip a bolt.

To pull out the firing pin assembly yes. I still don't like punching the ejector roll pin out unless I absolutely need to.

 

[wildbill 2020]

That actually sounds much easier than jacking with the hornady tool

It works I've done it for years I now have the overal length gauge pretty dam close good luck

 

[L.Sherm]

To pull out the firing pin assembly yes. I still don't like punching the ejector roll pin out unless I absolutely need to.

No to completely strip a bolt, pull out the firing pin assembly about 10 seconds