Oal guage????

[JEREMY logan]

Who makes a cheap and accurate oal guage . I was also wandering if anyone has made a home made oal device? It seems like I once read where someone drilled out an empty hull and would use it to seat the bullet just off the lands. thanks for any advice.

 

[Mikecr]

Stoney Point offers a kit with a drilled case, or you can drill out one of yours.

You can do the same measurement with a cleaning rod and calipers from the muzzle.
In this case you rest a cleaning rod against the boltface and mark it from the muzzle. Then press a bullet into the lands with a pencil or something, run the rod in to the bullet tip and mark the rod again(takes 2 people). Measure the marks and seat THAT bullet to THAT oal(head to tip). Put it in a drawer, as thats your standard for future measurement comparisons.
Oh yeah, you'll need to sacrifice a cheap rod tip, and make it a flat(to stop at bullet tip), for this purpose.

 

[JEREMY logan]

Thanks for the reply and advice i'll try that until i buy a stoney point.

 

[boomtube]

I bought several of those Max OAL measuring devices. Have returned to the use of a rod, as Mike describes. It's easy to do alone IF you have a gun cleaning vise to secure the rifle in.

Hardwood dowel rods in the right diameter are better than a cleaning rod, IMHO. I have one for each bore size I need, sanded smoooth and given a couple of coats of polyurethane to seal the wood against oil and make it easy to wipe clean.

It's impossible, in a strict sense, to mark (with a knife blade) the rod precisely and then to read it precisely, I mean withing a thousant or two, but that's really not neccessary for what we need to do.

Few factory sporter rifles shoot their best ON the lands, most shoot best from .025" to as much as .125" off the lands.

There is, usually, a range of seating maybe .015" wide that the gun won't see any difference in. I find and seat in the middle of that range and never worry about a few thousants of "error" one way or the other. I suspect that seating on the ragged edge of that range is at least a part of what causes flyers.

 

[JEREMY logan]

Thanks boomtube, I have a rem. 700 sendero with hs precision stock DE recoil lug and heavy contour broughton 26'' barrel I plan on shooting 210 grain bergers. OH the barrel is 100% free floated. MY question is, the tip of the bullet does not touch the lands so how do you take that in to account to get the correct measurments ? Sorry if this question seems silly but you don't now if you don't ask

 

[Mikecr]

Good point. The measurement to tip is only for THAT bullet, for initially making THAT standard.

Stoney Point also offers Caliper Comparator Inserts for measuring head to ojive(somewhere close to land contact point on the bullets). I use a comparator nut offered by Sinclair for this.
It works better.

You compare this measurement to that off the 'Standard' cartridge made above, for adjusting your seating die to whatever OAL-to-Ojive(for lack of a better term).

 

[JEREMY logan]

Thanks for the reply MIKECR, I watched a video by ammosmith were he took an old hull and drilled out the back of it and uses an old cleaning rod to push the bullet into the lands then he ejects it out very carefully and measures from the land marks on the side of the bullet to the base . Looks like that could work also .

 

[boomtube]

"he took an old hull and drilled out the back of it and uses an old cleaning rod to push the bullet into the lands then he ejects it out very carefully and measures from the land marks on the side of the bullet to the base "

Sure it can/will work. But it's no more "accurate", if as good, as the cleaning rod/dowel method and a lot more trouble as well as slower. If you do use a case/bullet combo, remember to use a FIRED case, otherwise the case shoulder won't match your chamber quite as well.

 

[woods]

I use 3 methods, well really 2 cause I don't use the Sinclair anymore. One is the Hornady OAL gauge and the other is the R-P Products rod which works like the cleaning rod method described above. Here is a pic of the Hornady with the R-P rod

The R-P rod is a stainless rod with 2 lockable collets and a brass tip. You just insert the rod down the muzzle to the bolt face and lock the rear collet

then insert the bullet in the leade and hold it there either with the Hornady OAL Gauge or a wooden dowel

insert the rod down to the bullet tip and lock the front collet

then measure between the collets

Works everytime and you don't have to worry about how much headspace your modified case has.

 

[C.E.G2860]

Just take a uncapped case and seat a bullet just in the neck of the case. Put the case in your action and close it. This will push the bullet into the case when it hits the lands. lift up on your bolt and push the bullet out with a cleaning rod. Be careful not to push the bullet into the case while pushing it out of the lanes. once the bullet is free of the lands you can take it out and messure the the oal and that is your oal to the lands. Shoot 3 shots at that oal and see how it groups, if you don't like it shorten the oal by .005" and shoot 3 more. Do this until you get the group you like.
All guns shoot different at different spaces form the lands.

 

[boomtube]

Woods, excellant photos and post! You confirm that a picture is worth a thousand words.

Actually, I do the same thing now but have no digital camera so I can't show it and didn't want to even try to describe the alum collar w/set screws I've made on my old lathe. It's likely the better method available, IMHO, but just a variation of the marked rod method, being a little faster/easier. Didn't know someone was making those locking collars for sale.

 

[woods]

I've heard you can get a couple of those U-shaped manual locks you put on windows, you know the kind you put on the frame of the window and tighten down with a screw driver to make it impossible to open the window from the outside, then put those on a 1/4" aluminum or stainless rod from Home Depot. At least it would give you a hard surface to measure against. I've tried marking the cleaning rod and taping it also and that is not very accurate for me.

 

[JEREMY logan]

THANKS FOR THE PHOTOS WOODS AND ALL THE INFO . WHEN I GET THE MONEY I'M GOING TO BUY THE HORNADY GUAGE .IT SURE LOOKS GOOD IN THE PHOTO.gun)

 

[gunner45]

Where would you get the R-P Products rod? Can't find them on the web.