Hornady OAL Gage Question - 204 Ruger and 39 grain Sierra

[Screwtop.243]

Guys,

I am measuring my chamber for seating depth to ogive on my first batch of reloads for the new Savage. When I use the OAL gage, I encounter "Soft" resistance at 1.960" and a hard stop at the lands at 2.080". The ogive is such that it kinda skids across the lands until it encounters hard resistance. Would it be OK to go with the longer measurement and back off .020?

I'll be starting with 26.0 grains of Varget.

Thanks,

ST.243

 

[Praeger]

The "soft" resistance you feel could be the bullet entering the leade. It could also be a ring of carbon deposit, not uncommon at that point. With the Hornady tool itself, the inner plastic rod could be rubbing/binding against the outer aluminum tube. The inner rod has two very small ridges 180 apart that run the length of the rod which are from the molding process. They can easily be removed by dragging a razor blade (not pushing the blade) along the ridge until it is scrapped away. The inner rod should slide easily inside the outer aluminum tube.

Regardless, I would consider the "hard" stop the correct reading, and start at .020" off that point.

 

[Screwtop.243]

The "soft" resistance you feel could be the bullet entering the leade. It could also be a ring of carbon deposit, not uncommon at that point. With the Hornady tool itself, the inner plastic rod could be rubbing/binding against the outer aluminum tube. The inner rod has two very small ridges 180 apart that run the length of the rod which are from the molding process. They can easily be removed by dragging a razor blade (not pushing the blade) along the ridge until it is scrapped away. The inner rod should slide easily inside the outer aluminum tube.

Regardless, I would consider the "hard" stop the correct reading, and start at .020" off that point.

Thanks, Praeger. I ended up going with a seating depth to ogive of 2.064" and everything went fine. No pressure signs or any other issues.

Regards,

ST.243