Making a Overall Length Guage

How to make your own overall length guage on your reloading bench. What this does is allow you to take a empty cartridge case and make a OAL guage that is cheap and one that works. Once you take your initial measurement you should repeat the process three times to confirm the data you're getting. Once you know the measurement set your seating depth deeper by .010" initially. The reason is the seating die seats off the ogive. Bullet tips vary due to manufacturing process but the ogive is constant. Knowing this you'll improve your accuracy potential conciderably. You can experiment to find the "sweet spot". Once you find the best OAL write it down. If you're like me you have several bullets that you use for different shooting scenarios.

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[ccmustang73]

you need to remove the ejector spring for this to be accurate.

[ammosmith]

@ccmustang73 A little more than I want to do...I use this as an approximation. Fine tuning is done at the range.

[AnarchAngel1]

one thing people need to understand is that excessive pressure can be caused by loading a cartridge too short or too long. If the bullet is too close to the rifling it has no chance to get a running start at the rifling and pressure(and velocity somewhat) will spike as a result, like he says you need to find that sweet spot, you don't want too long of a jump but the bullet still needs a running start unless you adjust your load accordingly

[ammosmith]

@AnarchAngel1 Amen! it's a scientific process that takes time and patience.

[ninjahipp0]

What rifle is that sir? And it looks like you have a fantastic paintjob! Kudos

[ammosmith]

@ninjahipp0 This is a rifle I built with krylon paint job.

[ammosmith]

@carrascojj Yes...I miss spoke. See our HD video on this.

[muhammedgreenberg]

You should add one other thing. When you're doing this, you should only use brass that's been fired in THIS gun. Since you are not completely resizing the brass, it's easiest to use brass that's fire formed to this gun's chamber. Otherwise you may have great difficulty closing the bolt.

[thelister4910]

@thelister4910 From this procedure, it seems my lands touches when I am just under 1/4" longer than the factory load. Since I don't want to risk high pressure, do you think if I split the difference and load 1/8" longer then the factory ammo (roughly .1" shorter than my new OAL gauge) I would see improved accuracy over the factory stuff? This is my first time trying to reload and I don't want to really mess up like with over pressure or something. Thank you for your time.

[thelister4910]

Thank you so much for making this video so clear. I have tried using a sharpie, candle smoke etc. but couldn't tell if I was seeing lands marks or just scrapes or what. I tried this method before but got the bullet stuck somehow, I think the key is pushing it in with your finger like you did hear, not using the bolt to guide it.

[drfroglegs]

great video, thanks!

[goldenoldie96alpha]

BTW, didn't mean to sound negative about the OAL gauge you taught us how to make. It works GREAT and gives real life results without calculating based on a measurement from a gauge. If I'd seen your video 10 months ago, I'd never have bought the commercial gauge. Yours works better and is free if you already own the Lee collet neck sizing die for all your calibers. Your series of videos is by far the best available. Your knowledge is extensive and your teaching methods are sound. Thanks