SmallCaliberCentral

I'm new to realoading and have spent a great deal of time reading posts on here as well as reading a couple of reloading books. I need some clarification on the oal and saami. As I look in my reloading manual, I see the SAAMI specs for the 204 are 2.260. Now, I've read some posts here that have gone to an oal of 2.28 or thereabouts. I will be shooting a Howa. From what I've read about this, the longer oal would put me closer to the lands which may or may not be a benefit...depending on my gun. However, what I'm curious about is if I exceed the SAAMI specs, will the rifle have issues/difficulty feeding from the magazine. Any help would be appreciated.

Justin

Yes, you can run into problems feeding from a mag/box.

Yes, you can run into pressure spikes if you are seating close, at, or into the lands, work up ALL of your loads in the highest, and sometimes lowest, temperatures that you may experience when excercising your 204.

I load 39gr. BK at 2.320 in my Remington LVSF and I am still pretty far from the lands. That is about how far my magazin will hold them and function well.

i have been reloading for my howa in 204 for just shy of 2 yrs. my oal is at 2.257 with a 32 gr. v-max bullet. i have no feeding problems at this length. and no signs of pressure problems using benchmark powder. my loads with a 39 gr sbk are seated a lot farther out at over 2.320. i wont give my exact oal. but these loads have to be fed into the chamber 1 at a time. they will hang up every time if i use the magazine. that is no problem for me, because i only shoot off of a bench. rifle is way to heavy for me to pack around anywhere. i guess what it all boils down to, is what is the main use with this particular rifle. BTW, with these loads, i am getting consistent groups under 1/2 in at 100 yards.

as a side note; i have checked my chamber with a comparator, and even with the 39gr sbk's, i cannot get even close to the lands unless i only have about .100 in of bullet into the case. these loads have the accepted method of 10% of bullet in the case, at .205.

My friend, futuretrades and I both share the same passion; shooting Skippy for extended periods from a rotating bench in the field. For this endeavor, shooting single shot is the preferred method of fire, as it allows the barrel to cool with the bolt open between shots.

That said, the loaded 204 rounds below are stoked with 39 SBK's for my Sako 75 Varmint. Even loaded far past SAMMI spec's, the ogive is still about .090" shy of touching the lands, but loaded in this manner, produce groups in the .2's and .3's. They will not come close to fitting the magazine, but perform most excellent when loaded single shot, the reason the rifle and another one also intended for bench varmint shooting are equipped with Score-High Benchrest Single Shot Followers.



When I designed the reamer for my custom M700, I had it designed so the loaded bullet base is about flush with the case shoulder/neck junction, and the ogive is right at the lands. This allows proper seating, bullet support and produces accuracy that rivals a true BR rifle when shot from the bench.

My Kimber 84M Varmint is intended to be my 204 Walkabout rifle, and as such, all of my loads for this rifle are seated to 2.260" in order to function from the magazine.