I noticed tonight that the free bore is much shorter in the new barrel. Here's some numbers from my Hornady LnL case gauge. I used a 32gr V-Max for my first loads. Note, these are measured to the OGIVE and not primer to bullet tip and I present them just out of interest not for anyone to follow. This is my chamber, go get your own
![Wink ;)](./images/smilies/icon_wink.gif)
Factory Sav. varmint barrel resulted in an overall cartridge length of 2.033" with the bullet touching the lands.
Criterion barrel resulted in an overall length of 1.956" with the same bullet, again touching the lands.
2.033"-1.956"= 0.077" difference. The significance of that is with the factory barrel, the free bore seemed almost excessive. Nosler 32 gr bullets wouldn't even stay in the case if I wanted em touching the lands. The new barrel obviously will allow for a good case grip on the bullet and still offer a smaller jump to the lands.
I measured a factory Remington 40 gr round, again using the ogive. It offered a length of 1.888". So, in the factory barrel, that bullet was jumping roughly 0.145" before it hit the lands. In the new barrel, the factory round is only 0.068" off the lands, approximately, since I don't have a loose Remington bullet to be absolutey sure. That being said, I'm not sure how much these little bullets differ ogive to ogive by brand.
Long story short, the new chamber definitely seems snug. I'm curious to see the headspace measurements, especially after I pull the plug on a set of Redding dies. More importantly, I'm anxious to see how well it shoots, especially the heavier bullets as this new barrel has a 1:11 twist.