I was doing some OAL measuring with some bullets for this rifle (Rem 700) which I haven't handloaded for yet, and while I had the comparator out I did a comparison between some fired Federal cases and some new Nosler brass. 2.147 vs. 2.125 respectively. I don't have any Go-No-Go guages, but I had some factory Federal and Winchester loads so I measured them too with the stoney point tool and they measured 2.127 and 2.122 respectively, which brackets the Nosler brass pretty closely and points to a possibly long chamber? To me .020 -.025 inch is a lot of headspace, even for a mass produced factory rifle even if the cartridge headspaces on a belt. This can't be good for a multitude of reasons (like case life maybe?) and I'm debating how much effort to put into load development without first getting the chamber more compatible with "correctly" formed standard brass. Or, do I just shoot 'em once and press on now that they're "fire formed"? What do y'all think?
