Most confusing. I loaded that dummy round in the gun dozens of times. Bullet firm in the case mouth, not loose. Good neck tension and some crimp, chambered the round by tapping it in with a hammer and a punch. Measured exactly the same OAL every time I tested it.
Just for the heck of it I loaded some rounds that length (.050" shorter) only to find they wouldn't chamber!! WTF? (of course after driving 45 minutes to the range) Wouldn't even come close to chambering, 1/4" or more too long.
I'm so very confused at this point. And of course now I can't find that dummy round, I want to measure it and see why it would chamber but the others won't.
So I started the whole thing over from scratch. Came up with a seating depth that was actually SHORTER than the original one I tried with the Barnes bullets. I think I was seating them into the lands.. ever so slightly and that was why the pressure signs showed up early. (?) So for now I have a usable, accurate load that will get me through the season. It's still 100 fps slower than quick load is predicting, but still faster than I really need, so no big loss other than impressive sounding numbers.
