I loaded 17 rounds in a mag to check to see how the pri 6.8 mag would work...I have factory hornady 123sst...they all chambered and extracted by hand. They are about 2.240 COAL. The bullets are all scratched but not sure if its from being jammed into the lands. Didn't shoot any yet...I should have dies and brass in the next few days. To make a dummy round. I take a dremel with a cutter wheel and cut 3 slits perpendicular to the rim of the case neck, then press a bullet in and leave it seated really long. I then put it in and let the bolt slam and use that to seat the bullet at the length it is jammed into the lands. The slits allow it to seat easy like this. I Take it out and measure it to give me a maximum COAL I can load to..that said I like to load as long as I can and keep the bullet right off the lands. I hope my barrel chamber is going to allow this....anybody try a test like this with a dummy round? If they are too short I hope satern recuts them for us or exchanges them.
XcountryRider
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Seems the barrels are having no issues with the SST's.
hydrotech Wrote:I loaded 17 rounds in a mag to check to see how the pri 6.8 mag would work...I have factory hornady 123sst...they all chambered and extracted by hand. They are about 2.240 COAL. The bullets are all scratched but not sure if its from being jammed into the lands. Didn't shoot any yet...I should have dies and brass in the next few days. To make a dummy round. I take a dremel with a cutter wheel and cut 3 slits perpendicular to the rim of the case neck, then press a bullet in and leave it seated really long. I then put it in and let the bolt slam and use that to seat the bullet at the length it is jammed into the lands. The slits allow it to seat easy like this. I Take it out and measure it to give me a maximum COAL I can load to..that said I like to load as long as I can and keep the bullet right off the lands. I hope my barrel chamber is going to allow this....anybody try a test like this with a dummy round? If they are too short I hope satern recuts them for us or exchanges them.
Yes, this is exactly how I measured what my max possible OAL could be with the 129g SST, 107/120g SMK, and 120g A-max. Most of my loading has been with 120g SMK though.
Does anyone know who makes the Brownell's Grendel barrels? I'm sticking with Saturn but i'm just curious.
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So does it seem to be an issue with certain shaped bullets? Fatter Nose???
I haven't had a chance to test anything but all of mine when test fired with Hornady Factory ammo, SST or A-Max, have fired with out issue. This is the same batches before Midway got there's and some after. So it must be an issue if you start to use hand loads.
XCR, are you getting different measurements from your older 24"? I didn't catch that but I think that's what your latest measurements showed.
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Just looking at Noslers Bullet Spec's, it doesn't indicate the measurements like your talking about. The OAL for Partition 100gr is 2.200. Balistic is 2.245. The added .045 seems to for balistic tip so not sure if the rounds are different but from what this looks like, they need a shorter OAL.
Again, I am not a reloading expert but just reading the numbers.
http://www.nosler.com/65-grendel/
customcutter
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XcountryRider Wrote:Seems the barrels are having no issues with the SST's.
Will short throats lead to increased pressures? How high the pressures are might cause damaged bolts, etc?
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hydrotech Wrote:I loaded 17 rounds in a mag to check to see how the pri 6.8 mag would work...I have factory hornady 123sst...they all chambered and extracted by hand. They are about 2.240 COAL. The bullets are all scratched but not sure if its from being jammed into the lands. Didn't shoot any yet...I should have dies and brass in the next few days. To make a dummy round. I take a dremel with a cutter wheel and cut 3 slits perpendicular to the rim of the case neck, then press a bullet in and leave it seated really long. I then put it in and let the bolt slam and use that to seat the bullet at the length it is jammed into the lands. The slits allow it to seat easy like this. I Take it out and measure it to give me a maximum COAL I can load to..that said I like to load as long as I can and keep the bullet right off the lands. I hope my barrel chamber is going to allow this....anybody try a test like this with a dummy round? If they are too short I hope satern recuts them for us or exchanges them.
I have read about that method, some slam their bolts, some gently glide. I guess it depends on how your easily the slits allow the bullet to slide. I have read of some blackening the bullet with a black marker to watch for land contact. I have not attached my barrel to the upper receiver yet. I can check my headspace with my loose bolt and it seems to lock with a dummy 123 Amax round. Any suggestions on other tests I should try on my 16 inch Liberty?
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I measured the OAL using a Hornady gage and a SST bullet. It was 2.242 which is right in line with what the OP got. The chamber should be 0.020 longer. The bullet will be right at the lands. This is with a group buy barrel.
I measured my Shilen with a Hornady OAL gauge and 123g Lapua Scenar. It's real tight too. I would like to know how the tapered throat plays into this. I can jam the bullet in with a little force, and not seeing any nicks from rifling. It's in there good enough that I have to punch it back out with a dowel. My JP barrel has some room, maybe .02 to .03.
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Talk to Satern and when the shop has a time later today, just got back from Shot Show so a lot going on, they will take a look at the barrels they have on hand from the same batch and take measurements.
I'll let you know when I hear something.
XcountryRider
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I talked to Steve Satern he says his reamer is SAMMI spec and slight variations from barrel to barrel are normal.
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The free bore area may be too tight on these barrels. Maybe the reamer was used on too many barrels.
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XcountryRider Wrote:I talked to Steve Satern he says his reamer is SAMMI spec and slight variations from barrel to barrel are normal.
Thanks for the confirmation.
adrenaline junkie
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How can a reamer/barrel have variations of the dimensions talked about in this thread? If there are variations of that much, they're not doing it right.
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So what's the word on these barrels? I have not assembled the 16" I purchased. To me, not chambering commercial ammo is a "problem", not a "variation".
If its just the free bore and not the lands the free bore will open up after shooting rounds that will chamber.
Clean barrel with JB compound after shooting for a while and the free bore will get polished out and probably allow longer COL.Make sure you clean JB compound out real good once your free bore is GTG.It will wear out your throat if you don't remove it with solvent.I read where a guy burned out his throat on a prairie dog shoot because he didn't get all the JB out..
Since the factory 123 SSTs are working OK they would be the a good choice to use for those that don't reload.
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All I can add, at this point, is that if I were one of the owners of these barrels, and I couldn't chamber factory ammo (made to SAAMI spec), I would be just a little less than satisfied with the response from Satern. Suggestions that the barrels be "shot in" seem to be a non-starter, since the non-reloaders are quite limited in their choices of factory ammo that might chamber. A real Catch-22, by all appearances.
So many short chambers, too few options.
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Have any of you taken your new barrel, put factory ammo in the mag, pulled back the charge handle and let a round be chambered and fired it? Don't let it close slow, let it chamber from the bolt catch. I have done this on 10 to 15 new barrels from the same batch. All fed fine and extract fine too. The barrels are not hand lapped so I guess you can keep measuring but if buy a nerw pare of shoes, wear them. See how they are in a few days.
Just my opinion..
I have 10 to 15 more new barrels I will be doing the same function testing with factory ammo. If an issue arises then I'll post it and why don't some of you do the same.
Also no response to my post #66 on the OAL. Am I reading the OAL of non ballistic tips correct? If so, the measurements your posting are long.
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I'm hoping this is not the last we've heard from Saturn on this issue. I trust they will get back to Tedward after examining the barrels themselves.
customcutter
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