[Jeff Higgins]

Hit a bit of a bump in the road today. I figured I would take the easy route, and see if I could get lucky, so I grabbed some of my son's loads we put up for his Featherweight. They are too long to chamber in my #1. Rats.

I was hoping we could hit the field with the same ammo. Maybe we still can, if I can work up a load with a bit shorter OAL than we found optimal in his M70. We have been using the Sierra 160 grain semi-pointed bullet loaded out to 3.125", which is actually about .125" longer than Sierra shows. But what do they know? All rifles set their own rules, and Chris's M70 has a particularly long throat and gradual leade, so it likes 'em seated out loooong. Hell, we can't even seat 120 grain bullets in the case and have them anywhere near the origin of the rifling when chambered. Fortunately, the rifle also has a long, unbaffled, full .30-'06 length magazine, so it will accept these long rounds.

Not so with my #1A. It has a very short throat and abrupt leade. I had to seat the Sierras down to 2.96" to get them to fully chamber without camming them in with the rising breechblock. That's a significant difference, so I dropped the charge of Reloder 22 by eight grains to start, and I'll work up from there. Taking it to the range tomorrow...