Is hornady lock and load oal guage worth buying

W

Wendyj

New member
Saw this in action today. Seems really easy but not sure how accurate. I've tried soot. Sharpie. My cartridge. Don't have the feel for it.
 
I don't think one needs it.

You can pinch a fired case neck a little then start a bullet into it, finally chamber the round. Eject it and your bullet's seated to where it touches the lands. There's your gauge.
 
I have the gauge, very good tool to own. Once you get a feel for it, does what it designed to do. In reloading you need to know all your settings.
 
I ordered it from Midway so will see next Monday so they say. $7.00 for shipping and it could have been sent by mail and arrived in max 2 days. Amazon can do it. Don't know why Midway can't.
 
I bought one but I never developed the touch. I was trying to measure col on my .243 but never could get the same measurement twice. Tried it 60 times and each reading was different, sometimes but a large difference. Finally I used the split neck with a bullet technique, slowly chambered in my rifle. Got the same reading 9 times out of 10. Not giving up I'll try again with my 308 and see if I learn to use the tool properly.
 
You can use it together with a loose fitting rod in the muzzle. I use 1/4" wood dowels for 30 cal.
What you do is "trap" the bullet between the gauge's piston & the rod so you can "back & forth" while learning the feel.
 
You can do it all without this tool, but it does make setup much easier. For $40, I can't see living without it.

I also can't see living without the OAL bushings and shoulder datum bushings for case side headspace and OAL(ogive) measurement.
 
Is that the device that clamps on to calipers with different bullet cones I believe. If so I can buy that at store here. Hornady also I think.
 
Is this the one you ask about?

http://www.hornady.com/store/Lock-N-Load-.224-.308-Comparator-Set-With-6-Bullet-Inserts/

It should work OK.

I don't know what the gauging surface diameter is for 30 caliber bullets. I hope it's close to .304" as that's the typical diameter on the bullet ogive that first contacts the rifling in 30 caliber barrels. If it's less than .299", it won'be too precise for your 30 caliber barrel as few have bore diameters smaller than that.

Whatever readings you get using that gauge will actually be less in your rifle's chamber. That's because the gauge uses the case head as the rear reference. As your loaded cases will have a couple to a few thousandths inch less length from head to shoulder than the chamber does, that amount will be subtracted from the gauge measurement. If there's a .003" spread in that measurement on your loaded cases (typically called case headspace), that'll cause a .003: spread in how far the bullet has to jump from its seated position to the rifling. Bullet jump distance is more precisely controlled by the length from the case shoulder to a reference point on the bullet.

It's not enough to worry about anyway. The throat will erode away .001" for every few dozen shots anyway. So bullet jump increases the same amount for a given bullet seating depth. Accuracy won't suffer any significant amount in most rifles even if it erodes .050" to .070". I've not seen that happen wearing out several .308 Win barrels.
 
Last edited:
You can pinch a fired case neck a little then start a bullet into it, finally chamber the round. Eject it and your bullet's seated to where it touches the lands. There's your gauge.
Click to expand...

I think it's extremely worth it to know for sure.
Click to expand...

Bart B., the case with the pinched neck is not a gage, the gage is a subliminal message in the question. jwrowland77 understood the question.

It is possible to make a transfer, if the reloader asking the question does not want to keep up with the difference in the case length from the shoulder to the case head and chamber from the shoulder to the bolt face use a fired case with a sized neck.

Then the shop skill comes into play, drill the flash hole/primer pocket to a diameter that is large for a cleaning rod. After seating the bullet, remove the bolt and then chamber the round, after chambering the round use a dowel to push the bullet out of the case and into the lands. Once the bullet hits the lands stop pushing.

After pushing the bullet out of the case use the transfer to adjust the seating die. After the seating die is adjusted to the transfer the seating die is adjusted to seat the bullet at the lands. For those like me that do not shoot at, beyond or near the lands and have shop skills using height gages adjusting off the lands is a matter of lowering the seating stem, PROVIDING: The reloader zeroed the height of the seating stem.

No Hornady/Sinclair OAL gage, no mention of head space. No mention of going to the hardware store, no mention of different brands , makes or models.

Make a transfer.

F. Guffey
 
Bullet hold, I am the fan of bullet hold, I would use tension but find it most difficult to go from tension to pounds, it is not like converting grains to grams.

F. Guffey
 
Achieve precise bullet seating depth
Click to expand...

Achieve precise? And I ask how is that possible? I said a reloader can use a fired case with a sized neck and a drilled out primer pocket/flash hole if they have shop skill and understand there is a difference in length between the case from the shoulder to the case head and the chamber from the shoulder to the bolt face.

I know, to some everything has head space and every gage is a head space gage. I off set the length of the chamber with the length of the case from the shoulder of the case to the head of the case. when talking about precise it is not possible with a modified case that has been tapped to fit a tool designed for every chamber made. then there is bullet hold, I want all the bullet hold I can get because I do not like to start over everyday.

I am not the fan of seating bullets into, beyond or just short of the rifling, I want my bullets to have the jump start, I want my bullets to hit the lands a-running, I want my bullets past the lands before they know they hit the lands.

Unclenick posted a graph, something like reading a scope time to the right and voltage up the left side. It takes extra effort to get the bullet moving when it is setting still at the lands, again, I am the fan of the running start.

I want bullet hold, I use a transfer to transfer the measurements of the chamber to the seating die. No Hornady/Sinclair OAL tool, no modified case for each chamber:eek:, I did not say I do not have these tools, I do not use them. I have them JIC as in just in case. Again, I want all the bullet hold I can get, I know, there are those that pinch the neck, I don't, I want the bullet to say put, I do not like starting over everyday because the bullet moved.

F. Guffey
 
Retired45,

If you got the gauge only and not the bullet comparator that works with it and only measure full COL, you'll fool yourself with bullets that have length variation (match hollow points, for example). Bit errors are usually on the small side and caused by freebore scraping. You can try tapping the bottom of the rod to see if it finds its way in better.


Bart,

The Hornady gauge holes are not all that tight, I think just because the inserts are aluminum. However, the stainless inserts made for the Sinclair comparator are pretty close to a throat. The Sinclair comparator adapter body is also a little different in that it centers on the caliper jaw, where the Hornady one is offset to fit their gauge. Fortunately, the inserts fit both adapters, so you can pick which adapter and which insert to want to combine.

I measured 15 randomly sampled Sierra 150 grain MatchKings using both comparator inserts. The results were as follows. Despite being a narrower hole, the Hornady insert disagreement with the Sinclair isn't that great; about half a thousandth in SD and none in extreme spread.

Code: 
         Bullet Length     Base-to-ogive          Base-to-ogive
            Overall        Hornady Insert        Sinclair Insert

Mean        1.1095"           0.5240"                0.3800"
SD          0.0033"           0.0030"                0.0025"
MAX         1.1175"           0.5280"                0.3845"
MIN         1.1040"           0.5200"                0.3765"
ES          0.0135"           0.0080"                0.0080"
 
Unclenick, thanks for the numbers.

What's the diameter on the bullet's ogive where both the Hornady and Sinclair inserts made contact with them?

I ask because a recent check with two 30 caliber Hart barrels' contact with Sierra' 168 HPMK showed throat contact diameter on their ogives was about .304". Both barrels have a .2990" bore and .3078" groove diameter and were chambered with the same .308 Win reamer with a 1.5 degree angled throat. One's brand new and the other's got over 2000 rounds through it. The new one seats the same bullet in a case about .070" deeper than in the one with 2000+ rounds through it and each one's contact point smeared the ink on the ogive at the same place.
 
Unclenick

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll try tapping the rod and see if that helps. I did get and am using the comparator but I'm pretty sure my technique is the problem. I'll keep trying.
 
I notice some posts wanting to give the bullet a jump before the lands. I had purchased modified case for 308 and 7 mm mag which is only two I'm reloading at this time. How far should I back of the lands. In 308 im starting to load 165 gr accubonds. I've got to pick up the Hornady bullet comparator tomorrow.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top