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P320 OAL?


usa259

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In reading in the 40 S&W reloading section, some are loading out to a length of 1.180 or more. I was thinking the target OAL was 1.130. I'm finding that my loads over the 1.130, like the 1.135 are not passing the plunk test in the barrel. I don't know how to tell if the 1.135 are not passing because they are to long or the bell in the case mouth is not tapered ever so slightly causing it to fail...

Thoughts?

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Thanks for the ideas. Has anyone found the P320's max OAL?

I just got my OAL to settle down around 1.125 with each brass trimmed to 0.840 and xtreme 180; delta for max and min OAL is 0.009 with rcbs piggyback system.

Edited by usa259
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Thanks for the ideas. Has anyone found the P320's max OAL?

I just got my OAL to settle down around 1.125 with each brass trimmed to 0.840 and xtreme 180; max and min OAL is 0.009 with rcbs piggyback system.

That's not how it works. P320 doesn't have one max oal. Your barrel and your specific bullet have a max oal. The next guys combo can be the same or much different.

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Not sure why that would be other than brass or potential case difference...Chambers, where the rifling begins and head-space dimensions I would think would be very tight controlled; resulting in that the OAL can only be so big.

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Not sure if this is the proper way to determine your OAL, but for any particular bullet, I set a bullet in a fired case just far enough so it won't fall out, then set the case under the extractor and ease it into the chamber. The bullet contacts the rifling and pushes back into the case. Extract it carefully and measure the OAL for that bullet. I usually do it a few times to make sure I didn't move it when inserting or extracting. It gives me a good approximation of my OAL.

Even though the case seats on the case mouth, different bullet profiles will contact the rifling at different points. My OAL for 124gr Montana Golds is different than the one for 124gr Ibejiheads.

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  • 1 month later...

In reading in the 40 S&W reloading section, some are loading out to a length of 1.180 or more. I was thinking the target OAL was 1.130. I'm finding that my loads over the 1.130, like the 1.135 are not passing the plunk test in the barrel. I don't know how to tell if the 1.135 are not passing because they are to long or the bell in the case mouth is not tapered ever so slightly causing it to fail...

Thoughts?

I was also having the rounds fail to "plunk" at 1.135, but they fed and shot just fine. I don't think it was a crimp issue because they passed my Wilson case gauge easily. Anyway, I'm now shooting them at 1.115 and they pluck and shoot perfectly.

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With 147gr flat nose Bullets my OAL was 1.120 and with 124gr jhp I loaded them down to 1.10. In my experience loading for the P320 I've found it likes rounds loaded a tad on the short side both for reliability and accuracy.

With 9 I had a similar experience. I was loading 147gr BBI at 1.135 and it ran perfectly for thousands of rounds; however, as my 13lb Wolff spring wore down I had two occasions where a bullet stopped on the feed ramp. This was after about 5k rounds on the recoil spring so I was overdue to replace it. After replacing the recoil spring I also reduced my OAL down to 1.10" as a precaution to assure I had no similar issues in the future.

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