Tiny boat tail, stubby nose, and 175 grains (with plenty of it being copper) = Long AF bearing surface. If the nose is 0.300"+ shorter than a 180 ELD, it's going to hit the lands at about that much shorter COAL. Not sure why people are confused on this.
He has, and it works.
I'm not confused at all on the concept. I understand completely how it works....
However, if I have reloading manuals that have recipes for a 175gr partition at 3.260 OAL, then I would expect to be able to load them at 3.260, or close to that. Not having to go all the way down to 3.009 just to get it to fit.
Especially when Hornady also has book loads for the 175gr Interlock SP at a OAL of 3.265. Which is a very similar shaped and length bullet to the partition.
The thought process isn't why do partitions need to be loaded shorter potentially...Its more why does his chamber need the bullet loaded .250 shorter then multiple reloading manuals call for....That's not a little bit. That's a lot.
If you just look at the rough numbers......you have a 1.36" or so bullet, seating roughly .4" deep. It has roughly .8" bearing surface, about .4" left after seating...You "should" have roughly .4" before your on the lands. Generally run Partitions right up around .02 off the lands...at 3.260 OAL you "should" be right in the ball park.
If we were talking you know +- 20 thousandths or something...sure chambers vary, still within specs most likely. Bet we are talking 250 thousandths. I mean that's a mile short.....
Most of the info I could drag up seems to point towards around 3.24-3.26 OAL with a 175 Partition on various forums....A couple guys went down to 3.20 for a bigger jump.
Haven't seen anyone go clear down to 3.009 just to fit it. Its just out of spec.....