Bullet jam method to find lands on tikka

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Sep 24, 2018
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New to reloading and looking for some advice on finding the lands on a tikka. I watched a video by Erik Cornita that outlined removing a firing pin for a rem 700 and then finding jam by seating the bullet long in a resized once fired case and chambering until the bolt handle falls. I don’t think that work in a tikka but can you do the same thing and leave firing pin in to get a reasonable measurement of where your lands are?
 
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Take a fired case, unsized, and mash the mount in a bit. Insert bullet and put in gun. Repeat a few times to makes sure your numbers are right.
 

EdP

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Buy the Hornady OAL gauge. Take 9 measurements, 3 at each of 3 different positions 90 degrees out. Throw out any that are wildly different and re-measure. Throw out the high and the low and average the remaining 7. Use that number as your length to the lands for that bullet. Do over again for any other bullet. Try loads at .005, .010, .015, and .020 off the lands with a moderate powder charge and see what shoots best. Then work with powder charges to optimize the load. This works for me. Other approaches work for other folks. There is not always just one path to success.
 

Wrench

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Take a fired case and the bullet you want to shoot, place a little locktite or super glue in the mouth. Insert bullet in the mouth just a touch and finger it into the chamber. Close bolt and be patient.....hard to get any closer to the truth.
 
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Just do it with Cortinas method. No reason to go above and beyond, all you care about is making sure you’re bullets aren’t jammed
 
OP
O
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Be aware that you will likely need to single feed your loads with a Tikka if you work off the lands. If you want to use your magazine, you should just seat your bullet to where it fits the magazine go from there…
In a short action cartridge an easy cheap fix is to just use long action mag bolt stop. In this case M+ mag I am jamming at max mag length with some monos so trying to avoid that.
 

amassi

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In a short action cartridge an easy cheap fix is to just use long action mag bolt stop. In this case M+ mag I am jamming at max mag length with some monos so trying to avoid that.
Seat them deeper
There's not a mono made that needs to be anywhere near the lands

Sent from my SM-G991U using Tapatalk
 

roymunson

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Seat them deeper
There's not a mono made that needs to be anywhere near the lands

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This is where I ended up with my TTSX in my 7RM. I think jam was 3.440 or something like that. I ended up settling on my really accurate load at 3.250"

That WAY off the lands from jam.
 

Choupique

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I neck sized a piece of brass, cut a slit in the neck with a hacksaw blade, put bullet in really long, chamber, measure OAL. Repeat a few times, take average.

I'm still brand new to this, but I managed to not blow myself up with this method.
 
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I neck sized a piece of brass, cut a slit in the neck with a hacksaw blade, put bullet in really long, chamber, measure OAL. Repeat a few times, take average.

I'm still brand new to this, but I managed to not blow myself up with this method.
Simple is as simple does, and this method works well. I dent the case mouth of a sized case as was described in an older post above. Sharpie color the bullet and seat it in the case by hand just enough to get some tension. Chamber it, gently cycle the round and even if the bullet pulls out a bit, the sharpie mark tells exactly how deep the bullet went in the case and get a good reading.
 

HOT ROD

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Just seat them at mag length and start there if it doesn't shoot there there's only one way to go and that's move the bullet back... I highly doubt Ur going to reach the lands with Ur tikka but it depends on what Ur shooting... I have three tikkas and there's only one that I can reach the land on and its a 6.5 creed and it shoots .30 off any way and is mag length anyway .
 

Vern400

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You can buy a gauge and that's a good way to do it. You can also use a wooden dowel, a razor blade, and a good pair of calipers.

Close the bolt, and put the dowel down the barrel until it contacts the bolt face. Hold the razor blade flat against the end of the barrel and make a mark on the dowel. Sometimes I'll paint the Dowel white so I can see it better.

Remove the bolt. Drop the bullet you plan to use into the chamber and gently tap the back of the bullet with the dowel rod. Gently now.

Now stick the dowel down the barrel until it contacts the bullet and make a mark on the dowel again.

Take your calipers and carefully measure the distance between the two marks. If you load at this length, it's very likely you can pull a bullet opening the bolt and don't powder in your chamber.

If you want to double check the dimension, back off 0.005 in with a loaded round. Same bullet. Use an expo dry erase marker on the bullet and drop it into the chamber is straight as you can with the barrel pointed down. Close the bolt. If you get five or six cute little rifling marks you are right at contact, but not necessarily jammed. Some people use smoke from a candle. I've done that too.

The shape of the bullet has a very gentle approach to full bore diameter. And there is a lead in chamfer where the rifling starts. Both of these things make measuring linear distances down the bore a little bit difficult.

I keep a 3/16, 1/4 and 5/16 dowel stick in my reloading area. No matter what the caliber is, I can knock this out and be reloading cartridges in 5 to 10 minutes.

I know the gauges are a more purist way. And that's okay with me. But this is an option, and it does work as long as you can make good measurements. And you can get everything you need at a hardware store.

If you ever have a rifle barrelled you can potentially start the lands at the distance from the bolt that you want. I usually use the most important bullet I plan to shoot, and set the lands up to jam the bullet 0.020 less than mag length.

A lot of factory rifles have so much freebore you can't get anywhere close to contact at mag length. I've even had factory barrels rechambered to put the lands where I want them so I don't have to single load the ammunition that shoots best.

Anyhoo, that's one way to do it, and it's one way of many that can work.
 
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Good lord, some of you guys overthink it by a mile.

Measure max mag length

Seat a bullet to max mag length

Color the bullet with a black Sharpie

Chamber the cartridge

Look at the marks left on the ink by the lands. You want a square, not a rectangle.

Seat a bit deeper

Color the marks left by the lands

Repeat until the marks left in the ink are as wide as they are long

That‘s your “just kissing the lands” distance for that bullet in that rifle


Have a cleaning rod handy, you might get a bullet stuck in the chamber. Just pop it out from the bore.





P
 
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Nov 20, 2021
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Good lord, some of you guys overthink it by a mile.

Measure max mag length

Seat a bullet to max mag length

Color the bullet with a black Sharpie

Chamber the cartridge

Look at the marks left on the ink by the lands. You want a square, not a rectangle.

Seat a bit deeper

Color the marks left by the lands

Repeat until the marks left in the ink are as wide as they are long

That‘s your “just kissing the lands” distance for that bullet in that rifle


Have a cleaning rod handy, you might get a bullet stuck in the chamber. Just pop it out from the bore.





P
Yep, as was said before. Don't over think it fellas.
 
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