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Tomorrow I will be popping my reloading cherry. I'm loading for my 223 tikka t3. I'm going to be using TR140 hps brass and remington 71/2 primers. I've measured to my lands I think it was 2.45" off the top of my head. I figured I'd load to 2.40" as a start is this about right?

Danny

If you can measure the OAL all well and good, if not 2.400" is the standard length for non AR platforms. The limiting factor will be the magazine as the T3 mags have a plastic web in them to prevent building to a decent length.

In fact will 2.400" feed from the magazine?

I thought 2.260 was "magazine maximum"....

I'm running a roedale chassis which uses AI 223 mags;) they can have length over 2.5"

Urgh, that was a typo it should read 2.600" OAL for the .223 Remington.

For the AR platform fed from magazine it is 2.260" (from memory) the SAAMI specification for .223 Rem is 2.260" and CIP is 57,4mm/2.260"

2.6" standard? Even my AI mag won't let me load that long.

A quick look-see at my Hornady manual gives 11 different powders with the 75gn Amax, all with a minimum COL of 2.390".

Bugger, I missed typed this.

This is the CIP standard from the Triebel P.A.U.L.A (Die Patronen- und Lagerdaten)
57,4mm is 2.260" give or take.

That's great thanks mate. So do you think that I'm in the right area seating them 0.05" off the lands?

Back on track...

I would jump then a bit more if you are not totally sure of the maximum OAL your chamber will take. Start at .010" jump if possible and as a test build a dummy round to length, paint the bullet with a permanent black marker and chamber it to make sure the bolt closes, remove the cartridge and see if there are any witness marks on the bullet, the black marker will help them show up a bit easier if they exist but are faint.