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Lancaster ...

To try and answer your question about OAL in the magazine of my Lee Speed I took a case and gradually seated a 300 gr Hornady solid. The OAL that permitted the cartridge to be fully depressed in the magazine was 3.11". Forgive me if I am loathe to open one of my sealed packets of original ammunition, I have no idea what I'm saving them for but it is nice to have them and I'm not too sure if it would help you in solving your problem. If and when I do open one I'll be sure to measure a cartridge for you.

My guess (and this is pure speculation) at your problem with the Kynamco ammunition is that they are using commercially available bullets wherever possible in their ammunition. I'm willing to bet that no bullet manufacturer when making a 270gr .375" bullet thinks to himself,

"Aha! Although I'm designing this bullet for the 375 H&H Magnum, I must make allowance for the 375 X 2½."

I imagine they place the crimp groove where it allows for the correct OAL for the Magnum. According to my copy of Cartridges of the World the 375 X 2½ has an OAL of 3.1" and a case length of 2.5" and so the crimp groove of the bullet must allow for no more that .6" of the bullet protruding from the case. The OAL of the Magnum is 3.6" with a case length of 2.85" and so the crimp groove allows .75" of the bullet to protrude for the correct OAL. I suspect that Kynamco are using a bullet with a crimp groove that allows them to get as close as possible to the right OAL for the 375 X 2½ and sadly for you that's a bit too long to fit in your magazine.

I think the answer to your problem may lie in handloading. The bullets for the 375 Winchester would almost certainly work but they are light for the calibre and may be difficult to get to shoot to the open sights. I can't try this myself as UK law does not permit me to purchase expanding bullets for target shooting. On the other hand you could handload one of the current crop of 270 gr bullets and either not crimp (perhaps not a good idea in a magazine rifle with a fair amount of recoil) or buy a custom collet crimp die from Lee. If you decide on the custom crimp die let me know and we might get them to make two and we'll split the costs down the middle. Otherwise you could just trim the soft point off the loaded Kynamco bullets until they fit. I did wonder about cutting back your very expensive cases to reduce the OAL but then they might not reach the crimp shoulder in your dies.

I've just had another thought which would be cheap and easy. You could buy a standard Lee collet crimp die in a 35 calibre (e.g. 35 Remington). Cut off a length of rod measured so that when you balance a bullet on top of it the bullet is placed in the collet so that the jaws close exactly where you want your new crimp groove. Raise the ram on your press and you should have a crimp groove exactly where you want it to be. I've used this method to put a new grease groove in a bullet that has been modified for 380 Rook.

I hope that helps.

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