154 gr Hornady SST - jump or touch rifling

[sbisch]

I've been getting erratic accuracy with 154 gr Hornady SSTs in my custom .280 Rem hunting rifle. Sometimes <0.7 MOA accuracy; sometimes 2.5+ MOA accuracy. I've played with seating depth from 0.005" to 0.025" off the lands, but get similar results at all seating depths. Should I load this bullet to kiss the lands or deeper into the lands?

Most other bullets shoot very well in this rifle,0.5 MOA with 140 gr Ballistic Tips), but I like the 154 SST due to the higher BC and the fact that I was very impressed with how it worked on the one deer I shot with it.

 

[AckleymanII]

I shot the 154g SST out of a 7 mag with 63.0g of IMR 4350, Rem brass, with 9 1/2 primer at 3150 fps. I found it necessary to jam the lands .003 with this bullet. Accuracy was in the .400 area with this particular rifle, but it was real picky about having the bullet jam the lands.

 

[sbisch]

Thanks! I had a feeling that accuracy may be more consistent with the bullet into the lands. The shape of this particular bullet is almost like a VLD bullet. I've gone through losts of bullets and several different powders trying to get it to shoot consistently. Didn't really think about jamming into the lands until I read some of the info on this web site.