20 Practical - seating depth

[wb243]

Question for everyone with a 20 Practical...

I was seating the projectile 3 thou off the lands but I have just tried seating the 40grain V-max about 20 thou off the lands to reduce pressure which gives me an OAL of about 2.162".,2.182" - 0.020 = 2.162"). However, I've noticed that the projectile is seated soooooo deep that the top of the case is above where the ogive begins on the projectile. So much so, that there is actually a gap between projectile and case when viewed from the top.

Is this ok? What are other 20 Practial users seating their projectiles to?

Othewise, I've shot about 60 rounds in some load testing and they've all been less than 0.6MOA which is encouraging.

 

[Fireball]

It sounds like they are being seated too deep. Although the 20 Practical has a very short throat, this will not happen when the bullet is seated to near the lands. How are you determing the OAL of your chamber and loaded round? 20 thousandths off the lands is too much in my opinion. Just have the bullet kiss the land and work your load up. You will be fine.

 

[wb243]

Thanks Fireball.

To work out OAL, I close the bolt,empty chamber), insert a cleaning rod into the muzzle,carefully) so that it touches the bolt face and mark on the rod where the end of the barrel is. I then open the bolt, insert a projectile, ensure it's touching the lands, insert the cleaning rod again and mark the rod again at the end of the barrel. Difference between the two marks is OAL. Using three different readings, I get an OAL of 2.182" with the 40gr V-max's.

When you say kissing the lands, do you mean about 3 thou off or more or less?!

Thanks

 

[Fireball]

I actually touch the lands or seat a few thousandths into them. You should look into buying a Stoney Point,now Hornady) OAL gauge. Taht way you can share accurate OAL numbers with other folks who use this tool.