bullet seating length, the old way ?

[cjmac]

so i always talk to the older BR guys at the range i go to . all of them seem to jam to the lands and thats it . even when finding a load with new powder. few guys said thay let the bullet seat when thay close bolt . obviously it works good for them . guess its worth a try , iv always found a few about 2 thou jump works for me .

 

[K22]

Varying seating depth can reduce group size but I've never found it necessary to jam the bullet into the lands to achieve long range varmint accuracy (i.e. 1/2 moa). Then again I'm not a bench rest shooter.

Jamming bullets into the lands could significantly raise pressure to unsafe levels. For hunting reloads this practice could result in a bullet stuck in the barrel when you try to eject a live round. Not a good thing in the field.

Bench rest shooters tend to be highly experienced reloaders who are very knowledgable in loading target grade ammo for target range use in custom grade rifles.

No offense intended but unless you're one of those guys you may be better served adhering to standard reloading practices. I'm not sure you would gain much if anything by pushing the envelope.

 

[BoydAllen]

When knowledgeable shooters set about working up a load, starting with the bullet into the lands, they start their investigation of powder charges well below the projected maximum load. So many shooters parrot the excess pressure thing, that have never done a systematic load workup, or seated into the lands. It is true that if you had a maximum load that was determined with jumped bullets and then foolishly switched to touching or some amount into the rifling that you would have more pressure than you wanted, but of course if you start your workup a couple of grains below the maximum and come up in small steps, you shouldn't have any problems, as long as you know how to read pressure signs.
This sort of follows along with the common practice of using the internet to ask for a good load, when you know nothing about how your rifle compares to those that you are asking, or if they have exercised any sense in their choice of maximum pressure. Always work up your own loads, in small steps.