Bullet seating

[hoyt427]

Hi,
I'm new here and haven't reloaded in 20 years, so i hope this isn't a dumb question. When seating your bullet just off the lands or your preferred jump is there a minimum depth in the case your bullet has to be.

 

[bheadboy]

unless you have a very very long throat, that will never be a problem, dont worry, most chambers are short throated enough,, even those extended throats for the vlds are set to give the bullet enought grip,in the case neck.

Bob

 

[Nodak7mm]

I have always used the rule of thumb "minimum depth = bullet cal". Only been once that I have not ever been able to get that. On a factory 2-250 Rem, to touch the lands left 0.080 bullet in the case... lol...

Rod

 

[spclark]

Depends on what works in your rifle. I've gotten superb accuracy out of long range chambers that put 6mm 105 grain bullets into case necks only about 0.125" leaving an equivalent length of neck completely empty behind the boat tail / bearing surface point.

On another 6mm (gas gun) using 70 grain bullets loaded for offhand competition there's only enough of the bullet in the neck to hold 'em in place until I can get 'em into the chamber, maybe 0.100". They still shoot fine... though offhand is hardly a 'reliable' way to proof the accuracy potential of any of my rifles, at least not the way I shoot them.

Besides seating bullets shy of the shoulder / neck point is a fine way to avoid the 'dreaded donut' some folks fear. A little extra neck tension goes a long way towards making a long-seated bullet a safe proposition.

 

[357Mag]

Hoyt -

Howdy !

A Sierra bullet tech once told me .125" is a general minimum they have suggested.

That minimum has worked OK on a couple select loads of mine, in two different calibres.
So, for my $$$; that number appears to be a reasonable an prudent standard to work from..... IMHO.

Regards,
357Mag

 

[necchi]

is there a minimum depth in the case your bullet has to be.

Welcome hoyt,
As you can see there's several different schools of thought here already.

To answer your question, No not really. But there are other issues to look at when seating long like that.
Runout or concentricity,, being able to keep the bullet straight with the neck and thus the chamber and throat/bore is a big deal. Get things crooked and accuracy goes south fast.

Another is neck tention, not saying there needs to be a set amount of tention but it's another variable that gets played with.

I guess the least I've tried is in that .100-.125 range while experimenting, never really found sucsess with it out that far, BUT, I'm shooting factory chambered guns anyways.
The Factory chambers I have aren't tight enough to benefit from a really far out seating like that

 

[expiper]

Good question.....I have not had a 6mm chamber in years that would require pushing most bullets in the case neck more than .200.....and with 62-68 gr bullets jammed they were shanked in .100-.150 and worked great.....with a .243 win chamber I shoot a lot once the round count gets around 2000 the lil' bullets are only in the case .060....when shooting these I handle the ctgs like eggs....around .080 seems to be min for me to feel comfortable ....and feeding from a magazine .100"......Roger

 

[serial # 001]

hoyt427,

When I loaded for a .223 the fifty-five Nosler Ballistic Tips were seated .080". Ten shot group at 200 yards was .870".

 

[lloydx2]

This mostly applies to bolt guns. If your shooting and autoloader. Or anything that you cant control when singularly loading. Bumping rounds going in can bend straight ammo. Or set bullets back in the case.

 

[hoyt427]

Thanks for all the great answers to think about. That's why I got back into reloading after retiring alot to think about and try no one answer. The people I've asked around here just put the die in and go from there. I like to try different things but I don't want to blow myself or guns up. This is a great forum I proably will have more questions coming.

Thanks Hoyt427

 

[Shynloco]

Hi,
I'm new here and haven't reloaded in 20 years, so i hope this isn't a dumb question. When seating your bullet just off the lands or your preferred jump is there a minimum depth in the case your bullet has to be.

I believe spclark's answer will give you the results...let your rifle tell you what she likes the best. I got "lazy" last week and tried using the same setting on my seating the bullet using my Wilson Straight Line Die (as always) on my 6mmbr. I have been testing both Bart's 68 gr's as well as Berger 70 gr bullets. The Bart's fired off very well (as always), but as rarely happens, one Berger probably got seated a few thousands less or more and the very irritating Sear Block in my Savage BR decided to activate because the bullet jammed too deep. So in an attempt to free up the Sear block I unlocked the bolt and closed it again, gingerly. That didn't let up on the Sear block so I reopened the bolt (and like a dummie) gingergly pulled back on the bolt and sure enough, there comes the casing pouring gunpowder all over the the place with the bullet still jammed in the rifling. I guess what I'm trying to say, is that what I've found is that each rifle (regardless of make/model) will "tell you" what it likes whether it be jammed or a jump thats closer to SAMMI specs. My 6mm loves the jam, but my .308 shoots best with a healthy jump that is very close to a standard SAMMI spec with the bullet seated well back in the casing. I even dare say that two rifles of the same caliber and made by the same manufacturers or Gunsmith may very well like different bullet depth settings. Just my thoughts that probably ain't worth all that much.

 

[necchi]

and sure enough, there comes the casing pouring gunpowder all over the the place with the bullet still jammed in the rifling.

Thank's, I needed that.

I even dare say that two rifles of the same caliber and made by the same manufacturers or Gunsmith may very well like different bullet depth settings.

I know some Gents that years back bought a pair of Rem 700 in 30-06, ordered the pair form the dealer. When they came in they had sequential serial #'s they came off the line next to each other.
Those two rifles couldn't share the same ammo for best accuracy, ??? The powder charge needed to be a just a tad different and the seating a little different to get the "Best" for each