Increasing seating depth

[jd12]

I have been having problems maintaining my seating depth as i am using a compressed load (straight 284 win. with 180 bergers) so i had my gunsmith increase the throat length on one of my barrels .100 longer. When seating bullets i was contacting the powder .070 before final seating depth. I realize i will have to check and probably tweek the load ( used for 600 - 1000 yd competition ) i was just wondering if others have done this and what adjustments they ended up making. I wouldn't be asking but as this is in the middle of the season i dont have a lot of time for load development and my closest 1000 yd range is 2 1/2 hours away and i was just wondering if anyone had thoughts as i am going to take several different variations of my usual load along for testing. thanks john

 

[1000yardstare]

jd12, I had the same problem a few years ago. Loads were used from 300 to 1000.

My solution was to go to a slightly faster powder so there was no compression. For example, went from RL25 to RL22 in a 6AI. Or from RL15 to H4895 in a .223.

The benefits were immediate. Less carbon and better accuracy. Velocity actually increased in both cases. AMax have very thin jackets and will deform over a compressed load. AMax deformation stopped with the faster powders.

There is no such thing as a free lunch. The downside is faster powders will usually give shorter barrel life. So you pays your money and takes your choice.

 

[jd12]

thanks for the info guys

 

[BoydAllen]

I know that it seems to be unheard of in the 1,000 yard game, but loading at the range can save an immense amount of time in load development, and the short range Benchrest crowd do it all the time. I have a scale wind box that is designed to allow this when using coarse grained powders. It has allowed me to help friends work up a load with one trip to the range, and do a better job as well...or you could guess and make several trips.