neck tension needed to seat into the lands???

[chevytruck_83]

I'm starting to reload for 6mm br and I see a lot of people saying to start off by loading into the lands. well my 223 and ppc like .001" neck tension. this seems to be to loose to jam the bullet into the lands. how much tension have you guys been running to do this? I realize brass condition, neck thickness etc all play a role on actual tension. I'm just looking for what is working for everyone else. loading 6mm br with unturned lapua brass. thanks, nick

 

[Erik Cortina]

Into the lands and jam are two different things.

However, most people run .002" neck tension.

 

[jonbearman]

If you run a thou you could possibly soft seat the bullet and fire it.Just dont try to pull out a loaded round because it may pull the bullet and spill powder everywhere.

 

[CaptainMal]

Your not jammin' to fireform cases so I don't see it as a big issue.

Long as you shoot what you chamber it should be fine.

 

[chevytruck_83]

I see a Lot of people saying their 6mmbr likes bullets 15 thou or so into the lands. that's y I ask.

 

[260Ravage]

.002" tension holds my bullets well with .015" into the lands.

 

[lpreddick]

i had the same question and did some testing. gun is a 22 br, no turn. i "found" the lands using the hornady device using the modified case. i neck sized with a .248 redding bushing and loaded dummy round. neck was .250 in diameter.. seated bullet .040 thous longer than measured lands and chambered. the bullet was pushed back by .015 thous. tried several and the push back was not always .015 and i suspect this could represent a variance in neck tension, even though i used the same bushing. i seated the bullet at .020 thou into the measured lands and rechambered...all stayed and no bullet was pushed any deeper. there were good lands engraving on the bullets, so i am using this combo for the gun and it shoots one hole. "soft seating" is not consistent. if neck tension is too light, the bullet will seat and barely engraves, while more tension and some seat .005 or so and some more and groups will vary. expecting a bullet to self seat to the same point may not be realistic increasing neck tension(bullet grip) will allow deeper seating without bullet pushback. using the above test lets me find the into lands point where bullets stay put. also of interest, you can seat the non moving bullet by .005, polish it with 4-0 steel wool and rechamber. note the lands engraving, reseat .005, polish and rechamber. keep doing this until no engraving noted and THIS is the true lands position...my hornady device is often at odds with this process.

 

[chevytruck_83]

thanks for the in depth explanation. Im still relatively new to reloading. guessing 2 1/2 years now but I'm all in with it. the books are piling up and I'm trying just about every trick I can read in them. even though many of these tricks show little or no gain sometimes I still enjoy the process of finding out why. this test is pretty similar to what I would have done minus the polishing. ill have to try that. seating into the lands must work because I've read some much about it but consistency I read is most important. seating into the lands seems to add inconsistency to a load. only one way to find out what works I guess.

 

[xpilot]

If you run a thou you could possibly soft seat the bullet and fire it.Just dont try to pull out a loaded round because it may pull the bullet and spill powder everywhere.

I know how to do this :-[

 

[Erik Cortina]

i had the same question and did some testing. gun is a 22 br, no turn. i "found" the lands using the hornady device using the modified case. i neck sized with a .248 redding bushing and loaded dummy round. neck was .250 in diameter.. seated bullet .040 thous longer than measured lands and chambered. the bullet was pushed back by .015 thous. tried several and the push back was not always .015 and i suspect this could represent a variance in neck tension, even though i used the same bushing. i seated the bullet at .020 thou into the measured lands and rechambered...all stayed and no bullet was pushed any deeper. there were good lands engraving on the bullets, so i am using this combo for the gun and it shoots one hole. "soft seating" is not consistent. if neck tension is too light, the bullet will seat and barely engraves, while more tension and some seat .005 or so and some more and groups will vary. expecting a bullet to self seat to the same point may not be realistic increasing neck tension(bullet grip) will allow deeper seating without bullet pushback. using the above test lets me find the into lands point where bullets stay put. also of interest, you can seat the non moving bullet by .005, polish it with 4-0 steel wool and rechamber. note the lands engraving, reseat .005, polish and rechamber. keep doing this until no engraving noted and THIS is the true lands position...my hornady device is often at odds with this process.

The reason you found it to be inconsistent is because the point where the barrel seats the bullet from and the point where you were measuring are two different points.

 

[amamnn]

Not only that but a 22BR is not a 6BR and my 6BR is not your 6BR and etc.. etc.. the OP should do a modified ladder test of the kind Tony Boyer outlines in his book--it will tell you what you want to know........

 

[Jeffvn]

I ran my Berger 180 vlds (in my 7WSM) 0.015 jammed. 2 Thou neck tension worked fine.

Jeffvn