what do your mean by off the lands?
Depending on how your rifle has been chambered by the manufacturer, you may be able to seat the bullet in the case at an overall length that sees the bullet reach the rifling 'leade', the tapered start to the rifling lands in the barrel. If extreme, you won't be able to chamber the cartridge as the bullet shoulder (or ogive) will be a jam fit before the bolt handle is down.
VLD bullets often like to be just seated into the rifling, so you'll see references to so many thou' into the lands - ie the point at which the ogive touches the leade is ascertained then the seating die set to give a slightly longer cartridge overall length (COAL). How do you ascertain where the bullet just kisses the leade? There are varioius methods - most people buy a simple tool such as the Stoney-Point / Hornady OAL gauge that needs a modified cartridge case that screws onto the end of the gauge body.
http://www.hornady.com/store/OAL-Gauges-and-Modified-Cases/
To do the job properly, you also need a bullet comparator and appropriate calibre size insert from Hornady or Sinclair to measure the distance from case-head to bullet ogive once you've tried the bullet in your rifle using the aforementioned tool and locked it at the setting that has the bullet in contact with the rifling. You then set the seating die to seat the bullet at whatever length you want in relation to that initial index length. So if your case-head to bullet ogive measurement is 2.226" and you want the bullet 20 thou' off the rifling, the seater would be set to seat the bullet so the comparator measurement is 2.206". This is an actual example from one of my .308s for the 175gn SMK and it gives a COAL (case-head to bullet tip) of around 2.806" right on the SAAMI figure. You can't use it as every rifle is different. Each make and model of bullet varies too, so you have to do it for every bullet you try.
At this point, you're thinking you'll take up golf!
A simple and cheap if slow way is to use your bolt. Seat a bullet very shallow into a sized case and see if it'll chamber. You'll likely hit the rifling first so the bolt won't close. Adjust the seater die to seat the bullet marginally further in and try again. Keep doing this until there is no resistance to bolt closure and you're just 'off the lands'. Keep the inert cartridge as a gauge to reset the seater die. To do this method properly, you really need to dismantle the bolt and remove the firing mechanism as you don't want any resistance to bolt closure from compressing the mainspring or the mechanism catching on the sear. As the bolt cams a lightly touching bullet into the lands very easily, you need to do this job with a very light touch, holding the bolt handle between thumb and forefinger tips and very slowly and gently feeling the bolt handle down into the closed position.
The good news is that unlike some bullets, most SMKs are very jump-tolerant. that is they'll shoot well anywhere between just kissing the rifling and being fifty of sixty thou' away. Most people set them to have around 20 thou' jump, ie 20 thou' off. If you want to use a magazine though, you have to keep the maximum COAL that will fit and feed in mind too.
The leade is eroded back over time through pressure and heat from each cartridge fired. .308W sees 20-30 thou' erosion for every 1,000 rounds. So if you shoot a lot, your bullet gradually finds itself further off the lands. Many people measure the jump and recalibrate their ideal COAL at the start of every competition season.
Incidentally, the 175gn SMK is a good performer accuracy-wise in .308W and works with lots of powders, but it's not in the running against many other models for BC, so gets moved around more by the wind. That's not an issue at up to 500yd, but is increasingly from 600yd on. It will shoot at 1,000yd, but is often subsonic at this range and is inferior to other less blunt designs such as the 155gn Lapua Scenar, 155.5gn Berger BT Fullbore and new 155gn Sierra Palma MK (#2156), or the Berger Target BT Long-Range models in 175 and 185gn weights. As a beginning handloader avoid VLDs as they're tricky to get to shoot well in most barrels.
Don't feel like an idiot - everybody has to start somewhere and learn the tricks. Get a good book on precision handloading like Glen Zediker's 'Handloading for Competition' - $25.95 from Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/Handloading-Competition-Making-Target-Bigger/dp/096269259X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1273621993&sr=1-1
I hope these tips help - good shooting.
Laurie,
York, England
