New poster's first question

[Aznative]

Hello everyone.

I've been looking over here for over a year now just looking now and then. I have a question concerning seating depth. When you guys are experimenting with seating depth to find the sweet spot, how much do you vary it? .002, .005, .010, .020 or more?

Thanks

 

[canderson]

For vld's, I follow bergers recommendations. You can find them on their website. For other bullets, I usually vary the depth 0.010. After a find a depth the barrel likes, I will go 0.002 to 0.005 either way and see what shoots best.

 

[queen_stick]

Here's a link to the document from Berger, noted in the above post.

http://go2.wordpress.com/?id=725X1342&site=accurateshooter.wordpress.com&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.websitetoolbox.com%2Ftool%2Fview%2Fmb%2Ffile%3Fusername%3D6mmbr%26id%3D750175

 

[boltman13]

First, I decided long ago never to jam any bullet into the rifling. I saw other shooters have major problems with it and don't want to go there. The base to ogive length of bullets is not perfectly uniform and may very a few .0000's as will measuring devices. I start with a jump of .020" and if that gives acceptable accuracy I stop there. If not I will try five rounds at .010" and .030". If the .010" is significantly more accurate I will try five rounds at .015" and if that is better I will stay there. I also try five rounds at .030" and if that is better than the .010" I will try five rounds at .025". If none of these give me acceptable accuracy I will try a different powder, primer, or bullet. My High Power match rifle and service rifle also must be short enough to fit in the magazine for the rapid fire loads. As a practical matter I seldom stray far from .020" with my Hunter Benchrest rifle or prone long range rifle. I do the most varing with the HBR which is a tight necked 308 and Wilson hand die which allows for a lot of adjustment at the range. That rifle seems to like Speer 125 gr TNT's at .020 with Federal Match Primers and H322 the best, however. All firing is done over a cronagraph and sometimes at 100 or 200 yards. I always clean at 20 shots or when I change powder, primer or bullet. Don't wear out a good barrel trying to get the last little bit of accuracy unless you are a benchrest shooter.

 

[jb1000br]

And now for the opposite... For match/precision rifles, I start as far into the rifling as I can and then start working out in 5thou or so increments (if necessary after powder ladder) as well as 10-20thou off the lands to see where it likes to be.

JB

 

[Aznative]

Hey guys thanks for your opinion. You have given me some ideas from all of your experiences.
thanks again

 

[BoydAllen]

What sort of rifle, caliber, use? What is suitable for a single shot target rifle, may not be suitable for a lever gun or semiautomatic, or magazine bolt action used for game hunting. Even the relationship between your chamber length and magazine length can be an issue.