seating depth vs powder charge

[johnmyers]

I was fortunate to hear Ferris Pindell speak at local gun club meeting several years ago. He was in early stage of Alzheimer’s but still sharpest man in the room. He said seating depth was #1 in accuracy. That was good enough for me

 

[CharlieNC]

Not meaning to be critical but this seems an overly complicated method of load development with an excessive number of rounds to find a path forward especially if you repeat the test twice than add break in rounds.

If may seem complicated since I did not go into the details. But it is only 27 total shots, 9 different loads x shots each for which five parameters were measured for each of the nine groups.

 

[CharlieNC]

If may seem complicated since I did not go into the details. But it is only 27 total shots, 9 different loads x shots each for which five parameters were measured for each of the nine groups.

As a better answer, this is the 3-shot data. The chart plots all parameters vs all parameters to see the entire story.

 

[Clancy]

There is no need for charts, graphs, hundreds of rounds- none of it .

Shoot 5-8 depths and then 8-10 charges. Load the longest of the depth node, and the middle of the powder node. If your barrel speeds up, fine tune the powder a little.

It’s been a long time since I’ve had a rifle that wouldn’t shoot 1s and 2s consistently over a long period of time, and I spend all of about 50 rounds on load development including foulers.

Use good components, a good smith and practice good case prep. If you get those right, most everything falls into place.

 

[jackieschmidt]

Every Short Range Shooter, whether Group or Score, should watch Wayne’s interview with Eric at least 3 times.

 

[JFrank]

Yea, kind of seems backwards to me but different strokes for different folks I guess.

Bill, I feel as I should expand slightly on my thought process.
I choose the bullet first and chamber accordingly with some previous knowledge of where the bullet is going to seat, as with 103 Vapor trails I know I’ll be somewhere between -0- - .010 in the lands or a deep jam, so I guess to ‘your point’ I am seating first, followed by a powder charge ladder to establish a node prior to fine tuning both seating, bullet hold and powder charge that may get tweaked as weather changes dictate.

Stay tuned
Jim

 

[PhilC]

And if you really want to have fun, try making a cast bullet work in a rifle as well as the jacketed ones do! Lol, I fell down this rabbit hole 5 years ago! I’m also convinced all my guns shoot a lot better than I can and I’ll never win a bench rest competition because I’m way too inconsistent. I have some rifles that might do well but not with me pulling the trigger!

Whole different ball game but that's part of the fun in shooting cast.

 

[Pete Wass]

Not meaning to be critical but this seems an overly complicated method of load development with an excessive number of rounds to find a path forward especially if you repeat the test twice than add break in rounds.

I think so also. Waaaaay too much for those of us shooting the same old chamberings for years. Things just don't change that much. In an open forum like this, it's too tough sometimes to impart much of any use to someone who isn't trying to do the same things we do.

 

[CharlieNC]

I think so also. Waaaaay too much for those of us shooting the same old chamberings for years. Things just don't change that much. In an open forum like this, it's too tough sometimes to impart much of any use to someone who isn't trying to do the same things we do.

Like I said, it's a TOTAL of 27 shots which covers five charge weights and five seating depths at the same time. Please explain how you would cover this span with fewer shots with any level of reliability?

 

[Pete Wass]

Like I said, it's a TOTAL of 27 shots which covers five charge weights and five seating depths at the same time. Please explain how you would cover this span with fewer shots with any level of reliability?

OK, I shoot 30 BR's almost exclusively. After all the years and barrels I have gone through, I have been able to successfully compete with what I have found in testing over the years. I use .006" in exclusively and only need to match the powder charge to it. only an new lot of powder is likely to change anything. I went to .002" of neck tension a couple of years ago, set with a mandrill and found a little bit of gain there. That came from an extensive test I saw the results from so I tried it. Liked it so much I bought a Carbide mandrill

30 BR's are just too easy I guess.

 

[Bc'z]

Like I said, it's a TOTAL of 27 shots which covers five charge weights and five seating depths at the same time. Please explain how you would cover this span with fewer shots with any level of reliability?

By shooting seating test 1st by itself without the outside noise of messing with powder at same time.
When doing seating if 2 ain't touching 3 ain't getting no better, so move to next depth usually find depth 10 rounds.
Powder I go to 3 shot groups and I'll load 5 charges, 3 shots each.
This 6.5-284 load was done in 19 rounds.
lmao
Not to shabby for a hunting rig

 

[Bill Norris]

By shooting seating test 1st by itself without the outside noise of messing with powder at same time.
When doing seating if 2 ain't touching 3 ain't getting no better, so move to next depth usually find depth 10 rounds.
Powder I go to 3 shot groups and I'll load 5 charges, 3 shots each.
This 6.5-284 load was done in 19 rounds.View attachment 1607508
lmao
Not to shabby for a hunting rig

Nice shooting Bro.

 

[DLT]

By shooting seating test 1st by itself without the outside noise of messing with powder at same time.
When doing seating if 2 ain't touching 3 ain't getting no better, so move to next depth usually find depth 10 rounds.
Powder I go to 3 shot groups and I'll load 5 charges, 3 shots each.
This 6.5-284 load was done in 19 rounds.View attachment 1607508
lmao
Not to shabby for a hunting rig

Maybe one day in my dreams

 

[nwmnbowhunter]

By shooting seating test 1st by itself without the outside noise of messing with powder at same time.
When doing seating if 2 ain't touching 3 ain't getting no better, so move to next depth usually find depth 10 rounds.
Powder I go to 3 shot groups and I'll load 5 charges, 3 shots each.
This 6.5-284 load was done in 19 rounds.View attachment 1607508
lmao
Not to shabby for a hunting rig

How did you get that seating depth in that few of shots? To be that specific....

 

[Bc'z]

How did you get that seating depth in that few of shots? To be that specific....

Let me get home and I'll Esplain

 

[DLT]

Let me get home and I'll Esplain

I hope im fixing to learn something

 

[Bc'z]

How did you get that seating depth in that few of shots? To be that specific....

I started at touch, loaded up 20 rounds of a decent middle of road charge of H4350.
I took press,seating die, comparitor to the range, after confirming zero 2-3 shots I start seating in a horizontal format moving deeper into case from touch in .003 increments. Shoot 2 rinse and repeat.
10 shots in .003 covered .0015 of depth.
Remaining rounds were seated to thier happy place and used to confirm and plink with.
Moved to powder and was fortunate to find its happy place without a lot of effort in three 3 shot groups.

 

[Bc'z]

I hope im fixing to learn something

Probably not lol

 

[DLT]

Probably not lol

Maybe the lesson will be how to make chicken salad out of chicken shit. I’ll have note pad handy

 

[Bc'z]

Maybe the lesson will be how to make chicken salad out of chicken shit. I’ll have note pad handy

6br shot @200 yards started seating test @.015 ITL, rumor has it this bullet likes .006-.012 ITL
out of the gate I got 2 touching @200 after a few fowlers...
2 clicks right.... yup still touching
.002 deeper into case ,oh damn it's smaller!!
Next group of 2 shots was slightly bigger than 1st target so I called it done for that test.
Pushed remaining rounds to its desired happy place and practiced running smooth steady groups.