Bullet seating depth - doing this right?

30Cal- That would work pretty good. As I stated- It is only a starting point anyhow. I will have to give your idea a try. My concern on this method would be that the brass is only set back .002 so it might be the brass sticking also to a point giving you a false reading. I think if you have more then .002 setback the brass would fall right out. I think if you have your brass sized to your rifle with only .002 shoulder bump and you put a case ( with out bulet) in your chamber it is going to stick already.

I will take one of my sized brass and see how that works.
Click to expand...

A bolt slamming or some camming force could maybe jam a FL resized case in the chamber, but I can't do that with my thumb. BTW, this was recommended to me by my 'smith after I was complaining at a match that the dummy case that comes in the RCBS Case Mic set is tough as far as getting repeatable measurements.

Let me know how it works out for you.
 
A local target shooter is fine with a tight bolt close.

He has a lot of years of shooting and a gun smith so I defer to him.

If it won't close at all then I don't. If I can close it with a reasonable amount of force (hard to define, its a feel thing) then I give up.

For the 308 as the sole shooter of the cases I do it pretty close to the minium setback.

the 30-06 that see a lot of chambers I set back .003 TO .005
 
Lots of good stuff here . I'll start with cases head space ( distance from head to datum point on shoulder ) OP has Fired cases from 2.0385 to 2.0340 . If it were me and a hunting rifle which I'm betting this is . I'd use 2.039 as my max "case head space" . 4runner is correct that multiple firings will give you a more accurate measurement but in this case I'd just go with 2.039 as my max length .

I would then set my die to size my cases to 2.037 giving me a .002 shoulder bump . IMHO this is the best way for someone new to reloading to start out . At this point It gets you were you need to be with out excessive sizing . It also will result in good case life . There is no need to load like a bench rester when you're new and loading and loading for a hunting rifle . Right now you're just looking for nice safe accurate loads . Get a few hundred rounds down range or more , then start tweaking things if needed .

Seating depth ? I again say keep it simple at first . I'd load to the manuals recommended depth for a given bullet or about .020 of the lands . For your first loads ever I would not get any closer to the lands the .020 .

All the above is based on first loads "ever" . Once you have a little more experience you can start to tweak all aspects of your reloading process to see if you can make your rounds better .
 
Last edited:
Nosab - I'm shooting a hunting rifle - I just like to shoot as accurately as I can. I like playing around with all the details - If I was just a 100 yard or less meat hunter, I'd be good with factory rounds. I like head shots, and I'll take them if I think I have an excellent chance of hitting brains. I think it makes for better meat - instant collapse instead of adrenaline rush hormone infused meat. I don't think I'm a good enough shooter to do any competition, but who knows - you run into the right people that get you interested in new hobbies - next thing you know I'm in... But I'm really interested in knowing that what I decide to shoot, I hit. I'd like to shoot this rifle out to 500 yards - that's probably going to be my hunting limit - taking it to Hawai'i to do a lot of hunting. but if I can shock myself by keeping 20 shots in 5" at 700 yards or something like that, well I'd take that long of a shot if I knew I could do it.

For short shots, there's archery. Lots of fun too.
 
Haha. 20 shots inside 5" at 700 yards ! Shooting that well would win you a lot of competitions . I'd love to be able to shoot that well . I don't think I could shoot that well in a vacuum little line with wind
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top