Bullet seating depth safety threshold

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khaines0625

New member
I'm seating bullets for the first time in my 25-06. I've been reading over manuals and things and I'm not getting a clear answer on how deep is too deep to seat your bullet. Most seem to want to talk about accuracy and touching the lands and things and all I really want is to understand when I have seated so deeply that it is unsafe and I need to set the bullet aside and what is okay.

The load data for what I am doing says 3.115" COAL. I have already trimmed the brass and seated several bullets but the die changes depth a lot from not much.

One round I seated the bullet deeply enough that it reached 3.074". This scared me and I set it aside.

What about 3.110"? 3.113"?

I'm hoping to not have to set aside(for later bullet pulling I guess) so many rounds and use them but also dont want to be unsafe.
 
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Generally, I consider the minimum oal to be when the bullets bearing surface transition aligns with the top of the neck. You will have to reduce charge weight as you seat deeper.
 
Why are you seating so deeply?? and, WHAT are you seating that deeply??

Max loaded length for the .25-06 is 3.250"

Generally speaking, if the bullet base is compressing the powder its not the best thing, HOWEVER there are loads with certain combinations of components where this is done, intentionally.

IF you are seating so deeply that the FRONT end of the bullet bearing surface is below the case mouth, this isn't a good thing, either.

If your seating die is changing the seating depth of your bullets, on its own, you haven't set it up correctly.

GO back and read the manuals, again. Forget about the accuracy and seating off the lands stuff, for now. Just work on learning how to make basic uniform, reliable ammunition. Period.

AFTER you can do that, consistently, THEN look at the special tips and tricks to get the best accuracy from your gun and your ammo.

Not everything they say is needed, is needed, and some of it doesn't apply to everything.

Between the combined experience of the members here, there are centuries of experience and knowledge available. Give us the information needed, and usually we can help.
 
It all to be worked up, just like powder charge. Too little bullet jump to chase the land for accuracy is often futile. It could actually cause high pressure.

I'm afraid no one can tell you exactly what to do, as we don't have your rifle. You will have to figure out. Generally bullet jump of 0.05" is a good starting point.

-TL

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk
 
Why are you seating so deeply?? and, WHAT are you seating that deeply??
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According to the official speer handloading data for the 87 gr HP in 25-06 the OAL is 3.115" I guess you think this is very deep? I hope they arent that far off?


I am right on board with you on just getting rounds to fire. I brought up the accuracy thing because idc about dialing things in. I just want safe.

{Edit: please read the board policy on posting copyrighted materials.}
 
I think I get your question behind your question. How deep should a bullet be seated?

My baseline thought is that the case neck and bearing surface of the bullet should be in 100% contact.

….but, then there is distance to the lands. Yea, this can be anywhere from into the lands to as far as meets the above requirements. Normal is 0.03” to 0.1” in my world.

….but, how far off the powder. Well, a bullet can be seated with less than 100% bearing surface to neck engagement, but 100% is usually right. Deeper usually hits the powder. When it hits the powder, the die may ring the bullet or the bullet may even just creep back out. So, I like a small gap to the powder like 93-98% case fill.
 
Too deep is a function of how much case volume you have and how much gas is bypassing the bullet before it obturates the bore. This can be significant, and in your large case, I suspect it will be deeper than you are going.

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khaines0625: (One round I seated the bullet deeply enough that it reached 3.074". This scared me and I set it aside.) 3.115 - 3.074 = .041 i would not be "scared" of seating any bullet 41 thousandths deeper than the recomended over all 3.115

but if you want consistency you need consistent seating also. you can put the cartridge in a kinetic (hammer) puller and not extract it all the way out then re seat, i have done that before and if you are careful about it you can get that to work quite well.
 
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