Couple things there IMO . First I think it's always good may be best to know what your MAX COAL is for each bullet type and weight before you start . Max to me is not jammed into the lands but rather just touching them .
There are a few ways to find your max COAL . Seating a bullet into FL sized case VERY long no primer no powder then try to lightly chamber the round . In a Savage you likely will not be able to chamber do to the bullet engaging the lands/rifling and causing quite a bit of resistance . "If" you can't chamber the round ( remember you're not trying to force closed , Looking for normal force to close bolt ) . Seat the bullet a little deeper try to chamber . Repeat process until you can chamber the round with no resistance on the bolt when closing . Eject the round and measure . That measurement should be pretty close to your MAX COAL .
There's another method that uses a fired case from your rifle and the intended bullet to be used . This method takes a little more feel and understanding to get right . That is to lightly crimp the mouth of the case to barely hold the bullet ( use crimp die or pliers ) . The bullet hold should be strong enough to hold the bullet in the neck if you turn the cartridge bullet down or if you give the cartridge a little shake . At the same time light enough to easily slide the bullet back and forth with your fingers . Pull the bullet out pretty far to where it's barely seated . Now slowly chamber the round . As the bullet hits the lands it should be pushed into the case . Now slowly extract the case not letting the ejector fling it out of the action . Carefully measure , this to should be very close to your max COAL . The one problem this method has is depending on the bullet hold . The bullet could stick in the lands and fail to come out with the case . Or it sticks to the lands just enough to to be slightly pulled back out of the neck giving a false measurement .
I use the Hornady COAL gauge
http://www.midwayusa.com/product/570611/hornady-lock-n-load-overall-length-gage-bolt-action
You will need the correct modified case to go with it
http://www.midwayusa.com/product/29...erall-length-gage-modified-case-223-remington
What COAL should you start at ? Well for anyone new to reloading I recommend you use the manuals suggested COAL . If you choose to go longer . Again for the new reloader I recommend you seat your bullet NO CLOSER then .020 off the lands . This should give you some wiggle room for safety .
I wrote this on another forum about seating depth . It's about the 308 and measurement for that cartridge but the over all point is the same .
Me said:
If it were me I'd first ask my self how I plan to shoot . Will I be loading from the mag or will I load one shot at a time by hand .
If you plan to load from the mag most of the time . Then I'd load a COAL as long as I could that would still load and feed from the mag reliably . The fact you are starting at pretty much minimum charge at 40.3gr . You should be fine to load at just about any COAL that securely and safely holds the bullet .
If loading single shots where you never use the mag . Then I'd start at the longest I could seat them that still allows good bullet hold . If you can get right up to the lands . I'd drop the start charge to 39.0gr . Now if you can't and you end up 10+ thousandths off the lands . I'd say 40.3gr is still a good start load because Hodgdon has the 175gr start charge at 41.5gr at a COAL of 2.800 .
The reason I'm suggesting you start seated out as long as possible is as you get closer to the lands your start & peak pressures go up . So if you start long at "MINIMUM OR JUST BELOW" charge you should still be starting at safe pressures . Now if at any point you find a load you like that does NOT show pressure signs and you want to fine tune them by adjusting seating depth . You can only go one direction and that's deeper ( farther off the lands ) which will actually reduce pressure ( to a point , you could get to a point that seating the bullet so deep into the case you actually reduce case volume which could increase pressures) but if you started way out past 2.800 , you'll have a long ways to go before you find your self in any danger .
Now lets turn that around and say you load at a COAL of 2.810 or 2.820 . That's fine and really the closer to 2.800 is the best place to start when new to reloading . How ever keeping in mind that the closer you seat the bullet to the lands . The higher the pressures are going to be . So now lets say you find that good load that may be close to max pressure . When and or if you want to fine tune that load by adjusting seating depth . You only have one direction to go and that's longer ( or closer to the lands ) which can push the close to max pressure load way past safe pressures .
Sorry if that sounded confusing I'm not the best at explanations through written word . To simplify , if you are starting at minimum charge I'd seat them longer then 2,820 as long as they're not touching or jammed into the lands .
As you can see this was specifically written for a member . The point is the same , generally the closer you get to the lands the higher the pressures will be for the same charged load that's seated way off the lands . So in your case and lets say you have found your MAX COAL is 2.275 with a specific bullet . Now If you are at what you believe is close to max load/pressures at a COAL of 2,220 and then seat the bullet longer ( closer to the lands ) . You can and will likely push that other wise max but safe load way over pressure by seating it very close to the lands .
This is why once you get a good feel for what you're doing . Starting your load development much closer to your max COAL is better IMHO . This way when you find your MAX pressure with that long COAL . If you do want to adjust seating depth you only have one direction to go and that's deeper into the case or farther off the lands which should result in less pressure .
REMEMBER IF YOU CHANGE ANYTHING PERTAINING TO A LOAD YOU SHOULD REDUCE YOUR CHARGE AND WORK BACK UP . 
