seating depth

[shewe]

was going to load a few 125 gr speer tnt's. speer manual lists for a 3.100 oal which would leave them about 0.165 from the lands. if i load them with a .020 jump to the lands then the bullet only seats 0.17 inches deep in the case. should i just "bite the bullet" and load them 3.100 oal and forget about the distance from the lands. need advice please. ty in advance. btwthey are for .3006 cal. (almost forgot that). hehe.

[savagescout]

Bullet depth is a tricky thing to play with for accuracy, you can have a bullet touching the lands and shoot great and another bulletthat is set just back and do just as well or better.

I dont know how it has gone for you all, in my time reloading my best accuracy has come in this order. ( most important components.)

bullet

powder

powder charge

then bullet depth

brass brand

thats just me if I were you id load them up to the 3.100 and try them out some bullets shoot so poor that you bullet depth will make no difference.

[Water Swatter]

Just load a few at different lengths and try them out, my 300 win mag likes to be just off the lands (RL22)and my .338 needs to be backed off for best accuracy (RL19). try loading 5 of each distance and see what the best results are and go from there. Don'tseat the bullet touching the lands as this can create a dangerous build up in pressure, unless you are fire forming cases with reduced loads.

ws

What I do and have had great luck for over a decade with, is I load to max that will fit in my mag, and still at least .01" from the rifleing. I build up a load on that, and then if it doens't work out, I try 2 or 3 differnet depths. Remember, changing your depth, changes your pressures. I have worked up a load and been just fine at max COL. But I tried to load it deep and it caused some major pressure signs.

[shewe]

my main concern was that if i set the bullet 0.020 from the lands (which my gun seems to like) then i would only have the bullet set down in the case about 0.2". i went ahead and loaded a few at 3.100 oal and they shot great. sub moa at 100 yds. ty guys. the coyotes aren't going to be happy. lol.

Yea, I like to also have at least one caliber in the case. Just makes the round fragile.