Seating Depth ?

[Secondranch]

I have a .223 bolt action that I am running 40 grain Hornady Vmax`s in front of 27.1 grains of BenchMark. Now just beginning to work on seating depth.

My seating depth on this rifle with the Vmax`s is 2.285 the 40 grain Vmax`s are .689 in length subtract the width of .223 (amount of bullet in case ) = .466 add this to the cartridge length of 1.750 gives me a OAL length of 2.216 which leaves a jump of .069 off the lands.

My question is how far can I push the depth of the bullet out of the case to get closer to the lands with out creating issues........ r

Thank You

 

[sourdough44]

One rule of thumb is to try to keep at least the diameter of the bullet seated into the case. That would be .224" inside the case with your loads.

Now I realize this adage can be varied, just something one sees mentioned from time to time.

 

[Secondranch]

One rule of thumb is to try to keep at least the diameter of the bullet seated into the case. That would be .224" inside the case with your loads.

Now I realize this adage can be varied, just something one sees mentioned from time to time.

That is what I am trying to figure out if I can push a little less then .223 inside the case and if I do what issues am I looking at or creating?

 

[gohring3006]

I wouldn't go less than 80% in the case. The 300win.mag. Has less than the bullet diameter but not sure how much less....

 

[boomtube]

The only 'rule of thumb' that matters is to seat deep enough so the bullets won't fall put with normal handling. If seating was any more critical or complex than that every reloading manual printed would say so.

 

[safarihunter]

I agree with boomtube but add the following.

If you are feeding from a magazine, you would want to make sure the bullets wouldn't be dislodged by recoil.

 

[Mikecr]

My seating depth on this rifle with the Vmax`s is 2.285

I take it this is your measured OAL at touching the lands (OAL-T)(your goal).

the 40 grain Vmax`s are .689 in length

Only bullet bearing is gripped by the neck, and this bullet doesn't have a full cal(.224) of bearing to grip anyway.
Of the .689 OAL, ~.060 is boat tail, and ~.421 is nose, so your bullet bearing is ~.208

Your touching goal:
2.285 OAL-T
minus 1.75 of case length in OAL-T
= 0.535 of loaded bullet outside neck
0.689 BL minus 0.535
=0.154 of bullet inside neck
minus 0.060 base
=0.094 bearing inside neck (grip) which is ~3/32"

It's not much, but it may be enough for your use.
I single load everything & wouldn't sweat it.

 

[Secondranch]

Thanks Mike I had totally overlooked they are a boattail when figuring my measurements. Your answer is a great help.