7STW/Berger 180VLD hunt

[jasonco]

I've been reading as many posts that i can on the the 7stw/berger 180 vld combo and cant seem to find what i'm looking for, as to seating depth. i've been on a loading bench leave of abscence for 5 years! anyway, i had one of my savage 110's rebarreled/chambered to 7stw on a shilen 27" tube way back in 1994 when the stw was still a wildcat. my action and magazine was opened up so i can seat my bullets out a bit farther. the dummy round i loaded is 3.718" oal. it's seated pretty far into the case and is going to be quite a bit of a jump to the lands. what's my probability for good or bad accuracy? im using new 8 rem brass-cci 250-h50bmg(i have plenty of 5010 left, but it burns so dirty so im working up a new recipe for this bullet). i have kept my velocity a bit tame on this rifle. i'll be testing next week after i get a new scope selected. any thoughts will be appreciated. gun)

 

[esorensen]

To find the seating depth in my rifles, I use a dummy cartridge and a fiberglass rod.

I assemble the dummy round longer than I could possibly use, and place into the chamber without the bolt. I push the round as far as it will go with a finger. I then insert the fiberglass rod into the muzzle and push against the bullet, while at the same time "feel" the resistance with my finger on the case head. If there is any resistance, I make the cartridge about .010" shorter and repeat, until I feel NO resistance. I know then, that I am within .010" of the lands. It works perfect every time.

Sometimes I get lucky, and get it close right away. Sometimes as you get closer to the lands, you can feel a difference in the resistance, and start changing to .005" instead. I seat my VLD's .005-.007" into the lands.

Eric