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Rifles, Reloading, Optics, Equipment
Rifles, Bullets, Barrels & Ballistics
Bullet seating depth the easy way
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<blockquote data-quote="shilen30" data-source="post: 34299" data-attributes="member: 2420"><p>Kieth, yes, I was in a store that carried the stoney point comparator instead, but the one you mention is great too. Remember (those of you who don't do so already), finding oal to the lands <strong>is only a starting position!</strong> You have to vary seating depth after this. Personally, I find my OAL by the methods you mention. I then seat a bullet in a <strong>sized</strong> case to this OAL and chamber the round. If I see marks from the lands, I seat a tad deeper until I am barely off the lands, and I use this as my starting point. Then, find the best powder/charge/bullet combo FIRST <strong>before</strong> varying seating depth. When you have found the most accurate powder/charge/bullet combination, THEN vary seating depth to squeeze those groups down! To find the correct seating depth I load 6 shots with OAL to the lands (enough to get some real data (and remember plenty of cooling time between shots)), and then 6 more with an oal (again, measured with the bullet comparator) .005" less than this, and continue to do this until you have several sets of 6 rounds that span from just off the lands to around .03" off the lands. Once you found the best OAL out of these, you can vary seating depth .002" from this if you desire. After testing oal and finding the most accurate one, write down the "sweat spot" oal after finding it, and use it for the differnt bullets and lots of the same bullet you use. Very important: the bullet profile changes from lot to lot, and certainly from bullet to bullet, but use the same OAL MEASURED BY THE BULLET COMPARATOR for each. <strong>this means you will have to adjust your seating stem of your seater die</strong>every time you change lots or brand of bullets, but the oal measured by the bullet comparator stays the same.</p><p></p><p>[ 07-15-2004: Message edited by: shilen30 ]</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="shilen30, post: 34299, member: 2420"] Kieth, yes, I was in a store that carried the stoney point comparator instead, but the one you mention is great too. Remember (those of you who don't do so already), finding oal to the lands [B]is only a starting position![/B] You have to vary seating depth after this. Personally, I find my OAL by the methods you mention. I then seat a bullet in a [B]sized[/B] case to this OAL and chamber the round. If I see marks from the lands, I seat a tad deeper until I am barely off the lands, and I use this as my starting point. Then, find the best powder/charge/bullet combo FIRST [B]before[/B] varying seating depth. When you have found the most accurate powder/charge/bullet combination, THEN vary seating depth to squeeze those groups down! To find the correct seating depth I load 6 shots with OAL to the lands (enough to get some real data (and remember plenty of cooling time between shots)), and then 6 more with an oal (again, measured with the bullet comparator) .005" less than this, and continue to do this until you have several sets of 6 rounds that span from just off the lands to around .03" off the lands. Once you found the best OAL out of these, you can vary seating depth .002" from this if you desire. After testing oal and finding the most accurate one, write down the "sweat spot" oal after finding it, and use it for the differnt bullets and lots of the same bullet you use. Very important: the bullet profile changes from lot to lot, and certainly from bullet to bullet, but use the same OAL MEASURED BY THE BULLET COMPARATOR for each. [B]this means you will have to adjust your seating stem of your seater die[/B]every time you change lots or brand of bullets, but the oal measured by the bullet comparator stays the same. [ 07-15-2004: Message edited by: shilen30 ] [/QUOTE]
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Bullet seating depth the easy way
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