Seating Depth 7mmUM

[Mike Liane]

Is it common practice to seat the magnums deeper and give the bullet a longer run at the lands? When seating just off the lands in a factory 700 the rounds won't feed into the magazine and I was told the magnum calibers are usually seated deeper. Comments and suggestions would be welcome.

 

[Varmint Hunter]

While seating bullets close to the rifling USUALLY enhances accuracy, it will also cause the cartridges to be longer than they should be to fit and feed from the magazine of most hunting rifles with factory chambers. As you have noticed.

For a field rifle, I would suggest that you don't bother with OAL's that exceed the magazine length. In all likelihood, you will find an acceptably accurate load that is still within the working length of the magazine.

It is possible to rechamber with a shorter throat, and you may get the best of both worlds by doing this, but I doubt it's worth the trouble.

VH