Blacktail-hunter
Active Member
Ok so I'm starting a load but wondering what most people do first? I never really played with Seattle cuz I'm limited to the length of the mag.
Seating depth or powder charge?
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RockyMtnMT
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There is two pretty strong opinions on this. My method is based on our bullet. The fact that our bullet rarely needs to have seating depth adjusted makes it easier.
I figure out my longest functional seating depth. Work up a load in increasing charge weights one shot one charge, always with a chrono. Once I find upper weight I then shoot multiples to verify good es and collect a good average vel. Then shoot for a group and zero the rifle. If the group is not acceptable then I will start adjusting seating depth shorter, 1/4 turn on standard die, and repeat until group comes in.
With Hammer Bullets it is very rare to have to make a seating depth adj. Others it is much more common.
Steve
I figure out my longest functional seating depth. Work up a load in increasing charge weights one shot one charge, always with a chrono. Once I find upper weight I then shoot multiples to verify good es and collect a good average vel. Then shoot for a group and zero the rifle. If the group is not acceptable then I will start adjusting seating depth shorter, 1/4 turn on standard die, and repeat until group comes in.
With Hammer Bullets it is very rare to have to make a seating depth adj. Others it is much more common.
Steve
Wolf76
Well-Known Member
I'd go with seating depth first. Once complete, you can focus on powder charge and powders. You'll go through a lot of powder and potentially pass up the node without optimal seating depth.
Buddies A bolt wouldn't shoot anything well at magazine length. Once I put them at 15 off, the thing was driving tracks. So he loads the long loaded bullets (marker colored) in the chamber and loads the less accurate ones in the mag.
Buddies A bolt wouldn't shoot anything well at magazine length. Once I put them at 15 off, the thing was driving tracks. So he loads the long loaded bullets (marker colored) in the chamber and loads the less accurate ones in the mag.
WeiserBucks
Well-Known Member
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Great advice! Load the good one 1st and stuff the mag with something else .
gohring3006
Well-Known Member
I do seating first, I just did a 300 Win with 208 ELDs. I didn't load that many lengths. I did 5 sets of 5 rounds, starting at Hornadys book length which was 3.34" went to 3.58" I think. This is all off of memory, my notes are in the basement.
Two lengths showed promise with 5 shots and they were .040" apart. I chose the one seated deepest so I could chase the lands as they get farther away. I made up dummy rounds for each length and I adjusted my die to the desired length, and then measured off the ogive, recorded it, and measured distance from the lands with a OAL gauge and recorded it.
This sounds like a lot of work, but I shot a total of 18 rounds. I didn't shot a whole string of 5, if ES and groups were poor in three shots. I have shot 40-50 rounds doing powder charge work ups, and often didn't get desired results. So it's always seating first for me.
Two lengths showed promise with 5 shots and they were .040" apart. I chose the one seated deepest so I could chase the lands as they get farther away. I made up dummy rounds for each length and I adjusted my die to the desired length, and then measured off the ogive, recorded it, and measured distance from the lands with a OAL gauge and recorded it.
This sounds like a lot of work, but I shot a total of 18 rounds. I didn't shot a whole string of 5, if ES and groups were poor in three shots. I have shot 40-50 rounds doing powder charge work ups, and often didn't get desired results. So it's always seating first for me.
I generally start with Hornady bullets .020 off lands. Find a load that is fairly consistent with less than a 10 ES. Then once that is done I do a touching lands, .010, ,.020, .040, .050 and .100 off with that charge to see how groups do. U will get a lot of great info off here as everyone has their own method. What caliber u loading? Lot depends on what bullet, powder combo u rolling with.
