seating depth

[Gale Johnson]

I have a 220 swift Remington 700 VSSF, trying to determine a good seating depth for a 50 gr Blitz King. I took a fired case a squished it, marked the bullet and put it in the gun and closed the bolt seating the bullet into the lands. this length was 2.870 on a couple different tries.

I loaded some to 2.680 and shot them before this test, not impressive at all. How close to this 2.870 should i be? I have shot some ammo the i got with the gun that are 2.735 and lots better but not great. Hardly any bullet in the neck at 2.870, so where do i start?

I am thinking of starting at 2.735 and going out from there

 

[varmintH8R]

I would probably recommend investing in a better way to measure distance to the lands. I use the Hornady system and it is good enough for my purposes. Sinclair and some others make devices that are reportedly more precise...

I have a 22-250 that likes the 50gr blitzkings 5 thou off the lands. I recommend starting just off the lands (or as close as you can get comfortably) and working off 25 thou at a time to see what you learn. Once you find something that looks good, you can refine it in shorter steps.

Good luck!

 

[blacknzr1]

if you trust your measurments start closer... 2.860, 10 thou jump. (starting with minimum book charge weights)

but I also would recommend the hornady tool and to work it out measuring off the ogive.

if nothing shoots well at 10 thou jump. choose the best powder charge, for whatever reason. (low ES,low pressure, accuracy) then play with jump. big incriments first. then in between.

 

[Gale Johnson]

thanks guys

I loaded 4 three shot packs and went .020 difference, I'll shoot them and see if i can find out anything.

I was going to pickup the hornady tool but havent' done it yet

 

[ShootnMathews]

In my experience usually the closer to the lands the better it will shoot. I would try about .005" off the lands and if you don't have enough bullet to do it step up you bullet size a few grains. If you are set on the 50 grainer then you'll just have to play with the depth and hope they jump well.

 

[Mikecr]

Best seating isn't predictable Gale. You just have to find it locally.

 

[Gale Johnson]

In my experience usually the closer to the lands the better it will shoot. I would try about .005" off the lands and if you don't have enough bullet to do it step up you bullet size a few grains. If you are set on the 50 grainer then you'll just have to play with the depth and hope they jump well.

The way it looks i am hoping they will jump well, don't have near enough bullet to get close to the lands

 

[ShootnMathews]

The way it looks i am hoping they will jump well, don't have near enough bullet to get close to the lands

You'll have that sometimes. I have a .223 R-15 that I probably couldn't touch the lands with a 100 grain bullet. But it will shoot the American eagle ar-15 tipped Varmit loads at 1/2 MOA or less an that's a 50 grain bullet with prob 1/4" of jump.