What techniques do u all use when reloading to get the desired distance from ogive to lands. I know of the stoney point tools, and some other hit and miss ways to do this. How important is it anyway, as premium factory rounds like federal gold match seem to shoot well even though they are uniform, any thoughts?
DISTANCE TO RIFLING
- Thread starter mack
- Start date
distance to rifleing
You can buy all sorts of guages to determine bullet seating depth.
Some rifles shoot better when the bullet is touching the lands and others like a jump, you have to find out what your individual rifle prefers.
One way to find max length is to slightly neck size a case, seat a bullet (UNPRIMED & NO POWDER) as far out as possible, feed it into the chamber and close the bolt, it will be very tight to get out but with care you will succeed. You will have found the maximum overall length for your rifle but always refer to your calibre spec for the max reccommended. NEVER FIRE A LOADED ROUND IF THE BOLT FEETS TIGHT WHEN YOU CLOSE IT.
From there you can load up batches of live rounds (3-5 at a time) with the bullet seated a few thou deeper for each batch, eventually you will find what seating depth your rifle prefers.
ALWAYS CHECK YOUR CASE LENGTH & TRIM IF IT IS LONGER THAN RECOMMENDED.
Failing that, buy a RCBS Precision Micrometer.
REMEMBER CARELESS RELOADING CAN BE FATAL, YOU DO IT ALL AT YOUR OWN RISK, the method decribed above worked for me until I eventually bought a Precision Mic.
You can buy all sorts of guages to determine bullet seating depth.
Some rifles shoot better when the bullet is touching the lands and others like a jump, you have to find out what your individual rifle prefers.
One way to find max length is to slightly neck size a case, seat a bullet (UNPRIMED & NO POWDER) as far out as possible, feed it into the chamber and close the bolt, it will be very tight to get out but with care you will succeed. You will have found the maximum overall length for your rifle but always refer to your calibre spec for the max reccommended. NEVER FIRE A LOADED ROUND IF THE BOLT FEETS TIGHT WHEN YOU CLOSE IT.
From there you can load up batches of live rounds (3-5 at a time) with the bullet seated a few thou deeper for each batch, eventually you will find what seating depth your rifle prefers.
ALWAYS CHECK YOUR CASE LENGTH & TRIM IF IT IS LONGER THAN RECOMMENDED.
Failing that, buy a RCBS Precision Micrometer.
REMEMBER CARELESS RELOADING CAN BE FATAL, YOU DO IT ALL AT YOUR OWN RISK, the method decribed above worked for me until I eventually bought a Precision Mic.
CHRIS WORLEY
Well-Known Member
HELLO,I USE THE STONEY POINT SETUP ON MY 223 REM TIKKA AND 270 WIN SAKO AND FIND THAT BETWEEN 15/20 THOUBETWEEN RIFLING AND BULLET WORKS BEST. I USE VARGET FOR BOTH LOADS
Blaser3006
Well-Known Member
reload
There are tools that wil do it but as rogern says with a case and bullet is very effective. So much so its how they describe in the Nosler reloading guide.
There are tools that wil do it but as rogern says with a case and bullet is very effective. So much so its how they describe in the Nosler reloading guide.
Bullet Seating.
Mack,
The method I use is as Follows and tools are cheap.
1 Buy a 1Metre length of suitable diameter of Dowelling from a DIY shop.
2 Cut an 8 inch length off (notice the change from Metric to Imperial).
3 Take your rifle and after ensuring that there is nothing live up the spout, insert the bolt and pull the trigger( this will give you the 15 thou. or so clearance from the lands for your cartridge OAL) exposing the firing pin.
4 Insert the long length of dowelling from the muzzle and mark with your knife, at the muzzle, when it rests on the firing pin.
5 Remove the bolt and with the muzzle of the rifle on the floor, drop your bullet of choice into the breech and touching the lands. With your 8 inch length of dowelling, just hold the bullet in place.
6 The tricky bit. Bring your rifle to the horizontal position and insert your long length of dowelling from the Muzzle again until it touches the nose of the bullet and once again mark the dowelling with a knife.
Finally, measure the distance between the two knife cuts with a Vernier guage and this will give you the Cartridge Overall Length. Simple.
This only takes a couple of minutes to do but the Cartridge OAL differs with each profile or weight of bullet. So it is worth recording the OAL for each make or weight of bullet used.
Mack,
The method I use is as Follows and tools are cheap.
1 Buy a 1Metre length of suitable diameter of Dowelling from a DIY shop.
2 Cut an 8 inch length off (notice the change from Metric to Imperial).
3 Take your rifle and after ensuring that there is nothing live up the spout, insert the bolt and pull the trigger( this will give you the 15 thou. or so clearance from the lands for your cartridge OAL) exposing the firing pin.
4 Insert the long length of dowelling from the muzzle and mark with your knife, at the muzzle, when it rests on the firing pin.
5 Remove the bolt and with the muzzle of the rifle on the floor, drop your bullet of choice into the breech and touching the lands. With your 8 inch length of dowelling, just hold the bullet in place.
6 The tricky bit. Bring your rifle to the horizontal position and insert your long length of dowelling from the Muzzle again until it touches the nose of the bullet and once again mark the dowelling with a knife.
Finally, measure the distance between the two knife cuts with a Vernier guage and this will give you the Cartridge Overall Length. Simple.
This only takes a couple of minutes to do but the Cartridge OAL differs with each profile or weight of bullet. So it is worth recording the OAL for each make or weight of bullet used.
MarkH
Well-Known Member
For hunting purposes I dont bother too much with working out distance from lands, in fact with a Sauer 202 a lot of light for calibre rounds will fall out of the case neck before you are even close to the lands.
My tip is to load the bullet a calibers depth into the case so that it is sitting nice and square in the case neck ie 7mm for a 7mm. Dont include the boat tail, so thats 7 mm on the straight part of the shank. This technique still gets sub MOA groups without all the hassel.
If you want to play with distance off lands then but a Stoney point guage and dummy cartridge. Insert a wooded dowl down the barrel and then fit the guage and gently push the bullet until it touches the lands. The dowel is to push the bullet out of the lands if it binds. Repeat 3 to 5 times and work out the average.
Mark
My tip is to load the bullet a calibers depth into the case so that it is sitting nice and square in the case neck ie 7mm for a 7mm. Dont include the boat tail, so thats 7 mm on the straight part of the shank. This technique still gets sub MOA groups without all the hassel.
If you want to play with distance off lands then but a Stoney point guage and dummy cartridge. Insert a wooded dowl down the barrel and then fit the guage and gently push the bullet until it touches the lands. The dowel is to push the bullet out of the lands if it binds. Repeat 3 to 5 times and work out the average.
Mark
i seat my bullet head long and just keep reseating it untill it fits in the chamber and the bolt closes then give the bullet seater another half turn
and then work my best grouping loads from that, i am not after precision just consistency,
i also chamber every reloaded round to make sure they fit properly (batch of twenty at a time) best done in the garden that job
and then work my best grouping loads from that, i am not after precision just consistency,
i also chamber every reloaded round to make sure they fit properly (batch of twenty at a time) best done in the garden that job
