Distance off the land. Hunting vs. precision

Distance to lands and powder charge weight are inter-related.. Changing either has the net affect of changing the overall "powder charge".

So if you have proven that your rifle can shoot to your liking, then you have the option to change seating depth AND powder charge to retain the same harmonics.

For hunting AND competition, I want that ogive safely off the lands. 10 to 20 thou seems to work for me... it really doesn't matter as I will tune with powder charge to reach the same harmonics. A precise scale goes a long way to make this happen.

When you hear of target shooter finding a powder charge and then varying the seating depth in 3 to 5 thou steps, they are affectively changing the powder charge in very very small increments. So if you have very precise scales, you can do the same thing with powder charge alone.

To the OP, since you have a load that is working, why not try seating deeper AND adding more powder? I bet you end up in the same place with no risk of a jammed bullet when you really don't need the headache. I would suggest moving to 20 thou OFF the lands, then adding 0.1 to 0.5gr in 0.1gr increments to get back into tune.

YMMV

Jerry
 
This is where the bear sh!ts in the buckwheat. I will admit to being an accuracy freak to a point. This came about with competitive shooting and it is quite honestly an addiction.

First off, I will be the first to admit that for most instances the accuracy required for MOST hunting situations isn't isn't nearly as crucial as it is for competitive situations. OR IS IT.

I believe we owe it to the animals we hunt to make their demise as quick and painless/unstressful as possible. One of the first and best things we can do towards that goal is make sure the rifle and its loads are capable of getting bullets into the kill zones and that we as operators are capable of making it do so.

As mentioned, performance such as velocities etc are much less important than accuracy.

Each rifle is an entity unto itself and so are barrels. It is up to the operator to find the competition that works best and to hunt within the capabilities of their gear and personal abilities.

I have a Hunter Bench Rest rifle chambered in 308win that shoots 135-150 grain bullets extremely well if they are actually seated so that the bullets are forced into the lands and back into the neck. If I seat them back enough so they either just engage the lands or a few thou off the groups open up. Especially with a cold/unfouled bore.

When hunting. You don't get the option of prefouling and warming up the bore. Your shot will be from a cold and maybe clean barrel. Is your rifle consistent under those conditions accuracy wise?? That's where you need to work up your load and dimensions to perform as hoped for and expected to shoot. Lots of guys go out and buy a box of ammo that is supposed to be their practice/sight in/hunting allotment for the year. Most of those folks don't even bother to make sure their rifle is sighted in before a hunt.

Most hand loaders are very good and of course do their darndest to make sure they are building accurate ammunition with repeatable results in the rifles/handguns they are shooting. They want to be and usually are responsible people with good ethics as far as humane kills are concerned. As we all know, sooner or later something will go awry in the universe and it doesn't always happen.

Some rifles and barrels perform best with a bit of "jump" to the lands. If the tolerances are close enough the jump or freebore don't seem to matter. The two Tikka T3 rifles I have as well as a 1908 Brazilian Mauser that is close to 100 years old just don't seem to care where the bullets are seated. To bad this isn't the norm. If you have such a rifle/barrel combo, keep it.

One thing, the closer you are to the lands with your ogives the higher your pressures will spike. I suspect this is where initial inaccuracy occurs. That is just IMHO.

Another accuracy killer is changing components but that is a whole different issue.
 
Mystic Precision said:
To the OP, since you have a load that is working, why not try seating deeper AND adding more powder? I bet you end up in the same place with no risk of a jammed bullet when you really don't need the headache. I would suggest moving to 20 thou OFF the lands, then adding 0.1 to 0.5gr in 0.1gr increments to get back into tune.

YMMV

Jerry
Click to expand...

Interesting. Never thought of it that way. I've got the time so I'll try it. Worst that can happen is nothing at all. I can still fall back to what I have found up until now.
 
Bearhunter,
I agree with what you said. To me accurate placement is truly important and if it's within our abilities to reach that then why not. It's the right and humane thing to do. I don't want to go down that road of asking myself, "Was it the ammunition that missed or was it me?" Presently I have very little faith in factory ammo. In the short time I've been hand loading I've discovered how much more accurate one can be. Thanks.
 
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