Bullet seating

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NewInWestsyde

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May sound like a bad question but here goes.

Was wondering if how i placed bullet onto case before seating made any difference in accuracy?
should bullet be as straight up as possible before seating with press or just uprite enough to enter die and have die do all necessary work to make sure everything is alligned??
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Thank you for your time
 
Sean,

Do your seating in 3 stages.

1. Lightly get the bullet started into the case and back the case out of the die enough to be able to give the case a 1/3rd of a turn.
2. turn case 1/3rd of a turn and seat about 1/2 a full stroke
3. Turn case another 1/3rd turn and finish the seating.

Your die will center the bullet as you start to seat it, all you have to do is place the bullet on the case.

Doing it in 3 stages should help keep bullet runout to a minimum.

Why don't you give me a call and you can come over one night and I'll go through some loading techniques with you. You can bring your dies and what not over and we'll load up a few for ya.

PM me for my Ph#.
 
This may be relevant as well: I've heard that you should seat the bullet s that it's just touching the lands... How do you figure out the seating depth to accomplish this effect? Trial & error? Measurement?
 
redman said:
This may be relevant as well: I've heard that you should seat the bullet s that it's just touching the lands... How do you figure out the seating depth to accomplish this effect? Trial & error? Measurement?
Click to expand...

Measurment using a Stony Point/Hornady LNL OAL Guage with a modified case, bullet and caliper. Check out the Hornady site for more details.
 
You don't need that gizmo.

Take a fired case and slightly crimp the neck out of round. Just Place a bullet into the case. Feed the long bullet/case into the rifle and close the bolt.

Remove the dummy cartridge and measure. Repeat this a few times to make sure you are accurate. This will tell you where the point of first land contact happens to be.

I have the Sinclair Seating Depth tool and I have compared both methods and both are the same - to the same thousandth of an inch.

Some bullets (VLD's) love to be jammed. Others like a fair amount of jump. Load development will tell you that. Google "Ladder testing".
 
Thanks Obtunded, but you're gonna have to elaborate on the crimping and what not, as I'm a total beginner when it comes to reloading and the parts for my kit are just coming in...
 
Take a look at your manual when you get it and read it. Read the instructions with your dies very carefully. If you are reloading for a semi-auto then forget touching the rifling you are limited to your mag length. When it comes to hand loading forget crimping unless you find you really need to. Factory ammo is crimped for safety, I've yet to find a hand loader that crimps hand loads, they don't sit in a glovebox for years rattling around, they get shot. I have been shooting .308 handloads forever and I have never had a degredation in accuracy due to this. When it comes to bolt guns, it depends on the bullet as to how far out and what type of rifling. There is a lot to be learned on this and there is no set formula, one rifle might like it with a certain type of bullet and the identical rifle beside it may not. You just have to try things, stay within safe specs and have fun.

this Forum is definitely the place to ask questions though.... happy reloading!

cheers,
 
The method mentioned is what i do as well, you really don't need complicated gauges, bullet should be seated "way out" of a case that has only enough neck tension that the bullet can move in the case if pushed hard by hand. When you insert/chamber round the bullet will be pushed back into the case just the right amount, because it contacted the rifling.
 
I think I get it: you seat the bullet so that the neck isn't so tight against it, then load it and the lands will push the bullet into the casing to the point that I should be seating it, right?

It's not a semi-auto, it's a straight-pull bolt-action and my magazine is pretty long...
 
aninchlow said:
Take a look at your manual when you get it and read it. Read the instructions with your dies very carefully. If you are reloading for a semi-auto then forget touching the rifling you are limited to your mag length.
Click to expand...

So if I am using a bolt gun with a 10 round mag, then the mag will limit the length of my hand load. Am I correct?
Unless , you skip the mag and load one round at a time by hand.

S.
 
Obtunded said:
You don't need that gizmo.

Xs 2

I find the exact same thing, the Amax bullet likes it 10-15 th off, Hell my 7mm likes them at SAMMI OAL

VLDs I crunch the blot down and seat the bullet back in teh case (light neck tension) the same 7 mm likes it jammed hard to shoot like the Amax that are jumped

SMKs, seem to want a gentle kiss just touching to leave a mark

This is the trend I see in my guns, but they are all different
Click to expand...
 
Solar said:
So if I am using a bolt gun with a 10 round mag, then the mag will limit the length of my hand load. Am I correct?
Unless , you skip the mag and load one round at a time by hand.

S.
Click to expand...

Exactly.

I used to single feed my Tikka .223 for the very reason that I loaded to touch the lands and they wouldn't fit in the mag.
 
Obtunded said:
You don't need that gizmo.

Take a fired case and slightly crimp the neck out of round. Just Place a bullet into the case. Feed the long bullet/case into the rifle and close the bolt.

Remove the dummy cartridge and measure. Repeat this a few times to make sure you are accurate. This will tell you where the point of first land contact happens to be......

.
Click to expand...

I tried that method and always end up with the bullet stuck in the rifling....Any suggestions?
 
thankyou for the replies
but straying off the topic a bit....
more looking at the procedure of loading rather than a jump jam discussion

Richards post bout the thirds was what i was wondering but that puts three pumps of the handle to seatif i dont will i really not get up into that V\X ring
shouldn't be using the adage "If it's to hard don't bother" cause .223 just small little pills and me thumbs a bit too big
 
CyaN1de said:
Sean,

Do your seating in 3 stages.

1. Lightly get the bullet started into the case and back the case out of the die enough to be able to give the case a 1/3rd of a turn.
2. turn case 1/3rd of a turn and seat about 1/2 a full stroke
3. Turn case another 1/3rd turn and finish the seating.

Your die will center the bullet as you start to seat it, all you have to do is place the bullet on the case.

Doing it in 3 stages should help keep bullet runout to a minimum.

Why don't you give me a call and you can come over one night and I'll go through some loading techniques with you. You can bring your dies and what not over and we'll load up a few for ya.

PM me for my Ph#.
Click to expand...

Or you could just buy a Redding competition bullet seatng die.... -no runout!!!
 
NewInWestsyde said:
thankyou for the replies
but straying off the topic a bit....
more looking at the procedure of loading rather than a jump jam discussion

Richards post bout the thirds was what i was wondering but that puts three pumps of the handle to seatif i dont will i really not get up into that V\X ring
shouldn't be using the adage "If it's to hard don't bother" cause .223 just small little pills and me thumbs a bit too big
Click to expand...

Here is how I look at it.

If I know that I have done everything I can to make the most consistent ammo I possibly can and I have wrung every bit of accuracy out of my gun, that means the only thing between me and all V's is my abilities.

Once you take as many variables out of the equation as you can, then you can stop wondering if it was the gun, scope, ammo, etc that put the bullet out into the 4 ring and start concentrating on how NOT to put the bullet into the 4 ring knowing that everything else is dependable.
 
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