30-06 seating depth safety question

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mrdayle

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Reloading newbie here. I made a set of cartridges w/o checking that the seating depth was set on the die. I know big newb mistake. The Lyman book says total length should be 3.340, I am sitting at 3.226.

MY question is: is there any kind of safety concern? I understand that you want to set the bullet closer to the bore, however I am still working on load development. will this seating depth change the results? or can I safely go ahead and shoot em?
 
How many is a a set? What is the load min/max? Depth makes a difference in pressures, I would pull them and reseat. YMMV
 
Besides safety, those rounds will not give you any really useful load data - just turning powder into noise. Pick up a kinetic bullet puller (not that expensive) and pull 'em and reuse the components.

You'll also have a puller readily at hand if you didn't have one already and that will make you not hesitate at all to pull any round that is suspect in the future - including seated too deep, risk of a squib or double charge from getting distracted, anything!

Shoot safe and straight!
 
If they are at the starting load or near it then there won't be an issue. If they are max loads or above I would pull them.
 
FirearmsEnthusiast said:
Besides safety, those rounds will not give you any really useful load data - just turning powder into noise.
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This. If you are trying to work up a load for accuracy then these are just a waste of powder and bullets.

If on the other hand you were just reloading to get a feel for the process before you start that, and your loads were reasonably below max, they'll still put holes in paper.
 
If it is just 20 rounds, shoot them for shooting practice. Shoot standing, if you are a hunter. Can't get enough of that kind of practice.

Next time, seat the bullet very very long, and chamber it. If it engages the rifling, seat it deep and deeper until it no longer hits the rifling.

Make a not of that distance and try 5 rounds at that length and 5 seated 10 thou deeper and 10 thou longer. Make sure they fit the mag (they might be too long) and shoot them for accuracy, to see if the rifle has a preference.
 
Ganderite said:
If it is just 20 rounds, shoot them for shooting practice. Shoot standing, if you are a hunter. Can't get enough of that kind of practice.

Next time, seat the bullet very very long, and chamber it. If it engages the rifling, seat it deep and deeper until it no longer hits the rifling.

Make a not of that distance and try 5 rounds at that length and 5 seated 10 thou deeper and 10 thou longer. Make sure they fit the mag (they might be too long) and shoot them for accuracy, to see if the rifle has a preference.
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Now when you find a depth your rifle likes does that tend to remain the same with different charge weights?

Say I find 0.020 off the lands works well with 43.0 grains, if I find another accuracy node at 44.5 is the seating depth still going to work well?

I am just wondering because some people say develop optimum seating depth first and other advocate finding an optimum powder charge and then adjusting seating depth. Not sure of the best way to do it.
 
Roddy said:
Now when you find a depth your rifle likes does that tend to remain the same with different charge weights?

Say I find 0.020 off the lands works well with 43.0 grains, if I find another accuracy node at 44.5 is the seating depth still going to work well?

I am just wondering because some people say develop optimum seating depth first and other advocate finding an optimum powder charge and then adjusting seating depth. Not sure of the best way to do it.
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My advice was for a newbie loader making hunting ammo.

If he was making precision ammo, I would say start low and make samples in 0.5 increments, to see what the rifle liked, as a hint as to where to start development. I would make 5 each of touching the rifling and 20 thou off.
 
With regards to the rounds in question (some decent advice here on what to do from now on), go ahead and use them to sight in a new scope, practice etc, so long as they're not close to max load. Pull them if you want to (yes, you should have a bullet puller - it will make you hate yourself less the next time you screw up), but I find that to be far less fun than simply firing off the rounds and practicing real world shooting conditions. I usually only pull rounds that are potentially dangerous. Unless, of course, your components are scarce - then you may wish to salvage them!
 
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