hey guys, im starting to set up my reloading station and i was playing with my lee press and accessories tonight, so far everything seems fairly simple, had a pretty good explanation of things tonight from a fella at fishing world who was more than helpful. picked up the last few bits i needed to get started. so far everything about re loading doesnt seem to be that difficult, its a little overwhelming when you first hear someone talk about it but now that ive started to use the gear it really isnt that bad. that being said, how do you guys determine how deep the bullet needs to be seated? i checked the papers that came with the press and i may have very well overlooked it. do you guys just measure the over all length from a store bought round and use that as a guide or is there another way to know how deep to seat it? im loading 30-06 if that makes any difference
bullet seating depth?
- Thread starter uchi
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Usually your reloading manual will have an Over All Length for the cartidge and bullet you are loading. If you list what bullet you are using in .30-06 some one here can tell you what is in the manual for the bullet maker and or a general length. A 110gr bullet is going to be shorter than a 200gr one in the same calibre so a factory round can't always give you a good idea of length.
And when loading ammunition for a rifle, those COLs don't mean much, since they aren't based on the throat in your particular rifle. The best way to go about determining the seating depth for a given rifle, is to measure the distance to the lands with a given bullet in that rifle, and then considering the magazine length, seat the bullets based on that distance to the lands.
no problem, i havent bought the book yet the place i stopped by tonight didnt have one available. the guy working the counter was helpful enough and opened up the hornady book inside of one of the loading press kits to make sure i was getting the right powder for my bullet and to tell me how much powder i needed etc, ive got a picture of that page so that i can start using it as a guide. im using hornady a max 178 gr if that helps
how would i go about measuring that? any more help would be great. the gun is a remington 700 sps if that helps at all
this^^^ exactly, you can fine tune your load by adjusting this measurement, some guys jamb them in the lands , some guys jump the a thou or two or more, just if you’re planning on trying jamming them ( providing they will fit in your mag and you do not wish to feed 1 at a time) ensure you work up your load slowly as jamming them increases pressures, i usually start a few grains lighter then book value and work up from there to a few grains over book value looking for over pressure signs after each grain increment. it depends on what you are trying to achieve.
there are several ways one is to
1)make a round with no powder/primer and seat a bullet long in the case neck ( don't fully size the case neck as this will allow the bullet to slip / seat deeper and not get stuck in the lands)
2)mark the end with felt marker, insert round in to rifle, close bolt (may be slightly difficult)
3)open bolt ( may need to use cleaning rod to help push out round so not to pull out bullet from case)
4)measure base of round to lands mark on bullet.
you should really get a reloading book though ( before shooting reloads) , the case overall lengths are important if you do not wish to blow your face off ( there are ways to measure throat depth as well) but I just use SAMMI specs , brass will grow with every firing and it will likely need trimming, if you don't trim what happens is the elongated case can act kind of like a crimp and can increase pressures unexpectedly, causing all kinds of bad things.
thats sounds simple enough, when i get my barrel and action back ill try this out before putting it back together to see what i can come up with, thanks.
also ive been on snipers hide, great forum, ill go do some digging around on there
thanks caustic, ive got the lee case trimmer for my 30.06 cases, the one where you just attach the bottom into the u shaped die and then insert the trimmer and length gauge into the top. reloading book is on my shopping list, once i find one ill grab it for sure. rather not have something explode in my face, lol.
also what signs do i look for with over pressure? is it strictly something on the case? discoloration? or will i see something on the gun as well?
Overpressure indicators.
Primer appearance:
Using fireformed cases, partial full length resized to eliminate headspace, look at the radius on the edge of the primer cup, it will flatten as pressures rise. The firing pin indent will become shallower, and tiny rim of extruded cup will sometimes flow into the firing pin hole in the bolthead (cratering).
Case head expansion:
The solid web just above the extractor groove will swell with overpressure. Use a micrometer to measure a case before and after firing. A half thou. dia. increase is getting up there pressure wise. If primer pockets expand, you are overpressure.
Ejector marks:
Closely inspect a fired case head, you are looking for a shiny spot that matches the ejector in the boltface. High pressure extrudes brass into the ejector cavity, the bolt rub's that extruded place to a shine when opened.
Bolt lift:
If resistance to bolt lift is more than what you feel with factory ammo, likely the pressure is getting up there.
Primer appearance:
Using fireformed cases, partial full length resized to eliminate headspace, look at the radius on the edge of the primer cup, it will flatten as pressures rise. The firing pin indent will become shallower, and tiny rim of extruded cup will sometimes flow into the firing pin hole in the bolthead (cratering).
Case head expansion:
The solid web just above the extractor groove will swell with overpressure. Use a micrometer to measure a case before and after firing. A half thou. dia. increase is getting up there pressure wise. If primer pockets expand, you are overpressure.
Ejector marks:
Closely inspect a fired case head, you are looking for a shiny spot that matches the ejector in the boltface. High pressure extrudes brass into the ejector cavity, the bolt rub's that extruded place to a shine when opened.
Bolt lift:
If resistance to bolt lift is more than what you feel with factory ammo, likely the pressure is getting up there.
- Location
- Somewhere on the Hudson Bay Coast
Take a flat base bullet and seat it nose down in an empty unprimed resized case. Now chamber that cartridge using firm steady pressure until you are able to close the bolt. Gently eject the round. This cartridge will now be equal in length to the distance from the bolt face to the lands, and this cartridge should be saved for future reference.
Now take a bullet of your choice, and put it nose first into the muzzle of your rifle, using firm pressure on the bullet, turn it in the muzzle so the lands scribe a line in the jacket, coloring the bullet might make the line easier to see. This marks the forward edge of the bearing surface, and if seated into a cartridge so the line coincides with the length of your reference bullet, you have seated to the lands. From this point you can increase or decrease the OAL as you like and have a known reference for the bullet jump to the lands.
Now take a bullet of your choice, and put it nose first into the muzzle of your rifle, using firm pressure on the bullet, turn it in the muzzle so the lands scribe a line in the jacket, coloring the bullet might make the line easier to see. This marks the forward edge of the bearing surface, and if seated into a cartridge so the line coincides with the length of your reference bullet, you have seated to the lands. From this point you can increase or decrease the OAL as you like and have a known reference for the bullet jump to the lands.
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Uchi Hornady lists 178gr Amax at 3.240" OAL for .30-06.
I would start with book lengths and full length sizing for a new loader until they have more experience.
Bumping shoulders, bushing dies, partial neck sizing, seating just of the lands etc etc can all be learned after the basics of making safe reliable ammo. All these tricks aren't needed for all peoples loading anyways. Very accurate ammo can be made with just standard equipment and procedures.
I would start with book lengths and full length sizing for a new loader until they have more experience.
Bumping shoulders, bushing dies, partial neck sizing, seating just of the lands etc etc can all be learned after the basics of making safe reliable ammo. All these tricks aren't needed for all peoples loading anyways. Very accurate ammo can be made with just standard equipment and procedures.
I can see it being a bit bewildering. Modern reloading manuals and the majority of the members on this board all tend to make it more confusing for a new comer, by spewing much unneeded information.
Typical is this subject, bullet seating.
The ammunition factories have been taking care of bullet seating very nicely, for a hundred plus years. They simply seat the bullets deep enough that it will fit in the chamber of any rifle designed with the standard SSAMI size specifications. One size fits all.
This is what you should be doing. A 30-06 is probably the easiest, most convenient, of any bottle neck rifle cartridge to load for. One of the reasons for this is the wide variety of different bullet weights it is designed to use.
If the bullets you are using have a cannalure, seat them to it, or very close to the cannalure.
With light weight bullets in the 30-06 you couldn't seat them to hit the lands, if you tried. If you have a factory load, use it as a guide.
For bullets of the 165-180 grain weight with no cannalure, seat them nearly the full length of the neck. A caveat here. Don't seat a bullet so deep that the narrowing part of the bullet is going into the neck.
With longer bullets of 200 grains and up, you should make up a dummy load without full tension on the neck, as was suggested, just to make sure the bolt will close on your load. Don't try any measurements, you are just making sure the bolt will colose on it.
If you continue to be a hobby shooter, at some point down the road you can start to experiment with different seating depths.
