How do you know where you bullet is compared to lands?

hunter-4-life

hunter-4-life

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I always see guys saying seat the bullet 0.010" off the lands. How does a guy know how deep his lands are and how do I know if im too close or too far? Still in the basics of reloading so im still learning :cool:
 
Buy a Hornady OAL Gauge, a modified case for the caliber your loading, and Hornady Bullet Comparator kit. The OAL gauge allows you to measure how long the particular bullet your using when it's touching the lands. You then use the bullet comparator to measure the base to ogive. The you can seat the bullet at the land, 0.010 off or where ever you like. This measurement is far more precise then measuring to the tip of the bullet.
 
What does one of those run a guy? I usually just find my max COAL in my manual and make them that long. Havent had an issue yet, but when my new toy arrives I want to try some precision long range shooting and feel the depth could drastically change the accuracy of it.
 
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But I think you have to buy a different cartridge for every different caliber. So I have a wooden dowel with two tight fitting rubber washers on it. #### the bolt and send it down the barrel, move your washers tight to the crown. Now, open the bolt, drop in a bullet (do this with 10 different bullets) and move the washer nearest the crown down to this setting. Take the callipers and measure. Right down all 10 measures, average and you have the distance to the lands. Then subtract that by 0.005, 0.010, and so one for every 5 thou. Now you can try different lengths of bullet loads and see what your rifle likes. Costs about $10.
 
Make up a primerless, powderless round. Try to make it so the bullet isnt tightly seated, and make it a touch long. Blacken the bullet, candle smoke or sharpie would do;

Chamber the round, if its too long (and there's little case mouth tension) the bullet should slip back into the case.

Then you'd have the seating length for that bullet 'to the lands'. Adjust/set up your seating die to preference from there.
 
Kayser Sose said:
Make up a primerless, powderless round. Try to make it so the bullet isnt tightly seated, and make it a touch long. Blacken the bullet, candle smoke or sharpie would do;

Chamber the round, if its too long (and there's little case mouth tension) the bullet should slip back into the case.
Then you'd have the seating length for that bullet 'to the lands'. Adjust/set up your seating die to preference from there.
Click to expand...

X2, make a dummy with the bullet seated long and chamber it, extract it and measure. Adjust seating die accordingly.
I would allow a little bit of jump though, say 20 thousandths. (If your magazine will allow it)
 
waynewjw said:
But I think you have to buy a different cartridge for every different caliber. So I have a wooden dowel with two tight fitting rubber washers on it. #### the bolt and send it down the barrel, move your washers tight to the crown. Now, open the bolt, drop in a bullet (do this with 10 different bullets) and move the washer nearest the crown down to this setting. Take the callipers and measure. Right down all 10 measures, average and you have the distance to the lands. Then subtract that by 0.005, 0.010, and so one for every 5 thou. Now you can try different lengths of bullet loads and see what your rifle likes. Costs about $10.
Click to expand...

I have used a similar method for thirty some years. It works. - dan
 
Kayser Sose said:
Make up a primerless, powderless round. Try to make it so the bullet isnt tightly seated, and make it a touch long. Blacken the bullet, candle smoke or sharpie would do;

Chamber the round, if its too long (and there's little case mouth tension) the bullet should slip back into the case.

Then you'd have the seating length for that bullet 'to the lands'. Adjust/set up your seating die to preference from there.
Click to expand...
I just did that, never got a mark on the bullet but I could feel the bullet seat deeper as I closed my bolt. From then I set my die so it seats it a little deeper yet, and got it to where it is as long as my magazine for a OAL (tip to tail) was 2.359" which seems REALLY long. Should i get it to 2.300"? The rounds I made up earlier that shot good were 2.204"

For the record its for my Savage 11 in 223 rem. I have a decent load already just wanna toy around with this idea till my new rifle is here
 
How long was the round before you set it a little deeper? That measurement is the distance to the lands with that bullet. Sometimes you are limited by how long your magazine is rather than the distance to the lands. Try a few at various distances and your rifle will tell you what it likes.
 
iceman2 said:
How long was the round before you set it a little deeper? That measurement is the distance to the lands with that bullet. Sometimes you are limited by how long your magazine is rather than the distance to the lands. Try a few at various distances and your rifle will tell you what it likes.
Click to expand...
I was too long as I didnt have enough of the bullet in the casing. I just loaded 5 round up to 2.322" with 25.4 gr of Hodgdon benchmark powder. Going to see what they will do. My usual load was 25.2 gr of benchmark and OAL of 2.204" so will see what these do.
 
Good to know. I can shoot 0.36" 3 shot groups with 2.204" loads, just going to range now to shoot these longer/hotter ones
 
If it ain't broke don't fix it. Try them to see but the original sounds ok to me. if you try heavier bullets go through the exercise again and experiment. By chance do you know your twist rate of your barrel?
 
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