max seating depth???

[r106]

How do you tell how far the bullet is from contacting the lands is there a special guage or can you feel it contact when loading a round and re-seat it until you can't feel it contact. I assume there is a better more accurate way or a tool for this??

 

[CyaN1de]

There is a tool for this made by Stoney Point/Hornady.

There is an easy way to do this without the tool.

Take a bullet from the batch you will be loading.
Lightly push the bullet through the chamber with the eraser end of a pencil until it reaches the lands and stops.
Push your cleaning rod into the bore from the muzzle until it touches the end of the bullet you are holding in the chamber.
Mark you cleaning rod with a fine point marker. (Remove the rod from the barrel a bit and wrap masking tape around the rod where it can be marked on if you have a black cleaning rod such as a Dewey)

Push the bullet out of the chamber with cleaning rod and remove the bullet.
Lock your bolt into the action.
Push the cleaning rod to the face of the bolt.
Mark the cleaning rod again with the fine point marker.

Remove the cleaning rod and measure the the distance between the 2 marks you made with a caliper. This will give you your "To The Lands" measurement.

Seat the same bullet you used for the measuring into a spare case to match the measurement you got from the cleaning rod.

Your Die is now set for your "To The Lands" measurement with those bullets only. If you change to a different style/brand/lot of bullets you will have to do the steps over to get your measurement again.

As the tips of each bullet can vary, once I set the original dummy round to the measurement I get off the rod, I then use my Comparator to measure the round and make note of the Comparator measurment for making sure future rounds are the same length.

I also chamber my dummy round to make sure I measured correctly. If properly measured the lands should make minute marks on the bullet where they engage.

 

[350 Mag]

Nosler manual has similar technique..

Take a once fired case from the RIFLE in question.

DO not size it.

Bend the neck slightly so it will hold the bullet.

Cover the bullet with black marker.

Insert bullet into case.

Push all the way into chamber.

Carefully remove.

See where the case neck slid on the black marker and adjust bullet to last point of contact.

Measure OAL.

Do this 10 times and average it.

Then subtract .015-.030 to get safe distance OFF the lands.

 

[stubblejumper]

Nosler manual has similar technique..

Take a once fired case from the RIFLE in question.

DO not size it.

Bend the neck slightly so it will hold the bullet.

Cover the bullet with black marker.

Insert bullet into case.

Push all the way into chamber.

Carefully remove.

See where the case neck slid on the black marker and adjust bullet to last point of contact.

Measure OAL.

Do this 10 times and average it.

Then subtract .015-.030 to get safe distance OFF the lands.
__________________

I have used virtually the same method for years,but I don't bother with the black marker.I just carefully remove the case and bullet from the chamber and measure the COL.

 

[lineofsight]

The black marker is nice, as is averaging or using the rod method, in case the bullet sticks in the lands a little on extraction.

I used both the push the bullet in the case method and the rod method and even came out with the same number - happy days.

 

[Mayer]

Are these methods just for rifles?