I was reading up about playing with powder charge vs playing with seating depth. I thought I would do both but do I find an accurate powder charge and then fine tune it with a seating depth or do I find an accurate seating depth and then dial in the powder charge? What do you guys prefer?
seating depth or powder charge first?
- Thread starter logan1080
- Start date
Seating depth, i would say, should come first. If you spend the time to work up an accurate load, it might go to hell when you play with the seating depth, which should be constant.
Seating depth has limiting factors: Magazine size (if the gun has a magazine) may dictate your max overall length. After that, you should seat just off the rifling, or just lightly engraving if shooting cast, in my opinion.
If properly working up a load, stay within published limits and/or watch for pressure signs si your limiting factors. A lot more ethereal than a piece of steel keeping you from loading the finished round
- Location
- Prince Albert, Sk
After doing the same thing you are planning on I found out through some shooters on here that you pick a seating depth for the bullet and then play with your charges.Don't play with the depth, reason being and you will see pressure variations from different seating depth as well as powder charges.
So pick an appropriate depth that allows smooth chambering and tune your load, it will find it's sweet spot and likely won't need much tuning.
If doing both, what I did in the past is powder charge first, then seating depth, but this does get time consuming and uses components.
There are others here way more knowledgeable than myself that can explain it better.
So pick an appropriate depth that allows smooth chambering and tune your load, it will find it's sweet spot and likely won't need much tuning.
If doing both, what I did in the past is powder charge first, then seating depth, but this does get time consuming and uses components.
There are others here way more knowledgeable than myself that can explain it better.
- Location
- Halifax, NS
I've been reading about precision reloading now for a looong time and I've finally got the components and am ready to go but with the same question about seating depth and charge.
I was going to use info on here to determine the approximate seating depth for the bullet (example, Berger's like to be seated into the lands, Hornady A-Max touching ect...).
Maybe I should reconsider. So what charge do I start at? Minimum, internet's pet loads?
Cheers
I was going to use info on here to determine the approximate seating depth for the bullet (example, Berger's like to be seated into the lands, Hornady A-Max touching ect...).
Maybe I should reconsider. So what charge do I start at? Minimum, internet's pet loads?
Cheers
I generally load my bullets to the factory spec OAL and work on the powder charge first. For my last rifle I was developing a load for I found the OAL that seated the different bullets just into the lands and then played with the powder charge and had some pretty good results. I don't think I will vary the seating depth at all in an effort to get better groups.
I usually start with the bullets just touching the lands. This is where you will have max pressure and will be able see sooner if you are getting up near max pressure(flattened primers, sticky bolt lift)
After finding the load that works best, it is just a matter of changing your seatting die to fine tune.
After finding the load that works best, it is just a matter of changing your seatting die to fine tune.
I generally start with all mine loaded to SAAMI length and pick two likely powder gradually loading both up tp the average max of a couple of books.
Usually the gun picks one powder over the other and somewhere in there a sweet spot emerges. If not then I mess with OAL, most of the time I get a very accurate load with velocity I am pleased with using this method and never end up adjusting OAL at all. The only caveat to that are Barnes bullets which I always load .030 off the lands first and then do the two powder thing.
Usually the gun picks one powder over the other and somewhere in there a sweet spot emerges. If not then I mess with OAL, most of the time I get a very accurate load with velocity I am pleased with using this method and never end up adjusting OAL at all. The only caveat to that are Barnes bullets which I always load .030 off the lands first and then do the two powder thing.
- Location
- Somewhere on the Hudson Bay Coast
When loading for accuracy, I prefer to begin by working up a load that will produce the maximum pressure, then any tweaking I do to the load to improve accuracy will effectively reduce pressure rather than increase it. Therefore I begin with the bullet firmly seated in the lands and work up to maximum. Then I might drop a full gr and see if accuracy improves or degrades. If accuracy improves I might decrease another grain and see what that does, if the accuracy degrades with the drop of one grain I'll go back up by a half grain, then try a quarter gr on either side of that load, without ever going beyond the predetermined maximum load. IMHO, increments smaller than a quarter gr cannot be reliably weighed on the scales that are typically sold for handloading, so attempting to get an improvement with single .1 gr increments doesn't accomplish much.
My approach to working up a hunting load is a little different. My primary concern is that the rifle cycles reliably, so the rounds must be short enough to cycle through the magazine without hanging up, and pressure must be low enough that variations of case length, seating depth, or temperature will never result in a sticky bolt. If the bullet has a cannelure, which is most often the case with the hunting bullets I choose, I'll crimp the bullet to uniform the bullet pull weight which essentially does the same thing as tweaking the jump to the lands. I'll work up to the maximum load, then reduce by 1 gr which is then my maximum working load.
My approach to working up a hunting load is a little different. My primary concern is that the rifle cycles reliably, so the rounds must be short enough to cycle through the magazine without hanging up, and pressure must be low enough that variations of case length, seating depth, or temperature will never result in a sticky bolt. If the bullet has a cannelure, which is most often the case with the hunting bullets I choose, I'll crimp the bullet to uniform the bullet pull weight which essentially does the same thing as tweaking the jump to the lands. I'll work up to the maximum load, then reduce by 1 gr which is then my maximum working load.
For hunting loads, I do not allow the bullet to contact the lands, even while working up loads. Generally, I start at .010" off the lands, and then work up my load until I have established a working max. Then I may "tweak" the seating depth in .005" increments to see what happens.
[all this may be null and void if you have a long throat and a short magazine on your rifle, in which case you have to adhere to OAL that fits your magazine]
FWIW, when working with Barnes or other solid copper bullets, my starting point is .050" off the lands.
Regards, Eagleye.
[all this may be null and void if you have a long throat and a short magazine on your rifle, in which case you have to adhere to OAL that fits your magazine]
FWIW, when working with Barnes or other solid copper bullets, my starting point is .050" off the lands.
Regards, Eagleye.
Playing with the OAL is one of the things done after you have found the most accurate load for your rifle.
The bullet should never contact the rifling. Mind you, like mwjones says, the cartridge fitting in the mag, of any kind, is the limiting factor.
The bullet should never contact the rifling. Mind you, like mwjones says, the cartridge fitting in the mag, of any kind, is the limiting factor.
Jordan Smith
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Calgary, AB
I pick a powder, work up to max safe/functional pressure, and start tinkering with seating depth until I find what I'm looking for. The starting point will depend on the bullet- 0.050" off the lands for TSX/TTSX bullets, touching the lands for A-Max's, etc.
