Seating to touch the lands

caster456

caster456

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Is it ok to seat a bullet past the max case lenght to touch the lands.
Im reloading 30-06 and the COL is 3.230 but i would be able to move it up to 3.380 and be just off the lands.Is this ok to do i sould i stick to the manual?


Thanks
C
 
Yes it is ok to seat the bullet out longer than the manual. If it's a repeater, you probably want the round to still fit in your magazine though. And if it does touch the lands this can cause more pressure, so you need to work up to the load all over again if touching, compared to a round already worked up, then lengthened to touch.
 
I have never noticed the slightest bit more pressure by loading so the bullet touches the lands.
I have purposely loaded up heavy loads, and I mean heavy loads in my rifle, Then seated some clearing the lands and some touching. From normal major pressure signs, like bolt sticking and/or primer pockets enlarging, I have never been able to detect any difference, on whether the bullets touched the lands, or not.
Those of you who have read the writings of Jack O'Connor will know he was one for loading heavy. I perked up reading one of his articles, when he mentioned a caution with loading hunting ammunition so the bullets hit the lands. His word of caution was that if the bullet went hard into the lands and you removed it from the chamber out in the bush or on a mountain, the bullet may stay in the barrel, spilling powder all over, and maybe leaving the bullet hard to get out of the throat.
 
A person that I believe to be intelligent told me that if I ever do that, then to carefully pull another cartridge keeping all of the powder, point the rifle upwards and carefully load it without spilling, then push it onto the stuck bullet and fire that thing out of there.

Made sense to me.
 
unstableryan said:
A person that I believe to be intelligent told me that if I ever do that, then to carefully pull another cartridge keeping all of the powder, point the rifle upwards and carefully load it without spilling, then push it onto the stuck bullet and fire that thing out of there.

Made sense to me.
Click to expand...
:eek:
You're right, makes as much sense as loading to touch the lands, LOL. :D

Seriously, guys, don't you take your press variance into account, like +/- 5thou, maybe??? :confused: I'd be too scared to do what you did.
 
Hey, it hasn't happened to me yet, but I have seated bullets out too far for my 45/70 and had a dummy round kinda stuck in the action there for a while until I figured out how to unhook the extractor without breaking/scratching anything.... well ok.. last night trying to get the right seating distance for Hornady 500 gr interlocks... I'm a big fan of big bullets :)

Maybe that's why I got a 6.5x55 :) heavy for caliber and they look like they are an inch and a half long.
 
unstableryan said:
A person that I believe to be intelligent told me that if I ever do that, then to carefully pull another cartridge keeping all of the powder, point the rifle upwards and carefully load it without spilling, then push it onto the stuck bullet and fire that thing out of there.

Made sense to me.
Click to expand...

It probably won't hurt anything, but it's easier to just use an undersized steel rod covered with tape in a couple spots to fit the bore to tap the bullet out from the muzzle back. If it's only lodged in the throat, the bullet won't be stuck with that much force.
 
Guys, you lost me... I can no longer tell if you're being sarcastic or serious. Someone may actually follow your advise, you know...

Given my limited reloading experience: you measure the OAL for your barrel/bullet combination, back off 10 thou to account for press variance (I go another 10 thou to be sure), and use that as my OAL.

Am I missing something? :confused:
 
I am being serious. Sometimes, just dropping the rod down the barrel will dislodge the bullet caught in the throat.

That said, you are right that you should seat the bullet a little back from the lands to ensure that it doesn't get stuck in the first place.
 
aridan said:
Guys, you lost me... I can no longer tell if you're being sarcastic or serious. Someone may actually follow your advise, you know...

Given my limited reloading experience: you measure the OAL for your barrel/bullet combination, back off 10 thou to account for press variance (I go another 10 thou to be sure), and use that as my OAL.

Am I missing something? :confused:
Click to expand...

One must remember that what is read on these pages may not be applicable or appropriate for all of us out there. In some rifels a bullet getting stuck in the throat is not a concern... Remember that the high end of benchrest guns are not repeaters and commonly have triggers with out a safety. One round is chambered then fired and there are no other issues such as mag length etc. Two more note worthy topics are bullet shape and use. Some long bullets like VLD's from Berber and Lapua Scenar's like to be "stuffed" in there. I however will not jam a bullet into the lands of a hunting/working gun.

cheers
 
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