how do you guys choose your seating depth

[Whitesheep]

Hi rcoody,

I have had great luck with Berger OTM Tactical bullets in my .222 Rem Mag AI, but they don't make true hunting bullets in this caliber. The 77 grain loaded 0.010" off the land is just over 0.6 MOA at 200 yards off bags. Since this is a purpose built Javalina rifle, I have no qualms about using a tactical bullet for hunting in this situation.

As for their line of hunting bullets I am working with them in 7mm (.280 AI), but didn't have much luck in a .280 Rem single shot. I hope they do better this time around as I have a set of test loads ready to try.

 

[Clark]

For target or rodents, i seat into the land, halfway between touching and getting stuck.
I only touch the ammo with clean hands. I expect 5 shot 0.5 moa.

For big game hunting and war, I seat at 3.34" OAL.
If the ammo falls in the mud, i wipe it off so good, it looks clean.
I expect 3 shot 1 moa.

 

[MudRunner2005]

been playing with the berger VLD for some time now. I know if I jam it .02 into the lands it will be a one holer.

problem is I don't want my deer rifle a single shot. I tried the berger recommendations on finding the jump it liked and found some col's that shot some decent groups but nothing to write home about.

I know I can load sierra MK at mag length and shoot one holers all day long.

I have ordered some Berger hybrid hunting bullets that I should get this week. Going to try them. anyone have any experience with them.

Same here... Been using VLD's for a couple years now. Between jammed and .075" is usually the sweet spot for VLD's in all of my rifles. Some lower-power cartridges I'll run them jammed (like my .308 Win w/ the 210 VLD load), and get 1-hole results. But for my magnum calibers, I try to keep them jumped between .015-.050" to keep pressure spikes down.

For a rifle I intend to hunt with a lot, I want it to be a repeater, so I'll set my OAL about .015" shy of the magazine's internal length, then ladder test with powder charges to find the sweet spot. Sometimes with VLD's (picky) they don't shoot AS good as the rifle CAN actually shoot if you were to seat the bullets out closer to the lands, but as long as it's inside sub-¾ MOA for my (sub-500 yard) deer rifle, I can live with it. Anything I use for 500+ has to be sub-½ MOA, or better.

For rifles that I single-feed, I normally seat them between .015-.025" and ladder test with powder charges from there, since the closer to the lands, the easier VLD's are to get shooting consistently.

 

[Kansaswoodguy]

My seat depth test is about the same as Woods works for me also