How much of the bullet should be seated in the neck as a minimum?

[nicholasjohn]

I think the whole seating depth issue is one of those things that is wrapped around a concept that got started decades ago, and it has become an accepted "rule" of reloading. The benchrest shooters found that loading right up close to the rifling produced best accuracy, so we all figured that this would work for everybody who loads their own. Well, hunting bullets are different, and so are hunting rifles. They don't all shoot best when loaded that way, and there are other considerations.

I think that when the monolithic copper bullets came on the scene, and their manufacturers started recommending loading them with a jump to the rifling, guys started to try this with other bullets as well. A lot of guys found that the jump didn't ruin the accuracy of their loads, and in some cases it even improved. Some guys found this out from trying loads that were short enough to fit in their rifles' magazines, and they shot just as well as the ones that had formerly been loaded right up close to the lands. Rifles have also improved, as have reloading tooling and practices. We've also learned a lot about brass preparation, and we have more concentric bullets available to us than when the practice of loading close to the lands first became popular. This practice may be in the process of becoming obsolete, and we may just not need to load them that long anymore, largely due to improvements in the quality of everything involved in reloading.

 

[blueprairiedog]

If you have 003-004 neck tension and you can see that they are about halfway down the neck I don't think you will have a problem.that is my opinion but I don't load a rifle or shot gun until I get where I am going there is nothing I want to shoot bad enough that I need a loaded long gun while making my way to a stand or a clearing (safety is my shooting tip of the day)

 

[RYEWSKY25284]

So I have always heard that whatever caliber you run, that is the minimum depth the bullet should be seated into the neck of the brass. Well I just worked up some loads for a rifle (7mm08) that shot well but realized they are not into the neck a ton due to the bullet being short/light for caliber (120 ballistic tips for my wife). If you included the boat tail, then yes...they would be a caliber deep .284 but my guess is you shouldn't include the boat tail. So what are the potential issues here? Thank you

I shot Nosler 120gr Ballistic Tips in my 7mm08 that printed sub .5" and hunted mostly with that loaded @ .20 off of the lands. If your chamber has a regular throat you should be fine. I never had an issue.