liltank
Well-Known Member
Well I put into practice some new knowledge today. I was use to the old ways of running bullets close to the lands and neck sizing only. As you all know, I went to the shoot in Williamsport this past weekend. While I was there, I asked a lot of information and information was offered without prompting. I just happen to be around when one guy was talking about Berger bullets. He used a .309 neck sizing bushing and showed another guy the lack of quality control at Berger. He slid one bullet through and another bullet from the same batch and it did not pass through. When asked if he has seen a decline in quality he answered yes. He said the bullets from this year are running .030" longer than last year.
Well this conversation lead into seating depth. The one guy said that he set his bullets .080" to .100" deep with VLD's. This goes against everything I have ever read or learned from other shooters. When I questioned this he said, "Guys that shoot short distance will seat to the lands or stuff them in." He said that most guys that shoot long distance target always seat their bullets deep.
Talking to another individual I asked about his loading. I asked why I was getting pressure sign after firing from virgin brass that showed no signs of anything wrong? I told him that I only neck size and that I load to the lands. He said that he always FL sizes his brass, and for the first firing on virgin brass he will load to the lands, but after that he always seats deep also. He said that FL sizing always keeps things equal for him across the board. He said he always bumps the shoulders too. He uses a 300 Win Mag.
So with this new found knowledge I tried a couple of suggestions. 1. I put all my loaded rounds through the body sizing die and bumped the shoulders. Then I seated the bullets at .050", .075", and .100" from the lands. Well the .050" put 2 shots within an 1" of each other and the 3rd dropped about 3.5" low. The second group of .075" produced about 3" and the shots were more concentric. The third proved to be the money length. .100" produced a 1.550" giving me .493 MOA at 300yrds. All loads were tested at this distance. It was 50 degrees with 6 to 8 mph winds from my 7 o'clock. It was rather exciting and I am going to stop there and not touch anything. Thought I would share. I was also shooting prone off of a bi-pod and rear bag.
Tank
Well this conversation lead into seating depth. The one guy said that he set his bullets .080" to .100" deep with VLD's. This goes against everything I have ever read or learned from other shooters. When I questioned this he said, "Guys that shoot short distance will seat to the lands or stuff them in." He said that most guys that shoot long distance target always seat their bullets deep.
Talking to another individual I asked about his loading. I asked why I was getting pressure sign after firing from virgin brass that showed no signs of anything wrong? I told him that I only neck size and that I load to the lands. He said that he always FL sizes his brass, and for the first firing on virgin brass he will load to the lands, but after that he always seats deep also. He said that FL sizing always keeps things equal for him across the board. He said he always bumps the shoulders too. He uses a 300 Win Mag.
So with this new found knowledge I tried a couple of suggestions. 1. I put all my loaded rounds through the body sizing die and bumped the shoulders. Then I seated the bullets at .050", .075", and .100" from the lands. Well the .050" put 2 shots within an 1" of each other and the 3rd dropped about 3.5" low. The second group of .075" produced about 3" and the shots were more concentric. The third proved to be the money length. .100" produced a 1.550" giving me .493 MOA at 300yrds. All loads were tested at this distance. It was 50 degrees with 6 to 8 mph winds from my 7 o'clock. It was rather exciting and I am going to stop there and not touch anything. Thought I would share. I was also shooting prone off of a bi-pod and rear bag.
Tank