into the lands- how far is too far?

[mattri]

While working up a certain bullet/load/depth combo if it shoots best into the lands how far out can you seat your bullet safely?

1 or 2 thousands in so it's just touching?

Just out far enough that the bolt closing seats the bullet into the lands?

Obviously you don't want it so far out that it makes a tight bolt closure, but how far is too far?

[xr650rRider]

Have you tried opening the bolt after chambering one? Too far and they'll often stick in the lands and when you open the bolt it will pull the bullet
dumping powder in the action and leaving a bullet in the lands.

[trappst]

What xr650rRider said! The other extreme is if you have light neck tension.....seat the bullet out too far and it'll get pushed back into the case when closing the bolt. One makes a mess and the other can raise pressures in a hurry.

I've jammed bullets up to .015" into the lands while fireforming AI brass. My 20 BR also likes a slight jam (about .010") for best accuracy and pressure.

[mattri]

xr650rider- there's a great example of too far.

So how much can you push without running into problems like that?

.015, any others?

Not advocating one method or another, really just curious about this.

[Smokey262]

Different bullets have different amounts of jam allowable.

[82boy]

but how far is too far?


When you can't close the bolt.

[Baryngyl]

but how far is too far?


When you can't close the bolt.

If the bullet sticks out the end of the barrel when you chamber a round. :o

[Budweiser360]

It depends on what your rifle likes, my rifle doesn't shoot well with anything into the lands while a buddy of mine jams his .040".

When you hear of bullets getting stuck and dumping powder everywhere is usually when they soft seat them and then they have to extract a live round for whatever reason. This method is usually used in competition and would not be smart to use while hunting.

It has been said the more jam used can decrease ES and SD number at long range, I cannot personally comment on that though. It also depends on what bullet you are using. A nice long, pointy VLD style bullet will behave differently than a brick like soft point.

When I work up a load I seat everything .020 off and work on powder charge/pressure issues. When I get that to where I want it, then I play with seating depth to try and tighten it up a little more.

[MarkS]

mattri,

For VLD's, I start with 0.020" into (a square marks on the bullet, by the riflings). I don't do just touching. One bullets will touch, next one does not.

Mark Schronce

[mattri]

Great replies, thanks.

I've read that seating into the lands gives a more uniform seal so you get a more uniform group. At the moment I only load for two rifles, a .270 and a .243 and both like the bullets in about .020.