308 Load Check Bullet Seat

[Labanaktis]

Hello. Kinda new to posting on the forums, but been around a couple of years. I've always shot rifle but started getting back into it real heavy this year. Bought a DTA SRS Covert A1 in 308 16" barrel. I just got my reloading equipment set up for 308... I have reloaded pistol for 5 years this is my first rifle try... anyways here is what I have going.

308 Lapua Brass 2.008" Long .015 wall thickness
175 Jacketed Match Bullets
Federal 210M Primer
Varget: Still looking for grain amounts... probably 44.5 grains but still havent tried it.
Redding Type "S" Neck Sizer with .335 Diameter Neck Sizer
Redding Type "S" Seater w/ Micrometer Depth Seat, Seated to 2.795" COAL
Load goal: 200-300 yards

MY QUESTION:
It seems like the bullet seats nicely but the bullet tip measures .200" seated on the flat part of the tip... does this seem correct? I guess the math cannot be wrong, but just wanted other people's opinions.

Any insight would be great!

Thanks, Matt

 

[bh-ltr]

First off welcome to the forum!

I'm confused as to what your question is. What is it thats measuring .2"? So far all sounds good. I don't know exactly what collet I have in my neck sizer for my Lapua but I don't really feel like taking it out of there to check right now either. Your 44.5 sounds good. Not sure why you're using Magnum primers though. My best load when using the Federal 210 primer was right at 44.5 grains of Varget after doing an OCW test. I've since moved to 44.3 grains of Varget after changing to a Remington 9.5 primer that I was forced into going with because of current shortages.

So far it sounds like you're well on a good track so I'd bet all is fine but clarify your question a bit and we'll see that we can give you even more confidence.

 

[Labanaktis]

The Federal primer is not a magnum primer, it is a "Match" primer. Got lucky and picked up a box of 1K... Anyways my question kinda pertains to seating depth and load pressures.

The .200" is the length of the "land" of the tip that actually interferes with the ID of the neck.... The amount of bullet tip that is held in by the fit to the case. Does that make more since?

I thought it woud be more then .200" but from what I have been reading, it's seems normal. I just do not want to be overloaded with pressure.

Hope that helps?

Thx, Matt

 

[bh-ltr]

Sorry about thinking the M was magnum some of the primer manufacturers put an M there to denote magnum and I was having a brain fart. I've still got a couple hundred Federal 210's but I didn't want to even load them up at the moment in my match gun as I like to keep my loading batches bigger than a couple hundred. Thankfully I was able to find a brick of 5000 of the Remington 9.5's.

What is the overall length that you're going to be seeing once you load your rounds up? A good starting point is to have your overall bullet start out at 2.800" from brass head to bullet tip once fully loaded.

~Brett

 

[Labanaktis]

That's where I'm at now. 2.795" COAL. It just seemed that the amount of seat was not enough... Just being cautious... I do not want to have screwed up pressures. I should just probably try it and go from there.

I have seem people have a COAL over 2.800" but I do not know the benifits?

Thx, Matt

 

[bh-ltr]

You can get better accuracy if you can reach the lands of your barrel however most people without match chambers can't reach the lands without going over the max length that will fit in a magazine. You also get a larger case capacity which gives you the ability to put in more powder as it reduces your pressures (as long as you've not yet reached the lands). When you have the bullet touching the lands you will get a greatly increased pressure spike so watch out for that. At 2.800 you're safe. 44.5 grains is a bit of a hot load to start at but many (including myself) are using this load. If I were you I'd load up a few rounds at lighter charges and work my way up to 44.5. If you see any signs of pressure (flattened primers, extractor marks, sticky bolt lift) then don't continue to higher charge weights.

I've recently done a test with loads that are longer than 2.800". After doing this I think I'm going to move up to 2.820" but I don't see it as a very significant improvement.

Take a look at the results of my test here:
http://www.snipershide.com/shooting/snipers-hide-reloading/203207-length-study.html

~Brett

 

[Labanaktis]

You can get better accuracy if you can reach the lands of your barrel however most people without match chambers can't reach the lands without going over the max length that will fit in a magazine. You also get a larger case capacity which gives you the ability to put in more powder as it reduces your pressures (as long as you've not yet reached the lands). When you have the bullet touching the lands you will get a greatly increased pressure spike so watch out for that. At 2.800 you're safe. 44.5 grains is a bit of a hot load to start at but many (including myself) are using this load. If I were you I'd load up a few rounds at lighter charges and work my way up to 44.5. If you see any signs of pressure (flattened primers, extractor marks, sticky bolt lift) then don't continue to higher charge weights.

I've recently done a test with loads that are longer than 2.800". After doing this I think I'm going to move up to 2.820" but I don't see it as a very significant improvement.

Take a look at the results of my test here:
http://www.snipershide.com/shooting/snipers-hide-reloading/203207-length-study.html

~Brett

Thanks Brett, I will check that out. Also, thanks for info about the lands inside the chamber... I've got a ways to go yet, but I'd rather learn from others that have tried. There is a wealth of knowledge on this board and it's nice when people chime in and share.

Thx, Matt

 

[bh-ltr]

Same reason that I hang out here. Enjoy. Long as you're having fun you're doing it right. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

~Brett

 

[JB02]

That's where I'm at now. 2.795" COAL. It just seemed that the amount of seat was not enough... Just being cautious... I do not want to have screwed up pressures. I should just probably try it and go from there.

I have seem people have a COAL over 2.800" but I do not know the benifits?

Thx, Matt

By seating your bullet so far you are robbing your case of capacity. It is typically better to seat them out greater than spec. If you are going to seat them all at just 0.005 below spec, you'll probably be fine.

As for just jumping to a charge like that, I caution against that. Take a look at Dan Newberry's Optical Charge Weight procedure (OCW): OCW Overview - Dan Newberry's OCW Load Development System

In summary, you will have 8-9 different charge weights that you shoot incrementally in round robin fashion (low to high of course). You take a charge in the middle of two charges that have nearly the same point of impact (POI).

From there you adjust seating depth using the optimum charge weight at a different range session. This will hone in on a load tuned for your rifle (I guess you could play with neck tension too after seating depth, but at that point your approaching diminishing returns for your effort). I have found that many bullets perfer 0.010"-0.020" off the lands, but I've come across a few that prefer >0.040". In any event, all were loaded longer than spec.

An OAL gauge with comparator inserts is highly recommended for this.

Hope this helps.

 

[Pinecone]

1) Read about OCW here - OCW Overview - Dan Newberry's OCW Load Development System

Follow the directions. Shoot round robin, 2 minutes between shots and follow the charge weight increments.

Here is an Excel template I developed to calculate the powder charge increments - http://www.snipershide.com/shooting/snipers-hide-reloading/193057-ocw-excel-template.html

2) Start with a COAL of 2.800" which is the book length. Once you do #1 and get the proper charge weight, then run a bullet seating depth string. Same deal, round robin, 2 min cooling, etc. I used 2.780", 2.800", 2.820", 2.840", 2.860" (although in reality I set seating depth based on a measurement to the ogive using a Hornady comparator setup). 2.860" is the longest that will find in my magazines.

Here is what I ended up with:

New Lapua Brass
Federal 210M primers
175 gr Sierra Match King bullets
43.5 grains of Varget
COAL 2.860"
2600 FPS out of my Remington 700, stock PS-1 barrel.

OCW says that the next higher node would be around 44.8 grains (which also tracks with Dan Newberry's recipe of 45.0 grains - 4% for Lapua brass). From what I can gather, it would up the velocity about 75 FPS. But stress the brass more. I was unable to chrono my first OCW workup as I was missing a chrono stand when I arrived at the range.

 

[Labanaktis]

Lots of great info here! Thanks Everyone!!!