Bullet seating depth

[Baldur459]

Question for the long-range precision shooters...

Is bullet seating depth for a specific bullet (brand/type/weight) more related to the rifle chamber or the specific type and weight of powder?

In other words, if you had worked up a load that you were happy with and had dialed in as good as you could get it (fiddling with charge weight and seating depth), but then wanted to try a different powder (all other components being the same) would you do a ladder/ocw test + new seating depth test *OR* just the ladder/ocw test and leave the seating depth the same. Remember, the brass, the bullet and the rifle (chamber) are all staying the same.

Thanks in Advance
Baldur

 

[Newbie2020]

Getting the Best Precision and Accuracy from VLD bullets in Your Rifle

VLD bullets are designed with a secant ogive. This ogive shape allows bullets to be more efficient in flight (retain more velocity = less drop and wind deflection). While this result is desirable for many rifle shooters the secant ogive on the VLD bullets produces another result in many rifle.

bergerbullets.com

 

[Mr Tibbs]

Question for the long-range precision shooters...

Is bullet seating depth for a specific bullet (brand/type/weight) more related to the rifle chamber or the specific type and weight of powder?

In other words, if you had worked up a load that you were happy with and had dialed in as good as you could get it (fiddling with charge weight and seating depth), but then wanted to try a different powder (all other components being the same) would you do a ladder/ocw test + new seating depth test *OR* just the ladder/ocw test and leave the seating depth the same. Remember, the brass, the bullet and the rifle (chamber) are all staying the same.

Thanks in Advance
Baldur

A good rule of thumb is whenever any part of a load is changed, always restart 10% lower and work back up, watching for signs of excessive pressure.

 

[308sako]

If I changed my powder in the above set of conditions and successfully worked up a new precision load time and materials allowing I would then check seating depth's affect on that new load.

 

[rustyinbend]

Just curious ... do you find your velocity node "first", and then ladder test for seating depth ... or find the right seating depth first and then load a ladder test to find the velocity node for that depth? Chicken ... or Egg ???

 

[kindabitey]

Just curious ... do you find your velocity node "first", and then ladder test for seating depth ... or find the right seating depth first and then load a ladder test to find the velocity node for that depth? Chicken ... or Egg ???

Chicken/ egg is about right. Some do the powder charge first, others do the seating first. I'm leaning towards seating depth first, as depth of bullet will affect the internal volume of the case.