seating bullets out for new brass??

[jvm]

I am sorta new to the magnums in reloading. I was smart enough to get a Wilson case gauge for it.

Instructions said to set up the adjustable gauge put in a fired case from the rifle your loading for. I did that and then set the bushing for the neck.

I has some new ufired Winchester brass and dropped on in my gauge. It fell in deep!! Used a caliphers to measure. Was 14 thousandths!!

I thought no wonder that mag cases have a short case life.

Do you guys seat your bullets out in new cases to headspace on the throat? If you do do you cut back the first charge for pressure? Thanks

 

[308isgreat]

Re: seating bullets out for new brass??

When I fire new brass I typically seat the bullet a few thousanths into the lands and use a reduced charge. This is supposed to help the case fire form in line with the bore.

 

[Country]

Re: seating bullets out for new brass??

Seating out to the lands ensures that the case base is hard against the bolt face before the case is fireformed.
That way all expansion is forward . This results in a minimum headspace case and no stretching of the web area which is where most cases fail from excess stretching. It also helps to center the case a bit better as previously mentioned by 308isgreat.
Some people use neck expander die to arrange for an extra small shoulder right at the junction of the neck and shoulder and then resize to correct neck diameter leaving the extra shoulder . This creates a crush fit in the chamber and achieves the same thing as seating into the lands but without seating into the lands. Some people say the crush fit will produce a straighter more concentric case than seating into the lands. That I can't confirm . They both seem to work ok.

 

[Grumulkin]

Re: seating bullets out for new brass??

If you talking belted magnum, the belt is for headspaceing. It's true, headspaceing on the shoulder is preferable but the belt works as well.