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seating the bullet............ |
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bobaldoo
Optics Apprentice Joined: June/06/2011 Location: alberta canada Status: Offline Points: 72 |
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Posted: September/19/2011 at 13:59 |
was wondering if there was a chart or a factory spec that a person could find 4 how deep to seat the bullet.i'm reloading 150 gr nosler ballistic tip in s 30/06 and there is no cannulure line on it....would a person go by o/a leagth?....please and thank you...........
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jonoMT
Optics Master Extraordinaire Joined: November/13/2008 Location: Montana Status: Offline Points: 4853 |
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http://www.6mmbr.com/cartridgediagrams.html#3006
That will give you the SAAMI spec for the cartridge and OAL. Although handloaders sometimes load as far out as having the bullet just touching the lands (where the rifling starts in the barrel) you should start with the SAAMI OAL. The reason for that is because rifle manufacturers chamber to that spec at minimum. By "at minimum" I mean that the throats are often even longer, such as with Remingtons. My .308s have such long throats I could not even safely seat a VLD bullet and have it touch the lands. It wouldn't have enough bearing surface inside the mouth of the cartridge. Generally, the SAAMI spec is just fine. You'll find that you can get pretty good (and sometimes great) results by testing other variables, such as the bullet type/weight, powder type and charge. The Nosler BT is usually a really good bullet so unless it just doesn't work with your rifle, no need to try lots of bullets at this point. I'd start with a minimum load, 5-10% under the recommended load and work your way up until you start seeing pressure signs (mainly flattened primers and difficulty extracting the expanded brass. But that is just a "don't blow yourself up recommendation" that barely scratches the surface. I highly recommend getting with an experienced handloader to learn the ropes. |
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Reaction time is a factor...
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anomad
Optics Apprentice Joined: May/23/2011 Location: Salt Lake City Status: Offline Points: 148 |
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data.hodgdon.com lists the specs for a 150 Nosler BT I assume that means ballistic tip.
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jonoMT
Optics Master Extraordinaire Joined: November/13/2008 Location: Montana Status: Offline Points: 4853 |
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They do and that is a good place to find some load data. Also, bullet makers like Nosler and Hornady have pretty good info. Just remember what they list may be unsafe in a different rifle (although the low end, in my experience, has always been fine). So, for example, you'll see hodgdon has IMR4895 listed starting @ 49 gr. and moving up to max. of 53. One thing to keep in mind is that your particular brass may have thicker or thinner walls than what they used, which will cause volume and pressure to vary.
When I do a load test with a new bullet (leaving all else the same) I do 5-6 rounds incrementally from the low load to the high load and fire them. As I go up, I keep checking (more and more closely) for signs that I've exceeded safe pressures. For argument's sake, let's say I loaded a .308 round to 45.5 grains and it was .5 grains over what I should have. Next time I'll return to the range to do a ladder test and the highest load will be 45. I'll do increments between 42 and 45 every .7 or .8 grains to see which shoots best and that will be my load for that specific combo of brass, primer, bullet, seating depth and powder. |
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Reaction time is a factor...
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ckk1106
Optics Master Joined: December/14/2007 Location: Arizona Status: Offline Points: 1439 |
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You could just seat to the maximum cartridge overall length listed in any reloading book. Just make sure that 1 chambers ok and fits in the magazine before loading all of them. You can seat it long and just keep seating it more and more until the bullets not touching the rifling any more and then seat another .02 or so. If you mark bullet with a marker it makes it easy to see if the bullet is contacting the lands. I've never noticed a whole of of difference in accuracy with different seating depth, although I'm not really concerned about bench rest type accuracy.
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bobaldoo
Optics Apprentice Joined: June/06/2011 Location: alberta canada Status: Offline Points: 72 |
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Roy Finn
MODERATOR Steiner Junkie Joined: April/05/2004 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 4856 |
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Use the magazine length as your guideline to determine OAL of the loaded round.
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Roy Finn
MODERATOR Steiner Junkie Joined: April/05/2004 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 4856 |
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I'm assuming we're talking about a bolt action rifle here.
Edited by Roy Finn - September/19/2011 at 23:11 |
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bobaldoo
Optics Apprentice Joined: June/06/2011 Location: alberta canada Status: Offline Points: 72 |
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yep i am an we are.............. |
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