700BDL in 35 Whelen -- worked up loads last weekend with the 250gr Partition. According to Nosler, the bullet should be seated at least one caliber (.358") into the case neck. But for max accuracy, they say to seat .015-.030" from the rifling. Problem is, the throat on my rifle is so long that if I seat .030" from the rifling, I've only got .294" of bullet in the case neck.

The questions:

(1) Am I likely to experience problems by seating the bullets out this far for hunting loads?

(2) If I seat so that I've got .358" of bullet in the case neck (.065" from the rifling), am I likely going to see any improvements by varying the seating depth slightly, or am I so far from the rifling that seating depth is irrelevant?

Sam,

When I have a rifle with that much freebore I just ignore the seating depth and put the bullet into the case so it looks right.

I am surprised you can seat the bullet so close to the lands with such a long OAL and still fit the completed round into the magazine.

On the guns with a lot of freebore like the wby's and a few Remingtons I have played with i have not seen a big difference in accuracy from seating depth.

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Bill,

Thanks for the info.

On my rifle, I can seat either the Speer or Hornady 250gr spire point so that the bullet is barely in the case mouth (COL 3.65") and still get them to fit in the magazine and feed properly. That's over .3" longer than max COL listed in the manuals....