I am just starting to load for my new TC Encore in 22-250. I measured the distance to the lands and COL with my Stoney point guage and came up with the measurement of 2.525. I was thinking of just starting at .010 off the lands and seating them to 2.515 as reccomended by alot of the reloading books.

So what do you guys reccomend and think? What would be best for accuaracy in my Encore? I have never loaded for a 22-250 or my Encore before. So is there something I need to know before seating them to 0.010 off the lands or does that sound like a good idea?

Embalmer: Your Encore will tell you what the best seating depth is. Each weapon is different. If you look up someone with an Encore exactly like yours, chances are better than average that it will prefer a different seating depth than your Encore does. It very well may prefer a different powder charge, or a different powder. As a rule of thumb, people say that seating bullets .005 to .030 off the lands gives the best accuracy. What I do is try to find what works best in the accuracy department with your powder charge first. When I find one which has promise, I will start right at the lands with three rounds, then three more .005 off the lands, then three more .010 off the lands, then three .015 off, then three .020 and so on until I get to .03. If, for example, the weapon shoots a good group with .015 inch off the lands, I will load up five at .015, five more at .01 and five more at .020 and shoot these to test the .015 load and compare the groups with the three shot groups to see if there are similarities. Ammunition manufacturers bank on the law of averages. One Remington Model 700 in .30/06 may shoot cartridges from Remington well and the law of averages works in this case, but, the rifle's twin may do lousy with the same cartridge out of the same box. As reloaders, we are not confined to the law of averages. We can play with the powder charge, play with different powdrs, play with the type of case sizing we do, such as full length versus neck sizing only, play with different brands of cases and case lots, play with different makes of bullets even though they may weigh the same, play with the different primers and lastly, play with seating depth. After we get done playing with all the variables, and there are many, many more, we find the one load that works the best in our particular firearm, but, all we need to do is change as little as one variable and everything could go to hell in a handbasket. That's what makes reloading so facinating, frustrating and fantastic all in one breath. Good luck! Tom Purdom

I know how to work up loads. I was just asking for the starting point for the seating depth for this load. I will work up the loads like I normally do, but on my other rifles, the chambers were so long I could not load to the lands. So now that I can with this one, I just wanted to know what a good starting point for seating depth was for this rifle in 22-250. I was planning on 0.010 simply becuase that seems to be the standard place to start. But since I have never been able to touch the lands in any of my factory rifles before I just wanted to check with you guys to be sure.

According to the Sierra guys when I called, the 22 bullets, especially 22-250, seem to like a bit of a jump. I used the same approach you did and got pretty good accuracy from .010 off the lands. When I tried .025 for the heck of it, my groups got a little tighter. I can't tell you what to do because every gun is different, but don't rule out seating deeper just because everyone is .010 off.

I have a Swift that really dialed in with the bullet .130" off the lands. SAAMI standard seating depth was 2.680" for that caliber and my touch point was at 2.810". That rifle definately likes a lot of bullet jump and if I had started at .010" of the lands,I would never have found that out. I generally start at recommended standards and work at .010" incriments towards the lands until I find what my rifle likes the best. At least with the Encore you do not have to worry about seating them to long to get them in a magazine.

With my Remy in 308 I can not reach the lands no matter what I do. There would not be enough of the bullet base seated in the case to be able to seat to the lands. So in the rifle I jump .060 if I remember right and it shoots 1/2 moa. So I'm not worried about jumping. I just want to try getting closer to the lands since I actualy can in this rifle lol

Embalmer, I just tried to reach the lands with some 52MKs in my VSSF 22-250, I got to 2.472" oal, and no marks on the bullet after smoking with candle, so if it don't shoot I may have a thread cut from the barrel and rechambered to get closer to the lands without seating the bullet out so far, which should help it shoot better, who knows, maybe I'll just sell it instead, Jay

I measured all my bullets for 11 different calibers using my Stoney Point OAL guage. In nearly all my rifles I can't even reach the lands. Sako conforms best to SAAMI specs. Remington and Savage seem the worse. I load my .22-250Rem. out to 2.450" and let it go at that. The accuracy is good. Best wishes.

Cal - Montreal

In my Savage I could reach the lands but it shot the tightest groups at .030 off.Closer or farther resulted in the groups gradually opening up.A lot of 22-250's seem to like a certain amount of "jump" to the lands, or so I've been told by other bench shooters,and my own experience bears this out.

woods

Thomas summed the subject up nicely.

I did read from an old Hornady or Speer reloading manual that for each caliber they tested, they found the average most consistant accuracy was achieved at .030 off the lands, but there's plenty of guns that like 'em jammed, and plenty that like 'em jumped.

Cheers.

Well after some exhuastive testing today I found that my Encore likes to jump 0.010. I tried everything from starting at the lands to all the way out to 0.030 off the lands and the 0.010 gave the best results by far. I guess I just got lucky with choosing that as a good starting point. But it is good to have the research to confirm my thoughts.