HI fellas, I could do with some help here.

I have found that the OAL that seats my bullet against the lands in my .243 win is 2.773 inches.

My question is; how much should I back the bullet off from the lands to give myself a chance?

quote:

how much should I back the bullet off from the lands to give myself a chance?

a chance at what?

Not sure what you are trying to acheive but a lot of people get too carried away with seating close to the lands I think. Touching the lands will give you more pressure so if you are at max load you could see a pressure spike. I have 300 SAUM that is very deep throated and it shoots under an inch at .190 off the lands.
Good Luck with what you are trying to accomplish but don't get too obsessed with the being close to the lands.

Vapodog,

a chance at getting something right?

Dwight,

What I'm trying to achieve is to seat the bullet the correct distance from the lands for my rifle. I will be loading to max loads.

Or do I just seat the bullet to the same depth as I would if it had a cannelure and crimp it in place with my Lee fcd.

I'm just after that little extra to help with accuracy.

Gerry,
If you are using a bolt action I would not crimp the bullet. I shot the best group of my life last week with a 7mm08 which you know is very similar to your 243 and the 130 match bullets were .010" off the lands. Bullets are less than perfect and if you load a box of bullets to the same OAL some will be closer to the lands than others due to ogive variances in quality control so give yourself a little room.
Every rifle is a little different so you could load 3 at .005 and go .005 more with the next 3 and so on til you find the sweet spot.
Good Luck and have fun loading.

quote:

What I'm trying to achieve is to seat the bullet the correct distance from the lands for my rifle.

What I think Vapodog was trying to get at is that there is no correct distance. Barnes says to seat their solid copper bullets .050" off the rifling as a starting point. Then experiment from there. I usually start regular cup and core bullets .020" off the rifling. It's called load development. Using a chronograph to witness the trends will go a long way to ultimate accuracy.

Cheers guys,

I do use a chrono and try to work up loads with about 3 or 4 different powders amongst other things.

Again I was wondering if there was any hard and fast rule but as usual there isn't but you've got me started on the right track

Everybody has their own method of attack on accuracy. My way is to first fix the rifle by bedding the action, floating the barrel and adjusting the trigger. Make sure the scope is level and screws loctited. Now I am ready to play with the bullets. Otherwise it is a waste of time going backwards. My 2 cents worth.
Have fun.

quote:

Originally posted by Gerry Merry:
HI fellas, I could do with some help here.

I have found that the OAL that seats my bullet against the lands in my .243 win is 2.773 inches.

My question is; how much should I back the bullet off from the lands to give myself a chance?

1. They have to be deep enough in the case to ensure they do not get knocked out or bent during feeding.

2. They must fit the magazine.

3. When fed from the magazine they must feed properly.

4. They OAL should be short enough that they eject properly if you decide not to fire. This actually happened to me with a Nosler 225 BT in a Browning 358 BLR. Unlike a bolt gun you can't pull the bolt.

There are probably a few other ways to cause a problem with AOL

quote:

Originally posted by Gerry Merry:
...how much should I back the bullet off from the lands to give myself a chance?

Hey Gerry, I don't believe there is a Specific Distance anyone can give you that would be correct.

The only way I know to get what you are looking for is to load some up at 2.763", 2.753", etc., and shoot them to see which ones give you the best groups.

I would recommend you use the never improved upon Creighton Audette Load Development Method and find the best Harmonic. Once you know where the upper Harmonic is located, then Fine Tune the Load by varying the Seating Depth.

Best of luck to you.