Here is my question. Lets say I measure and set my die to seat a 180gr bullet .010 off the lands. Now, I try and seat a 165bt without adjusting the die. Will they both be the exact same distance off the lands?

Nope. The ogives will be different on the bullets.

Best wishes, Bill

wonder if he knows what an Ogive is?

To elaborate: It's the curve of the bullets point.
and since it is different on just about every bullet made. So when the bullet seater touches the bullet it will be in a different location from the base of the bullet and from the tip. You have to reset every time and I would reset every time with the same bullet just to be sure.

Stinger is right on the money."Nope. The ogives will be different on the bullets."
This is true with the same weight bullets from diferant makers
Bill

Thanks guys. Are there any dies that incorporate a certain caliber neck inside the bullet seater to make it work?

Only on pistol bullets
RCBS use to make bullet seating dies for wad cutters and semi wad cutters. thats about as close as you are going to get.
You may want to invest in a dedicated die for your bullets

quote:

Originally posted by kcstott:
You may want to invest in a dedicated die for your bullets.

The more popular option is to acquire a seating die with a micrometer head.

BUT it will be close. For a beginning reloader, as long as you're not into the lands, I wouldn't angst about it too much. There's no magic about being .10 off the lands or .20 or whatever.

With using the same seater die setting, and changing from one bullet to another, the distance from the ogive to the lands will be VERY close to being the same. However, overall lengths of the loaded rounds will be totally different, and to the point wher magazine length will dictate different seating depths for long, VLD type bullets. Along with that, distaces from ogives to lands will also be different with seating those very long bullets deeper into the case.
I use the same seater set up for nearly all of my rounds, and accuracy is there. I use Wilson straight line seaters for all of my chamberings, except for the 30-30.

While on the subject of seating depth, I have a related issue. Some years back, when I was new to reloading, I read a magazine article by a gun writer who described how easy it was to find the sweet spot for seating depth to get best accuracy. He said that once you found it that spot would be the same for every other bullet.

So, I tried that approach and found it lacking. Other sources and other reloaders, also told me that the magazine article/writer was incorrect. That every time you change bullets, whether it be brand or weight, you must readjust seating depth. As above, due to differences in ogive and length of bullet.

So, I have since readjusted seating depth whenever I switch to a different bullet. If anyone knows of a workable shotcut would like to hear it.

I re-adjust every time. The same distance from the lands for every bullet may or may not work, but the die needs to be adjusted every time, or buy a die for each type of bullet.

I have gone to making dummy cartridges when I find a load that works well. That way I can pop it in the shell holder and adjust the die quickly. Since I don't do benchrest, it works very well with minimal expense.