I have a .223 with a very long throat. I can seat the bullet .120" over the max COL and it still does not touch the lands. I cant seat the bullet any farther out of the case or the neck wont be able to hold the bullet securely. Is there a rule of thumb for minimum seating depth, or should I seat them where I think they'll be secure and tinker with COL until I find something that shoots well? How far do you normally seat your bullet off the lands for best accuracy?

let me make this clear...I'm not a bench rest shooter....I'm a big game and varmint guy. So take this for what it's worth...

I try to seat bullets at least one diameter deep. I then check the accuracy. So far I've been very happy with the results.

Take it from there.

That sounds reasonable. If I do that I get a COL of 2.2". That's what Hornady used in their reloading manual with this bullet (Hornady 50 Grain SP). That puts the bullet a long way from the lands, but hopefully I can find a "sweet spot" that will work. I would switch to a heavier bullet, but the fast twist in my rifle doesn't shoot them well.

I am a benchrest shooter, a former Life Master highpower shooter, and a hunter.

For practical hunting purposes, one needs to seat the bullet sufficiently deep that the cartridge maintains structural integrity while being used and abused in the field.

Beyond that, the correct seating depth is the one your rifle likes best. That depth can only be found and proved by experimentation in YOUR rifle.

In BR, the same is true, except that structural integrity is not nearly as important, as most folks load their rounds at matches about 5 minutes to perhaps an hour before they start to shoot them.

If you have an imperfect chamber or imperfect brass (large amount of run-out for instance) it is often advantageous to barely seat the bullets in the case, if the chamber throat allows that.

A crooked case neck with a bullet deeply seated in it will assuredly hold the bullet crooked in relation to the chamber and rifling. On the other hand, a bullet only in the case about 1/10th inch will allow the case neck to act somewhat as a "gimbel" and if the bullet is out far enough for it to touch the rifling, the bore will properly center the nose of the bullet as the cartridge is chambered. That MAY (or may not, depending on one's rifle) actually increase accuracy.


But it probably won't increase it enough to make a significant difference in a hunting rifle and load.

Unless one can shoot offhand into less than 1 MOA, one probably need not worry about ultimate accuracy from a hunting rifle. Developing good stalking and ranging skills will get a lot more game for the typical hunter than a gain even from 2 MOA to 1 MOA in accuracy.

Best wishes, and carpe diem

AC

I should have added in my above post that I certainly DO NOT recommend seating bullets only 1/10th inch deep in hunting ammo.

For hunting purposes, I generally try to seat my bullets with the base of the bullet as close to the base of the neck as will shoot acceptably well in my rifles.

The object of my hunting ammo is to cleanly & humanely kill game, not to achieve ultimate accuracy from my rifles.

AC