Hi, do you believe that having a "sufficient" lenght of the bullet seated in the case neck is mandatory? In my brand new Tikka T3 270 WSM, I tried to seat Sierra 130 gr. SBT to the max. lenght allowed by the magazine and I noticed that "only" 5 mm./0.2 inches of the bullet's shank touches the neck, while I read that the bullet SHOULD be seated almost "1 caliber" for a better accuracy. In other words, do you believe that it's better to stay closer to the lands, or do you prefer to seat deeper? Thanks.

I knew a guy that used a .222 Remington for benchrest shooting and would get itsy bitsy 5 shot holes with it. He had made his own reforming die (he was a machinist). He used 5 cases and after shooting a group would reload the cases at the shooting table and shoot them again. The bullets were so loose, they would contact the lands and be pushed further back into the case. You could push the bullets in by hand if you wanted to.

He, at least, thought getting the bullet closer to the lands was the most important and it was for him when terget shooting. His ammo would have been a bad choice for any other purpose I can think of. It was not put together durably enough for hunting. You have to decide what you want to use the rifle for before you decide which is best for you. For myself, seating at least near the 1 caliber distance takes precidence over seating near the lands though crimping the bullet can let you get by with seating to lesser depths.

Also, seating near the lands, makes more of a difference with some rifles and some bullets than with others.

At 5mm your about 80% of the way there anyway. If the bullet is held tightly enough for your applications it should be fine.