Am I correct in the sense that these find your correct seating distance to the lands by measuring the bullet to the ogive. Once you determine the distance to the lands from the bolt face and you measure the bullet. Do you seat you bullets all a but long and them measure and seat accordingly with a micrometer seating die like a Redding or Forster? I am just ready to take my reloading process to the next level. Thanks

Chain, your post is a tad jumbled, but I'll try to answer it as best I understand what you are saying.

A bullet comparator is not used to find the distance to the lands, it is used to measure bullets (either loose or seated in the case) over the ogive. By measuring over the ogive, you eliminate the (common) variations in bullet length when measured over the tip. I typically use my bullet comparator to measure the length of a loaded cartridge, as a reference for the next time I want to load this particular load.

Distance to the lands can be found using a multitude of methods. I tend to use the Stoney Point (now Hornady) gauge:

http://www.sinclairintl.com/cgi-bin/category.cgi?catego...=CFG-2000&type=store

Once this gauge shows me the distance to the lands for a particular bullet, I measure that length using the bullet comparator, to have a better reference (measuring over the bullet ogive).

Once I have the distance to the lands, I decide how far off the land I'd like to be. That varies from bullet to bullet. I often seat match bullets fairly close to the lands (e.g. .005"), where as bullets like Barnes TSX are seated .050" off the lands. I never seat on or into the lands, as it could cause a bullet to be pulled when removing a loaded round from the chamber (leaving the mag full of powder). Benchresters often seat into the lands for better accuracy. They must shoot on ranges, where they are never forced to remove a loaded round...

You can seat bullets to a particular seating depth with a seater featuring a micrometer adjustment on the seating stem. But the micrometer is really just a "luxury" feature, which allows you to adjust your die to different seating depths quickly. You can use a seater without micrometer to achieve the same result, but it takes a bit of fiddling to get the exact seating depth you like.

I normally try to establish a good combination of powder and bullet, and once that is done, I play with the seating depth (varying distance to lands) to see if I can optimize the load. Some rifles/loads react to this, some seem less susceptible to seating depth changes. Some (big game) rifles have loooong freebores (Weatherbys spring to mind), and when the freebore is so long, it seems to make little difference if you vary the distance to the lands with a few thousands.

Good luck improving your reloading techniques.

- mike

Yes I should have proof read it. I was on the phone and trying to type and the wife was talking to me. Typical day. But you answered my question Thanks

I use a 3/4 stainless steel nut that I have drilled various size holes in each flat of the nut. I place the round minus powder and primer into the rifle and close the bolt, this gives me the dimension to the lands. I use the hole in the nut that corresponds to the caliber. I place the bullet in the hole until the ogive touches and then use my calipers to measure to the end of the brass. I measure from the base of the brass to the back of the nut and this gives me a base measurement to start from. Hope I didn't confuse you too much.