Gentlemen, as a new poster I first want to thank Saeed and the administrators for creating and maintaining this incredible forum. I can't tell you how much I have enjoyed accessing the wealth of information found here. Since first dialing in a few months ago, I have found these forums to be a truly invaluable source of information and am grateful to all the knowledgeable contributors...what a grand assembly of experts!

Now to my question:

I have studied archives of discussions dealing with fire forming and have learned that many here advocate seating medium weight bullets "against the lands". Several posters achieve this by first seating the bullet in the seating die just long enough so that when the cartridge is chambered the bullet is further seated (a few thousandths) as the bolt is closed, essentially seating the bullet in the chamber via pressure from the bolt and thus ensuring that the case is snug against the bolt face. Do I understand this procedure correctly? If so, are there any pressure concerns that I need to be aware of? Thank you for your help with.

That proceedure is not needed with the 30/06 Improved. It' will headspace on the junction of the neck and shoulder of a standard cartridge.

If the chamber was something bizzare like one of the Gibbs line then seating the bullet like that might work.

This just points out what a hastle this is. Just buy a .300 WSM or get 10 yards closer.

As with most (all?) AI cartridges one can fire the factory standard, ie. 30'06 SPRG, without any problems because the headspace is the same for both the AI and the standard. Seating the bullet against the lans will increase pressure. I have done the 30'06 AI thing and it is not worth it. The gains over the standard aren't much. FWIW.

Thanks guys for the response. Yes, I have found the AI journey to be a little frustrating and have never acheived the accuracy I had hoped for. And I agree with both of you that the perfomance enhancement is marginal. I am strongly considering converting back to the standard 06. On paper it was intriguing but really hasn't worked out the way I'd hoped. Thanks again.