I have read on these forums that one can adjust the seating plug to seat the bullets via the Ogive to eliminate the disparities in the bullet points.

Couple of questions:

1) How do you adjust the plug to do that and not touch the bullet tip - do you purchase a special plug for that?

2) Are all Ogives in the same bullet diameter (specifically .243) the same regardless of bullet weight and tip configuration and therefore no adjustment necessary when changing bullets to get a specific distance off the lands?

3) Seems like most people here recommend 0.01" - 0.02" ogive distance off the lands. Is that about right and how critical is it for accuracy?
I am not a bench rest target shooter - just like to tinker and try to make the best ammo I can.

Thanks, Wayne

Aero, whether the 'bottom' of the seating plug touches the tip of your bullet is dependent on the style and length of the tip of your chosen bullet and the design of the seating plug in your die. You can send the bullet and seating plug to most mfgs. and they will custom grind it to make sure it hits your ogive only and not the tip.

I simply take a drill and open up the end of the seating plug myself. I have also taken some grinding compound, put it on the end of the desired bullet, which was chucked up in my drill, and grrrr, grrrr, grrrr until I have a custom fit.

All bullets are not exactly same as to Ogive for a given caliber, or even with a box of the same bullets. The jist is that the distance from the base of the bullet to the same point on the ogive is typically far more consistent than the measurement to the tip. I would say that you would want to be at least .02 off the lands, there can be enough variance to get you on the lands if your just .01 off, and you get a bullet on the long side of tolerance. As to how critical it is, my experience is if you get a distance from case head to ogive that gives you good accuracy, the variances are too small to discern in terms of the slight difference in distance to the lands that will be there from bullet to bullet. The main thing being, that there will be more consistency when measuring to the ogive instead of the tip.

I have actually bought a few spare plugs, they aren't ridiculous, but more than I figured they'd be, I think on a Redding they were like $10 or a little more, but whatever...

Good Shooting--Don

aerostarp,
Check out this link. http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.exe/showproduct?s...id=231904&t=11082005

This kit when used with a set of calipers (Vernier, Dial or Digital) Measures cartridge length from the base of the brass to the ogive of the bullet. Each insert has the inside diameter of the lands of a typical barrel. It there fore engages the bullet at the same place on the bullet would hit the lands in a rifle.

Your seating die also does not push the bullet into the case by the point but has a collar that contacts the bullet part way down the ogive.

Various bullets have different profiles and the distance between the place on the bullet where it would contact the lands and the point will differ from manufacturer to manufacturer and also on bullets of different weights and profiles. It is very unlikely that a round nose bullet and a spire point bullet from the same mfg. and weight would measure the same from ogive to point.

Ogives can vary greatly on bullets of the same caliber. First off, there are tangent, secant and double ogive bullets. I'm going to use 6mm bullets as an example. Many custom makers offer 7, 7.5, 8, 8.5 and 10 ogive bullets all in the 66-68 gr. range. The Hornady reloading manual has a good an explanation of ogives.

Sinclair International makes two gauges to check OAL using the ogive. One goes form 22 - 308 and the other goes 308 up. Cost around 16.00

Thanks to all of you for the information. I knew there were a few kinds of ogives but never quite paid it any attention. I have come up with a couple loads I really like for the .243 Win. from spending a day at the range. I guess I now would start playing with seating depths and see if that improves the accuracy any. I made a dummy round and will "soot" it and see where it ends up against the lands. I can make some loads adjusting it deeper into the case and off the lands and see how that goes. Any other suggestions?
Wayne