There are varieties of shoulder angle for hunting and benchrest. Most common shoulder angle for benchrest would be 35 degree? For hunting...usually at 20 deg. I'm a little concerned about the bullet seating for 35 deg. Is it okay to touch the powder from the bottom of the bullet? or recommend to the bottom of the neck? Shoulder angle has nothing to do with accuracy, only place the bullet seating properly? (For ex. 284 Win, 300WSM....308, 300 SAUM)
-DG

Your question brings up a lot of potential questions that will draw a lot of discussion but the short answer in "no" that the angle of the shoulder does not affect seating depth of a bullet.

Some other things to consider. Using a powder, whose appropriate load most closely fills the case once the bullet is seated, tends to give the most consistent velocity.

Slightly compressing a load of powder isn't necessarily a bad thing.

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Originally posted by No Fear in Accuracy:
There are varieties of shoulder angle for hunting and benchrest. Most common shoulder angle for benchrest would be 35 degree? For hunting...usually at 20 deg. I'm a little concerned about the bullet seating for 35 deg. Is it okay to touch the powder from the bottom of the bullet? or recommend to the bottom of the neck? Shoulder angle has nothing to do with accuracy, only place the bullet seating properly? (For ex. 284 Win, 300WSM....308, 300 SAUM)
-DG

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As the other post states the shoulder angle doesn't really depend on the shoulder angle...hunting rounds usually have less sharp angles due to feeding from a mag. in hunting situations...B/R shooters load single shot....the sharp angle loadings burn the powder better in some chamberings and produce higher velocity in a given case..Ackney Improved 40degree shoulder...the bullet touching or even compressing the powder is normal in some shells and won't hurt in normal rifle loadings...in smaller cases.such as pistol rounds then the seating depth can make RADICAL changes in velocity and pressure...but unless you go to the extreme then it won't make any difference in a rifle loading that is not already at max pressure...good luck and good shooting!!!