Hornady Bullets & Lands question

[leonard]

So Ive Reloaded quite a few Hornady SST's and for the most part Ive had Good success.

But my question here is directed on seating depth.

Is it Poor practice to just use the Ring area for seating depth?

Typically I seat my 243 and my 308 at around 1/2 way into the ring.

The Results are Fair. But I'm wondering with these bullets, Do they like to be seated further into the lands or is this ring a actual guideline?

Has anyone had Some success moving the bullets closer or further to the land's?

Do they like to jump or start in the lands .. things like this. just wondering as I start moving into longer range tests on the 243 what things I can do with these bullets. they have a decent BC for a 95grain 243 bullet and controlled expansion and seem to fly well.

Any info would be appreciated.

[gaetoune]

A good starting point is .050" off the land. So different bullets will give a different Cartridge overall lenght. There is a gauge made by stoney point (now sold by Hornady) that would tell you exactly how far with your bullets is the land.

If you check this post...check what I put there, http://huntshoot.coastangler.com/hun...ain.tsx-10591/

This is what i use and it does the same thing as the expensive gauge.

Hope that helps

Cheers
Gaetoune

[leonard]

I understand this is how TSX like to shoot. wondering if that apply's to the SST's from hornady aswell. If so great.

[martini]

The Stoney point gauge is the way to go IMO,

Are you measuring with a caliper after you "seat them 1/2 way into the ring"?

[gaetoune]

As a matter of fact, I've been testing hornady SST and Barnes Tsx and so far not a lot of difference. Same loads does not make a lot of change, .025" diff in the worst case i've shot.

I have not tested a lot of loads but for the 3 I have tested they group almost the same (0.025" at the most), Good for hunting bullets.

Cheers
Gaetoune

[Boxhitch]

Barnes recommend the .050 leade to address pressure issues, due to the harder construction of their bullets. They don't deform/conform to the rifling as easily as other do.
Some other types/brands of bullets need no lead, can start out touching the lands. Only experimenting will say what works best for your rifle/bullet/load combo. The limiting factor to c.o.l., is usually magazine length, and how they feed. Unless you are running single shot.