Seating depth test before powder

[The big greasy]

I’ve been reading some say to do the berger seating depth test before finding a good powder charge. Questions are

1. Seating depth first?
2. Once found, does the seating depth stay good through testing different powders and charges?

 

[wapitibob]

Never, I set .020 off and leave it.

 

[The big greasy]

Never, I set .020 off and leave it.

Even for these fussy vlds?

 

[wapitibob]

Yep, shooting 195's right now in 2 different barrels, .020 off and haven't touched it. I don't have enough barrel life to do much messing around. I did the same with 180 vld's; it never made enough difference for me to continue. Guys swear by it though.

 

[Shooter Mike]

Never, I set .020 off and leave it.

How often do you clean your chamber and barrel?


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[wapitibob]

How often do you clean your chamber and barrel?


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Cleaned the STW after every range session and when I pulled it to exchange for a 7PRC. Cleaned the PRC after 3 shots, then 10, then at 90 when I switched from 180's to 195s. I pulled that barrel last week at 145 total, and will clean it in a day or so. I put the STW back on, shot 15 today and may leave it dirty and see how it does.

 

[Shooter Mike]

Cleaned the STW after every range session and when I pulled it to exchange for a 7PRC. Cleaned the PRC after 3 shots, then 10, then at 90 when I switched from 180's to 195s. I pulled that barrel last week at 145 total, and will clean it in a day or so. I put the STW back on, shot 15 today and may leave it dirty and see how it does.

That sounds like a very reasonable method. Would you agree that those who don’t clean their rifles until accuracy wanes would be better off with deeper seating depths? The way my mind sees it is, while 0.020 might work great, when that gap erodes, it changes pressure sooner and by a wider margin. That’s me just guessing without really experimenting. That said, with Bergers, I’ve had the best results being much farther off the lands. But it could have just been something with the one barrel I was loading them in. If I remember right, I’m thinking somewhere in the 0.080” range.


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[wapitibob]

I'm not a believer in waiting till accuracy goes away; it's a day late at that point. That's why I always kept it clean and with few rounds fired and uncleaned.

I burned over .120" out of the throat in the STW and never moved the bullet from the original .020 off. When I measured that .120", I was going to toss the barrel but decided to load it like a 28 Nosler, and moved the bullet out to again be .020 off those burned up lands, and it's been there ever since although I shoot it sparingly. That last move set the bullet boattail above the shoulder/neck radius and turned that barrel into a much better shooter. I would guess, based on earlier measurements that there is probably .150" burned out of that throat now, I can measure erosion after 10 shots.

The PRC is too early to tell where I will keep it. Expensive barrel and throat eating powder is going to make it a light use barrel.

 

[SDHNTR]

Chasing lands is unnecessary. As is fretting over seating depth. I set Berger’s .010-.020”. off and I set Monos .050-.060” off and rock on. I literally put no more thought into it than that. I’m not a Benchrest shooter.

 

[Shooter Mike]

Chasing lands is unnecessary. As is fretting over seating depth. I set Berger’s .010-.020”. off and I set Monos .050-.060” off and rock on. I literally put no more thought into it than that. I’m not a Benchrest shooter.

Unfortunately for me I can never leave anything to chance, nor can I leave good enough and well enough alone. So I'm that guy trying to squeeze out every bit that I can. Maybe one of these days I'll realize that I'm probably getting an insignificant return for my time spent ... but it keeps me happy when I think I'm doing something to make it better. Blissful foolishness, I guess.

 

[SDHNTR]

Unfortunately for me I can never leave anything to chance, nor can I leave good enough and well enough alone. So I'm that guy trying to squeeze out every bit that I can. Maybe one of these days I'll realize that I'm probably getting an insignificant return for my time spent ... but it keeps me happy when I think I'm doing something to make it better. Blissful foolishness, I guess.

Are you a Benchrest competitor?

If not, all you are doing is wasting time and valuable components for meaningless return.

 

[Shooter Mike]

Are you a Benchrest competitor?

If not, all you are doing is wasting time and valuable components for meaningless return.

I’m not. Reference the blissful foolishness acknowledgment.


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[Vern400]

I’ve been reading some say to do the berger seating depth test before finding a good powder charge. Questions are

1. Seating depth first?
2. Once found, does the seating depth stay good through testing different powders and charges?

Your powder and primer combination, and the charge weight are going to make more difference.
Just seat your bullets like what the comments say, and test powder charge. You'll probably find a powder charge that pulls everything together all at once.

Keep your important variables in order with regard to precision.
*Cartridge selection
* Rifle selection (is it a shooter?)
*Bullet selection
*Powder / primer / charge
*Seating depth and other variables

Why did I list primers?
If you're using a powder and primer that work well together in other loads don't screw with it. Changing primers rarely yields much. And it doesn't suddenly become "bad".

 

[TaperPin]

Unfortunately for me I can never leave anything to chance, nor can I leave good enough and well enough alone. So I'm that guy trying to squeeze out every bit that I can. Maybe one of these days I'll realize that I'm probably getting an insignificant return for my time spent ... but it keeps me happy when I think I'm doing something to make it better. Blissful foolishness, I guess.

Nothing wrong with that. A good friend of mine is constantly working on shrinking groups for his rifles, even the ones he’s had for two decades. Lol

I don’t personally get into that, but many people do. I say more power to you.

The cool thing about shooting is everything is testable on target, a combination is either better or it’s not. In that sense it’s not arguable how you got there if the target shows improvement.

 

[bnewt3]

Not much to offer except something ive heard more than a few times

"I cant keep a rifle consistently dirty, but I can keep it consistently clean"

 

[freezerfull]

Though there is a point of diminishing returns, I am going to go a bit against the grain here. Short answers:

1. Yes
2. In my experience: yes regarding charges, generally yes regarding powder types if they are similar

Seating depth is the first thing I do, especially with Berger VLD’s. Generally I use a mid book powder charge, most of the time I’m familiar with the lot of powder so I don’t worry about a super fast lot. My methods are below but take what what you want from it. I would have decided certain rifles just did not like a bullet many times if I had just set to a specific depth.

I do 10 rounds at each depth, generally in .030” increments. For lead core I generally start .010 or .020 off; monos usually around .030 or .040 off. I shoot 2 5 shot groups and over lay them.

Pick the best one as long as the adjacent seating depths support this then load a ladder to pressure. This ladder will just confirm that the bullet likes that jump. Pick the top 2 nodes and shoot a few 10 round groups at each charge weight to check barrel harmonics and SD/ES. Figure out what’s acceptable for your accuracy/velocity trade off and run with it.

Sure it burns a box of bullets but it gives you trigger time and confidence in your load.