Made a mistake. Need some advice

[burntmuch]

Loaded up a few 120 GR Nosler BTs for my 7mm-08. Well I usually load to COAL 2.80. That fits in the magazine of my model 7. Apparently I dont know how to read calipers. I set my seating die. measured the lloaded case at 2.80. Wrong .,it was at 2.70.  Loaded 18 3 different loads. None of the loads are compressed. the book calls for 2.75. Is this a big deal, should I pull them & start over. Or should I shoot them & see how they group.
Loads are 43 gr ,, 44 gr ,, & 45 grains W748

[mjbgalt]

no problem. i would shoot them and see.

you'd have to really do something drastic to cause an issue due to seating depth, at least when it comes to .05 of an inch.

however, you may want to take a bullet out and place it alongside the case and see how far into the case your bullet is. if it is much past the point where the neck widens, you may wanna pull them.


-Matt

[Graybeard]

Not a biggie. You might even find it likes that better.

[sr sawyer]

If you have a kinetic type puller just stick them in and one or two light raps should move the bullet out far enough so you can re-seat to the depth you want without a complete disassembly.  The COL for my 7-08 is also 2.80 and it is what mine likes but as GB said it aint no biggie.

Ken

[skarke]

shoot them

[Lone Star]

Bullets protruding past the neck are no problem, most factory loads with heavy bullets protrude back into the shoulder area, particularly with the supershort mags.  While the slick writers told us this was a "ballistic sin" that's just so much applesauce.  Don't worry about where the bullet base is, worry about where the bullet ogive is compared to the chamber leade.  In the OP's case I wouldn't worry about it.



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[burntmuch]

Thanks guys. I feel like an idiot. Im gonna shoot them. Ive already settled on a load for this years deer hunting, Had some of the 120 BTs , figured Id load some up & see what they do. As far as the base of the bullet going past the neck. So far everything Ive loaded for this 7mm-08 , has went past the neck. . Thanks again  Jay 

[mjbgalt]

well i am far from knowing it all...but i thought you wanted to avoid having bullets seated too deep past the shoulder, due to pressure building too fast to move the bullet out of the way fast enough. if i am full of it, then so be it.

i have been that before. and probably will be again.

true about the ogive, you want it close to the rifling. on my rifles it seems the closer it is to the rifling the better they shoot. both my .243's and 6.5x55 shoot best that way, with the front of the ogive touching the rifling. who knows maybe it stabilizes it better if it starts out that way.

its all a crap shoot until you have done it forever and know all this stuff.

-Matt

[LONGTOM]

its all a crap shoot until you have done it forever and know all this stuff.

I have not been doing it forever but have been doing it for a very long time and I can tell you that you will never know all the stuff!



LONGTOM

[LaOtto222]

Seating the bullet past the base of the neck should make no difference to pressure. What will make a difference is case volume. If you shorten the recommended COAL then you can raise pressures due to less case volume. But you have not seated it in that much to worry about, unless you are on the ragged edge already with pressure. There are cases loaded up with the base of the bullet sticking down into the case body all the time. This is especially true of short necked cases. With heavy bullets the 308 and 223 are two prime examples. Good Luck and Good Shooting 

[Sweetwater]

You will "never" get to the point that you have nothing else to learn.

My Speer #12 used a 24" barrel on a Remington 700V and CCI250 Primers when they burned 748 in the 7mm-08. They seated the 120 Speer Spitzer to 2.70" and topped at 45gr.

All indications are that you should be fine to shoot as loaded. You might learn that your rifle likes that particular combination - or not. Always something to test and analyze.

Though others reportedly do, I do not have anything that seating the bullets to the lands improves accuracy. Most of my calibers have space as the limiting factor, and seating long increase case volume which in turn increases velocity, at keast in theory.

Regards,
Sweetwater

[Darrell Davis]

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, As GB say, shoot em and your rifle may like em.

The tried and sometimes true information about having your bullets seated so many thousands off the lands, sometimes is correct.

However, it is time well spent, once you think you have found "the load" for your rifle, to try some groups a bit shorter and possibly longer.

The longer of course depending on length of magazine and/or depending on the relationship of bullet to lands.

Loads worked up with the bullets off the lands can rapidly increase in pressure if the bullet is suddenly jammed into the lands at the same loading density/powder change.

Playing with bullet seating depth has at times, been likened to the adjustments made with a "Boss" muzzle break, changing the "harmonics" of the barrel as the bullet seating depth is changed.

It is worth spending a bit of time at the bench, just to see if it works for you.

Besides, bench time is good time!

Keep em coming!

CDOC