Beginner seating depth question

[Huntingnorseman]

Hi everyone! I am pretty new to reloading for my 30-06. I have been using the standard COAL in my reloading manual. However, I am starting to load hammer bullets and most people recommend starting 20 thousands off the lands. I got this all measured out an it comes in at 3.320. So I made a cartridge that size and it fits in my magazine but all the of the bullet bearing surface is not covered up as you can see on the right of the picture. Is this a performance or safety issue?

 

[sndmn11]

no

 

[packer58]

No that shouldn't be an issue. Generally speaking the rule of thumb is (1) caliber of seating depth, so in your case it would be .030 thou of bullet insertion into the neck not counting any boat tail. Again, (1) caliber is not set in stone.

 

[WeiserBucks]

No that shouldn't be an issue. Generally speaking the rule of thumb is (1) caliber of seating depth, so in your case it would be .030 thou of bullet insertion into the neck not counting any boat tail. Again, (1) caliber is not set in stone.

This is correct, however having only .030'' of bearing surface in the neck is a typo, you'd want .308'' bearing surface seated into the neck to achieve the 1 caliber rule of thumb.

 

[packer58]

Good catch.......Yes .308 = (1) caliber in seating depth in his case and in his cartridge .........

Typo / Brainfart take your pick.......

 

[35WhelenAI]

Seat them out, it makes for a better long-legged looking loaded round! But no issue as has been said.

 

[Hunter3721]

That's the GREAT thing about reloading versus factory bought. We get to play around with different variations to find the more precise load for our guns. Ed

 

[JFK]

They are about the least picky bullet around when it comes to seating depth. Starting at .020 off is an arbitrary number. I load my barnes .080 off and didn’t change the seating die when I loaded up hammers and they shot amazingly well with that much jump.

 

[35WhelenAI]

From what I have read about Hammer's as a whole, and my experience with Barnes (TTSX) , they are not picky about jump.

 

[doverpack12]

I like to get the case rim centered on a PDR band so I would go deeper until that next ridge is centered on the rim. Then you can crimp if desired/to tune groups if necessary.