Thread: Bullet seating depths

My process used to be load up groups of 3 rounds at 3 thou increments around my initial seating depth & shoot them. Worked fine most of the time provided you were in the window of what the projectile/rifle liked to begin with but sometimes involved a fair bit of shooting to get to the final load that worked & in todays climate as far as components its not ideal.

Now days i take my press & seating dies to the range with me. Ive bolted my press to a length of timber so at the range i can G clamp it to a bench to use it. Once i have done my powder charge ladder test & have decided on a charge, ill load up something like 24 rounds at home & seat them all at the longest COAL i plan to run. At the range ill put a couple of rounds through to warm things up/foul it if i have cleaned it, then start shooting groups. Ill fire 2 shots, if i know there was no operator error and the 2 shots arent within the group size im looking for i move on, firing more shots at that same seating depth isnt going to magically get better, just waste components and barrel life. To start with ill make bigger adjustments (6 thou at a time). Shoot 2 more at 6 thou less, if theyre looking good a 3rd. Repeat this process untill i find something that looks promising. When ive found a seating depth that looks promising, lets say 2.688. Ill seat 3 rounds to 2.691, 3 at 2.688 and 3 at 2.685. Shoot them and see how things look. Maybe even 3 at 2.682 to see how far the window goes. If its looking good and consistent / group size im after, ill seat a few more at the depth that worked best, Shoot some more to confirm im happy with it and job done.

Has definitely helped me save components + time by having my press at the range with me and being able to do whatever i want on the fly. If something looks good, can try it again straight away to confirm rather than going home and wondering if thats gonna be the load till you next range trip, or going home loading a bunch at that seating depth only to find next range trip it was just a fluke.