Thread: The importance of Seating depths

It’s all in the photos tikka .308 178eldm 2206h fed 210gm same charge 8 thou difference

so you used same amount of powder with a 178grn pill and a 210grn pill??????
you changed a shit load more than seating depth if Im reading that right.... and thats a very dead deer either way.

Federal 210 Gold medal primer, sorry I over abbreviated haha

@Micky Duck fed 210 is a primer size.

Whoops to late!!!!!!

yeah bro... then the next thing is get a good mandrel expander set and youll see it change again! my 7mm saum shoots like this... has to be precise otherwise thr groups open up like your top pic... so i have to make sure EVERY load is perfect lol

That's why when I do a seating depth ladder I go in 3 thou increments, if you go 10 thou you coupd skip right over a node.
Then again you can get luck too, I did a charge ladder last week seated at Saami in a 308win and found a brilliant node, only cost me 12 rounds to develop a 1/2 moa load

Originally Posted by dannyb

That's why when I do a seating depth ladder I go in 3 thou increments, if you go 10 thou you coupd skip right over a node.
Then again you can get luck too, I did a charge ladder last week seated at Saami in a 308win and found a brilliant node, only cost me 12 rounds to develop a 1/2 moa load

This was 15 rounds mate I did 12 seated at mag legnth because that’s how my usual tikka load d goes but then knocked it back to saami and money shoots all day long . I was going to start with seating on a safe charge then work threw charges but as above I’m use to being clapped at the heels with mags so figured mag fit would be the depth I was wrong , Note to all if you don’t want to muck around with long action mags and bolt stops just buy a .308 eh

Originally Posted by Larskramer

yeah bro... then the next thing is get a good mandrel expander set and youll see it change again! my 7mm saum shoots like this... has to be precise otherwise thr groups open up like your top pic... so i have to make sure EVERY load is perfect lol

Yip my saum will do 5 like this with 168 and 162 fussy pays dividends

That's an impressive 2nd photo cluster of shots but Call me pedantic, in hunting terms does the difference between a 1 moa and .4 moa really matter? It obviously does in target shooting but in the field where the target can be as large as 8 or more inches both will be acceptable to at least 400 yards, and how many of us honestly shoot animals further than that on a regular basis?

At 400 or 500 yards with a bit of wind, especially gusty cross wind I’ll take the 0.4moa load every time. Does wonders for your confidence too.

Originally Posted by Marty Henry

That's an impressive 2nd photo cluster of shots but Call me pedantic, in hunting terms does the difference between a 1 moa and .4 moa really matter? It obviously does in target shooting but in the field where the target can be as large as 8 or more inches both will be acceptable to at least 400 yards, and how many of us honestly shoot animals further than that on a regular basis?

I guess it just comes down to how far your actually shooting. Most people dont shoot that far but theres more & more out there pushing the limits with longer ranges these days. Variables like wind, shit rest/shooting position, temperature especially running powders like superformance etc, average operator on the trigger all play a part so if you can make the grouping part of the equation as good as possible its one less thing to go wrong. At 100m the difference between .4moa and 1moa isnt gonna make much difference at all. But at 400 yards, ill admit the difference still isnt huge for the likes of a deer, .4moa is roughly a 1.6 inch group? Wheras 1moa is a 4 inch group. If your starting at 4 inches at 400 yards and only getting worse from there as far as a bad wind call or any of the other variables, its just more potential for things to go wrong.

Originally Posted by Kelton

This was 15 rounds mate I did 12 seated at mag legnth because that’s how my usual tikka load d goes but then knocked it back to saami and money shoots all day long . I was going to start with seating on a safe charge then work threw charges but as above I’m use to being clapped at the heels with mags so figured mag fit would be the depth I was wrong , Note to all if you don’t want to muck around with long action mags and bolt stops just buy a .308 eh

I'm running 168gn eldm's over 2208 for 2622fps, what velocity did you get with 178gn eldm's ? Was contemplating trying them as well as I have a few kicking around.

You could call me pedantic with my reloading but as chainsaw says confidence is your biggest asset when making shots and knowing the rifle can stack them really helps and again if you multiply everything in 100mtr increments I pick .4 . This is the guys only rifle and it’s do it all farm rangers to alps, it sports a Leupold vx5 and he has a self imposed respectable limit of 450yards while I’m sure the first load would be OK at that range the second leaves less to chance yes abundant no not native but none the less we strive for fast clean easy to find animals

Originally Posted by dannyb

I'm running 168gn eldm's over 2208 for 2622fps, what velocity did you get with 178gn eldm's ? Was contemplating trying them as well as I have a few kicking around.

I haven’t chronied mate going to do a tall target 400 yard test in the coming days it’s an 18” barrel primers are flat not bolt lift or swipes and very accurate so we will work with the given speed regardless . 41.4 is the load at saami

Keep us posted will be interesting to see what velocity you end up with.
I'm running a 22" barrel so gain a little there over 18"

ADI data suggests you'll be around 2400fps taking into account shorter barrel but not a hot load not that it matters.