Thread: Keeping it Simple for New Handloaders

Originally Posted by dannyb

You make some valid points, and yeah .1" very likely is variation in shooter rather than load/seating depth variation.
Still fun to play with and good to know that seating depth can make a difference depending on the projectile.
I will play devils advocate for a second.....if I loaded to mag length in my fierce rem mag I would be jamming my projectiles into the lands by a considerable amount so not one rule for all by any means.
Definitely agree that loading to sammi spec you should be able to find an accurate load in most hunting rifles if you stick to bullet weights that will stabalise with your twist rate.
I like to play and I like to understand what I'm doing so don't mind fiddling to see what/if any difference is made and how to interpret what my rifle is doing.
It's not for everyone and yes I do get over complicated but it's only out of interest, I know I can load accurate hunting rounds without all the fuss.

Yea but you're feeding yourself bullshit basically... There's definately a sweet spot where you're gonna see good performance but it's exactly that, a sweet spot, and it's larger than your ability to shoot is able to measure. I challenge you to load up several different seating depths, load 6 of each, and then go and shoot two 3 shot groups with each of them, I guarantee that there will be variation between your two groups of the same seating depth, in some cases this variation will be greater than the variation between loads of different depths. Consistency is the key here. I have a load that can shoot under 1/4 inch, it will be more than enough for all the hunting that I ever want to do, out to further than I will ever shoot an animal, but will it shoot that every single time? Nope. Why? Because there's a big floppy piece of meat and bone with a heartbeat hanging onto the trigger which will make more of a difference in consistency than anything else.