mag length

[dully1963]

Can anybody tell me what is the least amount of bullet you can safely have in the case as I am trying to get a light 308 bullet closer to the lands or at least to mag length

cheers

[That bald headed Geordie]

Go for about half a bullet calibre (0.150)  as a minimum to enable the bullet to be held depending on your neck tension.    If you are using a magazine and feeding them in fast then I would make sure you have the bullet in the case a little more and make sure that you have a tighter fit in the neck.    If however you are chambering one round at a time then you can get away with less neck tension (mine is 0.003 neck tension).

 

[dully1963]

44 minutes ago, That bald headed Geordie said:

Go for about half a bullet calibre (0.150)  as a minimum to enable the bullet to be held depending on your neck tension.    If you are using a magazine and feeding them in fast then I would make sure you have the bullet in the case a little more and make sure that you have a tighter fit in the neck.    If however you are chambering one round at a time then you can get away with less neck tension (mine is 0.003 neck tension).

 

Cheers

[chaz]

I was told a long while back to seat any bullet at least as deep into the mouth as the diameter of the bullet your seating. Not sure if that's a good statement, but it's worked for me in hunting rounds, and i still shot good groups.

[Andrew]

13 hours ago, dully1963 said:

Can anybody tell me what is the least amount of bullet you can safely have in the case as I am trying to get a light 308 bullet closer to the lands or at least to mag length

cheers

I would seat it deep and forget about the lands. I mean, you spent the money on the dies, right? Might as well use the alignment they can/will hopefully afford. To seat them shallow you could just squeeze the neck mouth with a pair of pliers. I shoot Nosler 125's in my Steyr Scout and they are the most accurate bullet I have in that rifle -seated to Nosler's recommended OAL. Which is nowhere near the lands I'm certain.~Andrew

[palo]

With light for calibre bullets I just seat them to the recommended length and work up an accurate load by adjusting the powder charge. The bullet is never going to be close to the lands no matter how far you seat it out.  Some of my most accurate loads have been way off the lands. 

[Malxwal]

Been running Nosler 125BT for a while in my 308, and seated them according to Nosler load data at 2.750" which doesn't have full .308 diameter in the neck. Groups with 49.9gr of RS52 is 1/2MOA at 100yds. No chance of getting near the lands in my rifle with that weight of bullet.

[dully1963]

11 hours ago, Andrew said:

I would seat it deep and forget about the lands. I mean, you spent the money on the dies, right? Might as well use the alignment they can/will hopefully afford. To seat them shallow you could just squeeze the neck mouth with a pair of pliers. I shoot Nosler 125's in my Steyr Scout and they are the most accurate bullet I have in that rifle -seated to Nosler's recommended OAL. Which is nowhere near the lands I'm certain.~Andrew

 

Hi Andrew

thanks for the reply to my question regarding mag length , you made a very good point . I never really thought of it that way .

but as I am trying the self same bullets ( Nosler 125grn BT ) I was wondering what load you are using and are you pushing them hard as I'm struggling to get a reasonable group .

best regards

Andy (dully1963)

ps tried to PM you but your inbox must be full

[Andrew]

Hi Andy,

I"ll need to get my notes out this evening but I believe I'm using a stout charge of (sorry) Varget. I FL size my cases, trim to uniform length, seat deep and crimp the result. I get half MOA using a "Scout" scope.~Andrew