I am preparing to load sierra 150gr sbt's over IMR 7828ssc in a smith&wesson/howa 7mag 24" bbl . I measure 3.267 touching the lands with an oal gage. If I back off .020 or .030 from that, it will be seating the bullet pretty deep. Is that a problem.
I already loaded some of same at 3.29 by mistake. That would put them .020 or so INTO the lands. They shot with no signs of over pressure, and were accurate enough for hunting(1" or less). I'm thinking of loading 3.245 oal. What do you think ?

I'm not nearly as experienced as alot of the guys on here but I'll offer up my .02.

As far as whether your seating depth is a problem, based on what you've said so far, I don't think it's much of a problem. It sounds like more of a question of how the different length leads affect accuracy. Outside of pressure concerns that's about all I know to be worried about as far as safety goes.

I'd say take a group of 25 rounds of each length and do 5, 5 shot groups from a rest at 200 yds and measure each group. Let the gun tell you what lead to give it.

The single most prevalent lesson I keep seeing taught in the precision game is that pretty much everything you hear about what twist or lead is "best" for a particular setup is nothing more than a place to start learning about your particular setup. What load you end up with might be the exact load some 20 time national shooting champion known for his reloading skills said would be the worst performing combination for your gun. It's just that unpredictable and intricate of a science and the best way to get the most out of your rifle is to get to know your rifle because it's the only one that knows what it likes best.

Hope that helps.

Each rifle is a beast unto its self as to what it likes best. With some bullets seating into the rifling is even recomended, ie Berger VLD bullets. Other cartridges and rifles have a lot of freebore to the point you have almost no chance of seating a bullet into the lands, Weatherbys are known for good accuracy and a lot of freebore.

I have no experience with a COL guage, still use either a smoked bullet and dummy load for finding touching the lands or in some cases use a case modified with a cut in the neck reducing neck tension to find that legnth.

Sent ya a PM with calculated pressures and velocities for that bullet in the 7mm Remington Mag, figured that is the 7mag you are refering to.

Questions like this are why we have a ammunition and reloading forum on here.

Agree with ya Varget, kinds supprised this one hasn't been moved to the amunition and reloading forum yet

Sorry I posted in the wrong place. I'm not accustomed to posting in these forums, or any other for that matter. I normally just read, and read, and read until I find some information that is at least simular to what my question is.
I'll just stick to that approach in the future so as not to bother anyone.

Thanks Kmon. I appreciate the help. Maybe I'll take up fishing, or just get me a good rocking chair.

It is just when a post is in the section that it pertains to most, the people that will have a opinion or perhaps the answer you are lookign for might see it. Some posts do get moved around to other sections sometimes. I hope the information I sent you was helpful.

do they have rocking chair forums?

JJH
Yes they do, and I haven't any smart a$$e$ posting there.

gwtx, stick it out man, these guys aren't so bad... these guys give a lil crap here and there but they take it too, and there is a fountain of knowledge here to pull from.

play w/ ur bullet seat depth to see how it affects accuracy and beyond that w/ info given i would not be worried.. i have some guns that i load that i can't even get to the lands bcuz the mag box is too shrt,, others i let the lands and closed bolt set my bullet depth, i back out of'em just enuff to prevent the bullet frm sticking or preventing the bolt frm closing