How to: Fine Tune Seating Depth 

He’s also using insanely expensive equipment and his reloading skills are fine tuned. He also knows this rifle really well

Keep at it you will get thete

Uh yeah..I drooled with those shots. Same thoughts lol.

Ik some dumbasses who enjoy it too! It takes all kinds

I’d like to know as well!

SEB Mini-X

I like the Bix N Andy triggers. Safeties are not required in the F-class rules. I think that's because NOBODY that shoots very much at all believes a safety is actually a safe way to handle a loaded rifle. I personally would NEVER move a loaded F-Class rifle with or without a safety. They only get moved or handled (except when actually firing) with the bolt open and a chamber flag installed.

I use Wilson dies. Nothing is perfect, but they work for me.

Thus far on the channel you've seen me shoot barrels from the following makers: Bartlein Benchmark Brux Krieger All are good barrels, I don't discriminate - I use what is available when I need a barrel.

30", 1.25" straight

Already replied by the gentleman. Generally referred to as a front rest. It is a staple of F-class competition in F-Open class. That one is made by Sebastian Lambang. The model is the SEB Mini-X. Hope this helps.

Let me see if I can whip something up. I need to do a video on that.

@@winninginthewind Thanks, and sorry for the typos. Meant to say if you measure wrong to start…

I've tested 3 methods of determining my length of contacting the lands 1) OAL gauge 2) Dummy round with closed bolt 3) Bullet drop into chamber From my fiindings, I find that the dummy round and OAL gauge both give me the same result (given a 0,001" variance between the two). The bullet drop into chamber gives me about a 0.002" longer measurment as the bullet is left to drop with gravity into the lands rather than pushing the ogive against the lands with the OAL gauge and the bolt close method. My humble opinion is that contact with the lands is the max distance a bullet could be safely seated out without signs of excessive pressure, taking into account you worked up a safe powder load at that seating depth. Anything away from the lands from that point is of no concern unless you develop pressure signs as you seat the bullet deeper into the case. For what it's worth, I take the measurement making contact with the lands (or max magazine length should I choose to shoot follow up shots rather than single shots) and work my way down in 0.006" increments with 2 shot groups until I find 2 bullet holes next to- or cutting each other. Then I would seat 2 bullets 0.003" out and 2 bullets 0.003" in to see if I there is a seating node from that group. Seating nodes usually show within 0.006" increments. If components are of no concern, then you can do 0.003" increments, but if you are like me who tries to be frugal and still achieve good results, 0.006" will get you the same results, just faster with less components spent. Well, in my experience I should say😅

Uh i

A few people have asked! No reply!

ok, so does changing seating depth cause a change in pressure? what in this process causes changes in accuracy with all other factors being the same?

@@RangerCaptain11A Bullet jump and the barrel, they're all individuals. Not to mention, pressure, humidity, temp., all have an affect

Yes, you can...VERY GOOD question. I have found that once I find a primer that works well and is consistent....I keep the primer then. Experiment by adjusting the powder charge in 2/10 to 3/10 increments. BUT, you can also work backward in seating depth and seat the bullet deeper to adjust seating depth if limited by Mag Length Most likely you wont have to adjust more than .040" deep from Mag Length to see difference or improvement. For instance .308 mag length being 2.800" it may shoot better at 2.790"

Just go max COAL and work down .003” down from there until you find a node

Way above my pay grade but very interesting. Thanks for the effort

Correct, I am running much, much longer than SAAMI COAL for the 284 Win. I would not be able to even get the bullets into the case that far if I tried. The 180 hybrid is designed to stick out the front of the case too far for that. Competition 284 chambers are very different from the SAAMI chamber, giving us the ability to run so long. The downside is that a magazine-fed rifle would have to have a long action.

LOL

Generally referred to as a front rest. It is a staple of F-class competition in F-Open class. That one is made by Sebastian Lambang. The model is the SEB Mini-X. Hope this helps.

While there are many people that will try to authoritatively tell you why something is, they fall short in the evidence department. I can only offer conjecture and repeat what other have said. Instead, I choose to not guess, and instead only attempt to understand if what we are seeing is real or just the consequence of random chance.

@@winninginthewindyes, I appreciate that. I guess at the root of my question is how much influence does the case volume have cf the seating depth. My brain tells me something is there, but I lack the depth to understand it. As with many internal ballistics questions…. We may not have an answer. Thanks again for the response. Maybe an idea for a video would be your history and development of how and where you started to where you are today. I know you’ve touched on parts of it, but I for one would love to hear your shooting history and how you developed. Again, thank you!

Not sure if that makes sense but what I mean is I always did development well tried to always and only did it on flat calm etc but mid temp days. Found both ends. And then if I went to a shoot and it was a bit colder I’d start with longest stuff first at sight in. And had maybe another .009 further sets to go in that direction based on the state temp etc. covering expectation of change in fps and getting out of the node I mean. Do you have outside of node stuff ready for faster slower conditions?

Yes, I keep "Plan B" with me, so to speak.

Nice

I do powder first.

That's the way I do it.

These are shot with H4350 and I'm using a JLK inertial trigger.

@@winninginthewind ok thanks you

This was done at 100 yards - to eliminate as much environmental effect as possible

@@winninginthewind alright thank you very much. i am preparing for hunting and i my normal mode of operation is to shoot target at 50(sight in), 100 then at 200+. i normally use normal sized sheet of paper as target. i am researching this and i find most target shooter use extremely small target, but at closer range. maybe i should start doing that also.

Not knowing the bloke personally, I would assume the day before using a Redding micrometer seating die and micrometer to confirm the adjustment he started at 15 thou from the lands then progressively increased the jump 3 thou then labeled 3 rounds separating each group in the ammunition box for the next day, not trying to be rude why reload in the field when you can do it at home with everything at hand and in comfort

@@infidel202 You could be correct. It just seems to me that after shooting the first rifle without a cardboard backing he started over. So, did he come with more bullets seated .020 off the lands then he intended to shot. If so, did he do it for all three rifles? Not likely. He stopped on one rifle testing after 2 shots because "it wasn't going to get better" . So did he go home and pull the bullets on all the cartridges for all three rifles that he didn't end up shooting? I'm guessing he loaded a batch of bullet to max length all with the same powder charge. Then brought an arbor press to the range and seated 3 bullets to whichever length he wanted to test next. Three different barrels with 3 different length chambers. And, not knowing where he's going to stop. It just seems simpler to seat them at the range.

@@BLR81708 hey Tom,a few months ago I brought a 22.250 and a .17 hornet not knowing where the lands were I brought a packet of each factory rounds ,while zeroing both scopes at 100yds and firing 6 shots in each through a cheap chronograph to get a velocity to work with for loading and a zero, I then reloaded the cases and seated the pills out 5 thou and 10thou at the same time starting a grain lower than the adi powder reloading data stated ,I used the chronograph and increasing the propellant by half a grain until I gained the same velocity as the factory rounds while shooting for groups l found the 22.250 almost in the same hole 60 fps slower than factory and just into the lands worked the best, .17 hornet was 5 thou off the lands and 150fps faster than factory with a quarter inch group.I ended up 25 thou out for 22.250 and 12 thou on the .17 You can feel when you close the bolt if the pill is in the lands, another way is drop a pill in the barrel lightly push it from the back just enough to make contact with the lands, measure from the crown of the barrel with a cleaning rod to the tip of the pill mark the rod remove the pill close the bolt put the rod back in until it contacts the bolt face mark the Rod and measure the distance between the marks, now you have a very close idea of overall length to the lands, load three rounds at the length and three either side of it 3thou in and out, which ever is more accurate adjust another 3thou until you find the sweet spot, I reload at home away from wind and contamination from dust and use a micrometer to double check the die and write down velocity, load, length from the ojive to the head of the case and accuracy what propellant, primer and projectile and weight. Hope that helps and I don't sound like a know it all as I'm still learning, the more I learn the more I realize I'm only just beginning to learn

@@BLR81708 Oh and if I could shoot as well as this bloke I'd be as happy as a pig in shit 😊

Not always. In my 284, I remain at the same seating depth for the entire life of the barrel in most cases.

Welcome aboard!