Seating the Bullet from Erik

I like Erik, simple common sense explanations, I don't expect to be a PRS or F class shooter, Just an old guy who wants the best possible results from a standard rifle for hunting. and safe practices, that will not get me injured, or cause an issue. there so much information out there because it's not really standardized. I believe Erik is my guy because he just wants us to be able to have positive results.
and it's safe. #1 is Safety has been drilled in my head over the years, I have worked with guys over the years and seen a lot of bad injuries. and it's getting better with automation. with the improvements with CNC controls. most of the time now it's crashed machines. but very few injuries like in the old days. when I worked with old timers on engine lathes that had missing fingers. and press brakes with with guys losing hands. #2 quality best possible quality with the equipment I have to work with. I want to say that the people here have been instrumental in helping me along as a newbie reloader, and want to thank every body. there has been great tips and leads, and I believe I have a long ways to go before I even get close to the experienced level of people here. and thank you too for sharing your precious knowledge. Like I said before it's all about attitude and willing to learn. I have taught many people in the past my trade. The great ones were willing to listen and learn. This has been my philosophy and it has paid dividends on my experience because I am willing to humble my self. and still learn. once again thank you.
 
Glad to see you are researching so much of the reloading craft Lee. There is a lot of info out there.
 
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Good to see you doing a ton of research. I went down the same path. Eric Cortina, Scott Satterlee, Pan handle precision on YouTube, Snipers hide, ultimate reloader, and many others. You need to inform yourself (doing a great job so far) and you will make your own methods. I will say I try to go with the most popular stuff.

There are guys who have vetted out what works best and there's no sense in trying to reinvent the wheel. For instance most guys run h4350 in 6.5cm, Varget for .308, and H1000 for 300wm. There are several options for powders but those are the most popular and I can see others testing and save time and money working up a load.

On the other hand I have seen people get crazy with stuff like primer seating. I have a K&M seater but just use my forster coax to seat primers now. Guys say you get more consistent SDs with better priming methods. I tried a few things and found that if I uniform the primer pockets and debur the flash holes I get low single digit SDs just using the Forster.

Lastly I found you can get great results with a basic setup. Most of the fancy tools just make it faster and easier to get good consistent results. Time is hard to come by so I invested in some of those tools to be faster and more efficient.

We are also lucky to have guys like @Aeon and @NBK here to help with their experience.
 
Good to see you doing a ton of research. I went down the same path. Eric Cortina, Scott Satterlee, Pan handle precision on YouTube, Snipers hide, ultimate reloader, and many others. You need to inform yourself (doing a great job so far) and you will make your own methods. I will say I try to go with the most popular stuff.

There are guys who have vetted out what works best and there's no sense in trying to reinvent the wheel. For instance most guys run h4350 in 6.5cm, Varget for .308, and H1000 for 300wm. There are several options for powders but those are the most popular and I can see others testing and save time and money working up a load.

On the other hand I have seen people get crazy with stuff like primer seating. I have a K&M seater but just use my forster coax to seat primers now. Guys say you get more consistent SDs with better priming methods. I tried a few things and found that if I uniform the primer pockets and debur the flash holes I get low single digit SDs just using the Forster.

Lastly I found you can get great results with a basic setup. Most of the fancy tools just make it faster and easier to get good consistent results. Time is hard to come by so I invested in some of those tools to be faster and more efficient.

We are also lucky to have guys like @Aeon and @NBK here to help with their experience.
Yes thank you Aeon, Josh, and your self Punkur67. and all others too. well said post , and I will keep notes and purchase Varget powder for 308. at this time I will stay with single stage press so I can feel the resistance of sizing, and seating. I used to use a spring tension press with a dial to measure in/lbs and ft/lbs for special projects and are very inexpensive. not necessary but I am a tinkerer.
but I want to keep it simple, I won't be chasing the groups(or nodes as Erik says it), until later on. if I hit the target I will be happy. for now.
 
It's really very simple...if the bullet doesn't touch the lands, the distance from the bullet to the lands is the "jump". Some bullets require SOME jump to be accurate. How much depends on the bullet and you just have to experiment to find out. If the bullet touches the lands, there is zero jump. That COULD cause the pressure to spike when you torch it off. If the bullet is jammed into the lands, that WILL cause the pressure to spike. Pressure spikes CAN cause guns to blow up. Jammed bullets are also bad because a jammed bullet CAN be shoved further into the case when you close the bolt OR pulled out of the case when you open the bolt. The latter dumps the powder into the receiver and you wind up cleaning the rifle before you can shoot it. Some jump is good. Zero jump or a jam is bad. Simple!
 

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