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Old March 10, 2009, 03:13 AM   #1
butta9999
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Seating .222

I am going to do some reloading for my .222 soon, its an old rem 788 that has had about 3000 rounds fired from it. I have reloaded heaps of rounds for it with pretty good success. Best groups about .7 MOA at 100 yds.

I have found my pet load likes the bullet seated fairly deep into the case.

If i were to experiment on seating depth what intervals should i work too. Would intervals of 5 thou be ok or should it be 2-3 thou.

I was thinking of starting from touching the lands and working back to factory seating depth.

These loads are going to be different from my pet load, and i know i can go back to my pet loads for reasonable accuracy. Ill be using different powders, bullets etc.
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Old March 10, 2009, 12:20 PM   #2
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There are a couple loads my older M700 prefers; both use Speer bullets. I use a factory RP 50 grain load to set the seating die; the COAL of the factory load is 2.130" and that's what the 50 grain spitzer load measures. My 700 has a short magazine well, and cartridges have to be around the length of the factory round to feed through the magazine. If I had the money to order a mag follower for 17 Rem or 222 Mag from Numrich, I'd be able to seat the bullets out farther.
1) WW brass, match prepped, Speer 50 grain spitzer, 21.0 of RL7, RP 7 1/2 primer for 3275 fps.
2) Same brass, Speer 52 grain original HP, 24.0 of BLC2, CCI 400 primer for 3150 fps.
These loads will shoot into 1 hole if the wind isn't blowing and I'm having a good day; Old Noir simply doesn't play well with either bullet. Bang, puff of feathers, black residue on the ground, smiley face.
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Old March 11, 2009, 12:45 AM   #3
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Cheers crow..
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Old March 12, 2009, 02:02 AM   #4
butta9999
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I suppose the question i am asking is what increments from touching the lands should i use for seating the bullet.

How far should i back the seating die off every batch. Ill be loading ten rounds for each seating depth.
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Old March 12, 2009, 11:41 AM   #5
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Quote:
I suppose the question i am asking is what increments from touching the lands should i use for seating the bullet.
butta- That all depends on how much time you want to spend loading trial loads. Try 5 groups of 5 cartridges .005" increments (.1 mm), and find out if it makes a difference in your rifle. If it makes a huge difference, you can load 10 groups at .002" (.05 mm) difference and see if you can find the sweet spot, but in general, reloading equipment is not repeatable enough to hold it that tight consistently. I generally avoid seating bullets against the lands as it drives pressure way up, but .010"-.020" off the lands is usually far enough to avoid spikes.
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Old March 12, 2009, 12:15 PM   #6
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"If i were to experiment on seating depth what intervals should i work too. Would intervals of 5 thou be ok or should it be 2-3 thou."

NONE of the factory rifles I've loaded for shot best with bullets into the lands. In fact, none shot their best closer than .030", a few do their best as far out as .1"

None have shown any difference with seating varitions smaller than .005". Few ever notice differences smaller than .010". I just find the range that the rifle shoots well and load in the middle of it.

I use .005" steps but .010" would likely do as well.
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Old March 12, 2009, 11:55 PM   #7
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Yeah i dont kiss the lands as such, mainly because of pressure spikes.

Thanks for the info boys ill try 5 thou first. i know its hard to get back to the exact measurement after re-setting the dies. Not all bullets are uniform too.
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Old March 13, 2009, 01:05 AM   #8
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0.010" seems to be adequate to spot a trend (groups shrinking). Once you have a good spot, or at least the best spot at that increment go four divisions either side of it in .002" increments, since the micrometer head on the competeition seater dies makes that easy to do.

By the way, there seem to be quite a number of guns that prefer some freebore, so don't just go past the .030" off land point a little and think you've found it all. You'll at least want to check where the bullet is about one caliber into the case neck.

You should use one of those seaters, by the way, to avoid runout and better see the real world result. I use the Redding competition seater die, but have heard the Forster works well, too.

By the way. I always found the flat base Sierra 53 grain MatchKing and other square based bullets and not the boarttails did best in .222 Rem. So did IMR 4198.
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Old March 15, 2009, 11:11 PM   #9
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i used to use imr 4198 but i ran out. Very hard to get dupont powders now. I find Win748 works good. Ill try some flat base bullets, as i have always used boat tail.
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Old March 16, 2009, 01:52 AM   #10
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DuPont sold off the powder business awhile back. The IMR brand is now made in Canada, but distributed by Hodgdon in the US. Hodgdon H4198 is not identical, but close enough to be in the ballpark. Many people consider it superior due to the temperature insensitivity. Just knock your loads down 10% and work back up with it.
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Old March 17, 2009, 01:53 AM   #11
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Mate if i can get onto a tin here i will, thanks for that.
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Old March 18, 2009, 08:37 PM   #12
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Butta; AR 2207 is H4198. AR2219 is H322- good stuff. BM2 is Benchmark. AR 2206H is H4895. Those will be dandy powders for down under in the .222. CB.
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Old March 18, 2009, 11:33 PM   #13
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I know they have the same burning rates but sometimes that aint good enough 2207 is crap in my gun but 4198 works really well.
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