[Unclenick]

Under Dawg,

The last comment is correct. But sometimes crimping helps accuracy by improving ignition start pressure consistency and by helping keep the bullet from being tipped by bumping up against the loading ramp when you feed from a magazine. You should give it a try, also.

You misunderstood the 0.030" number. It is not 0.030" from the cannelure's match to the case mouth. It is a single-loader's accuracy method that starts by seating the bullet way, way out so that it actually touches what Hatcher called the bullet seat, which is the conical taper in the throat of the bore where the rifling begins. Then they seat the bullet 0.30" deeper into the case than it takes to touch the seat. That is why the measurement is referred to as the distance "off the lands", meaning the cartridge length is that much shorter than allows the bullet to touch down on the lands in the barrel. Also, as I explained, 0.030" is just a general purpose number. Lots of shooters claim their guns prefer 0.020" or 0.025" off the lands, and occasionally as little or as much as 0.010" or 0.050", and anything in between. It is individual to the gun. But that is all for benchrest shooting, be it paper punching or small varmint shooting, and for bragging group accuracy. It is utterly unnecessary for hunting deer or other medium to large game where you have a killing zone the size of a small plate.

In your shoes I would do exactly what Slamfire1 did. Seat to the cannelure and work your load up to best accuracy at that seating depth. Try crimping to see if improves either accuracy or consistency of velocity (note that you may need to adjust the load down slight for best accuracy with a crimp)? If none of that produces satisfactory results, try moving the bullet in and out in 0.020" increments until you find a better accuracy spot, then tweak the load again. But I seriously doubt you won't find satisfactory accuracy for deer hunting with the bullet at the cannelure.

One last point about accuracy: some gun and load combinations seem to be more immune to the shooter's position behind the gun than others. Any load you work up on the bench you should also try from your different possible hunting positions. This is not to see if the group size changes (it will be smaller in some positions than in others), but to see if the center of the groups, the point of impact (POI), shifts? If is does, you can try a load with a different bullet or powder, or you can simply record the difference so you know to compensate for it in the field.