243 bullet seating depths

midnightrider · July 7, 2010, 01:27 AM

hi

I have learned how to seat the bullets .01 off the rifling for my 30-06. I do this by marking the front of the bullet with a permanent marker and chamber the dummy cartridge and seat the bullet in small increments until the I cant see any rifling marks on the permanent marker, then seat the bullet another .01 inch. and usually get very small groups at 100 yds.

Is there any other easier way to do this? I have to say it is a pain doing it this way.

also I just started reloading for a Rem. 700 .243 win. that was given to me by a family member. How far off the rifling should I be seating my bullets?

I loaded some 100 gr Speer sp bt with a max charge of RL-22 and seated them down to Lymans recommended overall cartridge lenght. they didn't shoot good. So I got home from the range and took the walnut stock off and started floating the barrel. It was alot of work cuase it has nice piece of Eboney up front and the stock was warped. but I got it done. while im at it im going to glass bed the front recoil lug.

mkl · July 7, 2010, 03:22 PM

As long as you are glass bedding, you may as well bed the back of the action also. Just around the screw and at the top of the back tang of the action.

Should you "weld" in your bedding screws and are not using stock makers bedding screws, try a soldering iron on the screw until it gets over 300-degrees-F or so. That will break the epoxy down enough so you can remove the screw without huge torque.

For a .243, start by seating the bullets so they will fit into the magazine with just a 'tad of room in between the bullet point and the magazine well. If that distance impacts the leades, seat just a little deeper. There is no "magic" distance from the leads (lands) that exists; each gun is on its own as to what it likes, but that is the very final variable to play with. Bullet type and powder charge will make the most difference by at least one order of magnitude.

Be sure to try the slower powders that are not the first choice of the reloading books. IMR 4831 and IMR 4350 come to mind; similar are fine.

You may be surprised at the accuracy when the base of the bullet you choose to load just sets on top of the powder charge or just very slightly compresses the charge. 47.5 grains of IMR 4831 behind a 75 grain Sierra HP comes to mind; shoots a 1/2-inch group at 100 yards in my Model 70.

July 7, 2010, 01:27 AM	#1
midnightrider Senior Member Join Date: July 4, 2010 Posts: 134	243 bullet seating depths hi I have learned how to seat the bullets .01 off the rifling for my 30-06. I do this by marking the front of the bullet with a permanent marker and chamber the dummy cartridge and seat the bullet in small increments until the I cant see any rifling marks on the permanent marker, then seat the bullet another .01 inch. and usually get very small groups at 100 yds. Is there any other easier way to do this? I have to say it is a pain doing it this way. also I just started reloading for a Rem. 700 .243 win. that was given to me by a family member. How far off the rifling should I be seating my bullets? I loaded some 100 gr Speer sp bt with a max charge of RL-22 and seated them down to Lymans recommended overall cartridge lenght. they didn't shoot good. So I got home from the range and took the walnut stock off and started floating the barrel. It was alot of work cuase it has nice piece of Eboney up front and the stock was warped. but I got it done. while im at it im going to glass bed the front recoil lug.

July 7, 2010, 03:22 PM	#2
mkl Senior Member Join Date: April 25, 2008 Location: DFW area, Texas Posts: 494	As long as you are glass bedding, you may as well bed the back of the action also. Just around the screw and at the top of the back tang of the action. Should you "weld" in your bedding screws and are not using stock makers bedding screws, try a soldering iron on the screw until it gets over 300-degrees-F or so. That will break the epoxy down enough so you can remove the screw without huge torque. For a .243, start by seating the bullets so they will fit into the magazine with just a 'tad of room in between the bullet point and the magazine well. If that distance impacts the leades, seat just a little deeper. There is no "magic" distance from the leads (lands) that exists; each gun is on its own as to what it likes, but that is the very final variable to play with. Bullet type and powder charge will make the most difference by at least one order of magnitude. Be sure to try the slower powders that are not the first choice of the reloading books. IMR 4831 and IMR 4350 come to mind; similar are fine. You may be surprised at the accuracy when the base of the bullet you choose to load just sets on top of the powder charge or just very slightly compresses the charge. 47.5 grains of IMR 4831 behind a 75 grain Sierra HP comes to mind; shoots a 1/2-inch group at 100 yards in my Model 70.