Smoking the bullet for seating depth.
- Thread starter kdog70
- Start date
Light a match, and hold it under the bullet to give it a smokey look on the surface. The idea is simply to make any mark on the bullet (caused by the rifling touching the bullet if it's not seated deep enough) easier to see.
Take a bullet, minus the case, and drop it nose first into your chamber. With the bullet resting in the end of the chamber (against the lands), stick a ramrod into the barrel far enough to touch the bullet. Mark the ramrod at the end of the barrel. Then pop the bullet loose with the ramrod, and remove it from the chamber.
Now close the bolt with the chamber empty, and re-insert the ramrod into the barrel so that the end is touching the bolt face. Mark the ramrod at the end of the barrel again.
Now use a caliper to measure the distance between the two marks on the ramrod, and that should be your max length.
Assemble a dummy round (no powder or primer) and then "smoke" the bullet. Chamber the cartridge, remove, and then check the bullet to see if there are any marks on it. If there are, seat it just a tiny bit deeper, smoke the bullet again, and rechamber it. Repeat until no marks appear, and then use your dummy round to adjust your dies for the max length.
Save the dummy round for future reference, and it helps to put it in a ziplock bag and mark the bag on what it is and what bullet it holds.
FWIW,
Daryl
Take a bullet, minus the case, and drop it nose first into your chamber. With the bullet resting in the end of the chamber (against the lands), stick a ramrod into the barrel far enough to touch the bullet. Mark the ramrod at the end of the barrel. Then pop the bullet loose with the ramrod, and remove it from the chamber.
Now close the bolt with the chamber empty, and re-insert the ramrod into the barrel so that the end is touching the bolt face. Mark the ramrod at the end of the barrel again.
Now use a caliper to measure the distance between the two marks on the ramrod, and that should be your max length.
Assemble a dummy round (no powder or primer) and then "smoke" the bullet. Chamber the cartridge, remove, and then check the bullet to see if there are any marks on it. If there are, seat it just a tiny bit deeper, smoke the bullet again, and rechamber it. Repeat until no marks appear, and then use your dummy round to adjust your dies for the max length.
Save the dummy round for future reference, and it helps to put it in a ziplock bag and mark the bag on what it is and what bullet it holds.
FWIW,
Daryl
ruger243223
New member
+1 to the sharpie, not really to hip on using a match to smoke my bullets with 75lbs of powder around. You can never be too careful. HAPPY HUNTING
Originally Posted By: ruger243223+1 to the sharpie, not really to hip on using a match to smoke my bullets with 75lbs of powder around. You can never be too careful. HAPPY HUNTING
It sucks to have that much ammo in the only room in the house.
If you had another room, you could go there to do it.
I usually go outside to smoke 'em though, and even at that, it's been a while.
But that's what the OP asked.
Daryl
It sucks to have that much ammo in the only room in the house.
I usually go outside to smoke 'em though, and even at that, it's been a while.
But that's what the OP asked.
Daryl
Sidewinder
New member
I get a re-sized case and use a dremel tool to make a fine cut down the throat of the case to the shoulder. I then use a round file to take all the sharp edges off so that it does not scratch anything. You want to be able to have the case hold the bullet snugly. Pull the bullet out of the case further than it will be seated. Put the case into the action and close the bolt. The bullet will be pushed into the case by the lands. I do this 3 or 4 times to make sure that the over all length is consistent. I will seat the bullet in about 2 thousands of an inch more and make a dummy round. This would be an empty case with no primer with the bullet seated in place. I write what bullet it is with a sharpie on the case. This is my starting length for THAT bullet. It only costs me 1 case for each caliber.
Martyn4802
New member
I just seat a bullet long in an empty case, and put it in the chamber and close the bolt. The bolt closing will push the bullet into the case when it closes completely. Open the bolt, take out the case with the bullet seated, and measure the OAL. The lands in the bore will do the bullet seating, and the OAL you measure will be to the lands. I uses .010 off the lands for load developing, so I just subtract .010 from the OAL measured, and go from there. No smoking of the bullet, or using a Sharpie as the lands push the bullet into the case.
I've used all the methods mentioned and than some. By far the easiest and fastest is the Hornady OAL guage. For my benchrest gun I use a version of the "smoke bullet" without the smoke. First I seat a bullet into a full length sized dummy case so it's way long. Than I use fine steel wool to polish the jacket. Actually I'm putting very fine scratches in the bullet jacket. Than I chamber the round and close the bolt. remove the round, hopefully with the bullet still in place, (if not use a wood dowel to shove the bullet out and start again by seating the bullet deeper) than inspect with a magnifying glass and the rifleing marks will be very visible. Increase your seating depth, re-polish with steel wool and do it again until the rifleing marks just go away, reduce by .0010 and that's your starting Max O.A.L. Like I said, basically the same as the smoke method without the hassle. By the way, I got a cheap set of manifying visors at Harbor Freight for under 10 bucks. They work great, handy to have on the reloading bench too.
kyotekiller25
Well-known member
Martyn- thats what I do as well.
However, there is times when the bullet will get stuck in the barrel, and you have to get a cleaning rod to tap it out. However, you can still see the seating depth mark (shaved bullet) so just stick the bullet back in the case untill you get to that mark and thats where the lands are. I usually subtract .010" as well, and this is usully the max length I will go with that bullet. If they dont shoot good there, you know it can only go 1 way and that is deeper.
No dummy rounds, no sharpies, no smoke, just write the bullet and length down on a piece of paper. Why have 10 different dummy rounds laying around??? Waste of components if you ask me. I just hate to have off numbers of stuff like 98 bullets and 47 cases, pretty anal about that stuff, lol...
However, there is times when the bullet will get stuck in the barrel, and you have to get a cleaning rod to tap it out. However, you can still see the seating depth mark (shaved bullet) so just stick the bullet back in the case untill you get to that mark and thats where the lands are. I usually subtract .010" as well, and this is usully the max length I will go with that bullet. If they dont shoot good there, you know it can only go 1 way and that is deeper.
No dummy rounds, no sharpies, no smoke, just write the bullet and length down on a piece of paper. Why have 10 different dummy rounds laying around??? Waste of components if you ask me. I just hate to have off numbers of stuff like 98 bullets and 47 cases, pretty anal about that stuff, lol...
odawgp
New member
I do this with every rifle, it is also published in all the nosler reloading manual's
1. take a fired case moosh the side of the neck slightly against the bench flat so that it will hold a bullet
2. sharpie a bullet and insert into case (you might have to use a seater die to start the bullet)
3. cycle the case into battery
4. eject case, the bullet might get stuck in the barrel
4a. just use ramrod to knock it out
5.insert bullet back into case seat bullet to the point in which the sharpie was scratched off measure and make note as to the Over all length and bullet used
6. Repeat steps 2-4a put the bullet back in the box and re-size the brass that way no components are wasted
there is another step that is published in the nosler manuals that suggests the bullet be backed out of the chamber some thousandths and or to maintain fit and function in the magazine.
My 300 win mag has a very generous throat and it is not possible to get the bullets seated to be off the lands a few thousandths and still fit in the mag well.
In this case I seat them to be a few thousandths short of not fitting the mag and go with it.
1. take a fired case moosh the side of the neck slightly against the bench flat so that it will hold a bullet
2. sharpie a bullet and insert into case (you might have to use a seater die to start the bullet)
3. cycle the case into battery
4. eject case, the bullet might get stuck in the barrel
4a. just use ramrod to knock it out
5.insert bullet back into case seat bullet to the point in which the sharpie was scratched off measure and make note as to the Over all length and bullet used
6. Repeat steps 2-4a put the bullet back in the box and re-size the brass that way no components are wasted
there is another step that is published in the nosler manuals that suggests the bullet be backed out of the chamber some thousandths and or to maintain fit and function in the magazine.
My 300 win mag has a very generous throat and it is not possible to get the bullets seated to be off the lands a few thousandths and still fit in the mag well.
In this case I seat them to be a few thousandths short of not fitting the mag and go with it.