I've read so much contradictory and various methods for breaking in a barrel it's making me nutz. About the only thing that makes sense to me is to just shoot the rifle. Clean it and de-copper it after say every 5- 10 rounds until you've run about 100 rnds down the barrel. (Not, necessarily the same...

First day and getting good groups.

A little more tweaking and you'll be makin' 'em smaller yet.

Good to hear. You should find it will give you consistent loads, now. Runout should be under .002" with that die.

Like me, you won't have to worry about kissing the lands.

Haven't found it necessary, though. Excellent accuracy with a long jump. If you go long, just try to keep enough bullet in the neck to prevent them getting offset when they bounce around in your pocket.

Long throat on my .204 gave me the same problem.



Like Rick said:
Just measure the case base to rod end and then the base to ogive of the bullet and add them together.

Had a problem with my Lee seater, too. Bullet tips were long enough that the die wasn't catching the ogive. Simple fix; drilled the stem hole a little larger and deeper and then chamfered the hole. Works great, now. Seating is consistent.

Life is full of shouda, couda, wouda. :D Not to worry, we all find things that we could have done differently, had we known there were those that have been there before. I started out the same way you did with looking for the tightest group. After I found the OCW method, I started using it and it ma...

Sounds like you're good to go, as long as the tip isn't being contacted. :yeah: Been posting over here: http://www.predatormastersforums.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=2090695#Post2090695 with a guy just getting into reloading and we've been discussing load development. Might want...

That would depend on the bullet shape. Marking it with a sharpie will work. Put it in and give it a twist with your fingers. Sometimes you have to drill it out to a slightly larger diameter. Just remember, though. If you change the seating die after modifying, the measurement won't be the same. Edit...

That should work, Dan.
Don't know if you've done it yet, but I make sure my seating die plug catches the ogive and not the tip of the bullet. I usually end up drilling the tip hole deeper and then polish the radius. I've had some dies that seat the bullet by pressing on the tip. Not good.

Yup, Hornady makes one that attaches to one jaw of a caliper. If you don't have one and still want to experiment with seating depth until you get one, there is a way. It's round-about and tedious, though. Briefly, you load 4 rounds and set one aside and mark it. Shoot the three and record the group....

The only time OAL by base to tip is important is for magazine fit. Always measure from base to ogive for your seating depth when tuning your load. As long as it feeds from the mag, you're good to go.

Good point, Mike. Sorry I over looked that part.

Sounds like the powder mix is considerably different from your original lot. You might give the mfg. a call and ask if that is unusual.

That's about what mine looks like, too, Bill. Can't give you actual measurements beyond 200, though. But 3/4" at 100 puts me dead on at 200 with 40gr Vmax.

Mike -

Another thought...are you shooting at colder temps, now? Makes a big difference with temp sensitive powders like Rl.