Bullet Seating Depth

[FireBallGuy]

I am reading more and more often in this forum that everyone is seating bullets WAY out for the 204 ruger. Just bought a remington VSF recently and finally had a chance to run some handloads through it. Talked my sisters neighbor who shoots a 204 and he told me with the nosler ballistic tips this appears to be MANDATORY, so I used BL-C2 and the 32 grainers AOL@ 2.315" and low and behold....the second five shot group out the gun turns up a nice .500" group!! The question comes to mind is this the order of the day with all bullets for this caliber? Ended up putting 300 rounds through the gun yesterday and got some good data. Benchmark is very consistant, BL-C2 is good but appears to gum up the barrel too fast and H4895 turned up little of good use. Would it be worth my while now armed with good powder charge info to seriously start messing with seating depth to see if the groups they will shrink? Have read other places that the sierra BK's are not fond of being seated way out there....they like to jump a little. Any thoughts out there would be greatly appreciated.

[surfclod]

I know what you mean about reading a lot of accounts of guys who have very little of the bullet in the neck of the case. And then there are just as many who are having great results with a seating depth close to factory loads. It just seems that each rifle has a distinct preference that only experimentation can discover.

Previously I have loaded all my ammo to the recommended 2.26" so that there would be no feeding problems. However I recently installed a Score High Single Shot Follower and will not be using the magazine so varying the seating depths is going to be my next step in load development for the 39 Grain SBK.

I know a lot of BR shooters like to load their bullets so that when chambered it is just touching, or in some cases jammed right into the lands. From what I have read the 204 has to much freebore for it to be possible to seat bullets into the lands on factory chambered barrels. I am using a Shilen barrel now but I just got it chambered with their standard reamer for the 204 Ruger so I doubt I will have the option of seating to the lands. (When shooting a bullet seated like this you can run into pressure spikes so it would be a concern if your chamber allowed you to do that but not likely to happen with a factory chambered 204.)

The next time I go to the range I plan to experiment with seating depth in large increments (factory length, as far out as practical, and maybe a couple in between)and then fine tune it with later testing. I will let you know how my results go.


Here is a post that discusses seating depth....
http://www.204ruger.com/forum/viewtopic ... 42b#p48479
.... that makes for informative reading but I think every gun needs to have seating depth experimented with on it own.

[Rick in Oregon]

surfclod: Your experience with seating depths mirror my own. One 204 rifle I have with a custom chamber allows seating to the lands, and it turns in amazing accuracy, but pressue must always be considered as mentioned.

In my Sako 75 Varmint in 204 with a factory chamber, I seat my 39 SBK's as far out as possible in the case, have only about .100" in the case (I know, one full caliber and all that....) and it turns in field groups in the .2's and .3's easily.....like you said, all rifles have a preference, but many 204's don't mind the jump. The only way to find the sweet spot is shoot single shot and find it. The spot most likely will be too long to fit the magazine, but will shoot bugholes. All ammo for my Sako goes from the plastic box into the rifle, then back into the box, so rough handling is not an issue with this rifle and ammo.

I have a Kimber 84M in 204 that I only shoot from the magazine as a walkabout rifle, so load to factory OAL spec. That rifle shoots my handloads into 3/8" clusters, so who's to argue with 2.260" OAL spec in that example? Not me.

Moral to the story: All rifles are a rule unto themselves. The only way to find the "sweet spot" in any rifle in regard to seating depth, is to experiment and find it yourself. These days in this economy with components costing three times what they did five years ago, finding it can be expensive......

[Jim White]

From what I have read the 204 has to much freebore for it to be possible to seat bullets into the lands on factory chambered barrels.

The throats in mine are soooo long, when I was doing comparitor checks (39 SBK & 40 VMAX) the bullet would barely stay in the case.

[FireBallGuy]

Interesting I have assembled a bunch of loads with different bullets and powdwer charges I know are good for this weekend. My gun would appear to like the bullets "Out There" so I will see what happens and report my findings. My new remy will only allow me to go out to about 2.350" or so and I am almost there now.

[FireBallGuy]

I have burned up close to 200 rounds of factory ammo and accuracy is indeed CRAPPY!!! On the reload program things have improved greatly. But as ever I feel the gun has more to offer. Will keep you posted.

[okbob51]

In my Cooper 204 I seat the 32 SBK and 32 V-Max to 3.323 OAL. They always shoot under .5 and often shoot into .250-.400.