Questions about bullet seating depth

[tomon]

I have acquired some quantities of two boolits, and the length/design of them precludes their heel staying inline with the shoulder/neck junction and chambering. The bullets are (1) NOE 311365, and (2) Eagan MX4-30ARD. I load for a Rock Island 03, a Remington 700 Varminter in .308, and a Winchester 54 in 30WCF. I can load the Eagan in the 30-06 OK, but not the other two rifles. The NOE not at all in any of the rifles. In the 311365, on a drawing found here on site, the diameter just in front of the first grease groove is stated as .302. Mine mikes out at .307. My loading technique is to neck size without the decapping/sizing shaft, and then use the Lyman M die to bell the case mouth just enough to start the heel in without shaving the bullet or crushing the neck of the brass. I am using IMR4895 currently, but have other powders.

Now to my question! Can I.... (1) safely, and (2) accurately, load these with the back of the bullet hanging in midair in the body of the case? In some cases, the lead portion ahead of the Gas Check would be "out there" also. I don't intend to hunt with these loads, so I don't have to break any speed records getting it through the TQ-4 targets I will be launching them at. Thanks in advance for addressing my concerns!

[upnorthwis]

1. I've never heard of any safety problem with having the heel of boolit in the case. I do it in several guns.
2. Accuracy depends on what you want it to do. The TQ-4 is shot standing in the CBA, and you can get away with 2 moa.
That said, the first thing I would do is not only use the expander shaft (most likely sized for J-words) but expand even farther to keep from swaging a lead boolit too small and causing the worst leading you will ever see. But a .307 nose is a major problem that can be solved with a sizing die, but you bought these boolits to work right out of the box and they won't with that nose size.

[Boolit_Head]

Omitting the other loading issues. Rightly or wrongly some folks think there is a issue with a gas check hanging unsupported in the case. Somehow they see that it could come off and cause a obstruction.

[tomon]

1. I've never heard of any safety problem with having the heel of boolit in the case. I do it in several guns.
2. Accuracy depends on what you want it to do. The TQ-4 is shot standing in the CBA, and you can get away with 2 moa.
That said, the first thing I would do is not only use the expander shaft (most likely sized for J-words) but expand even farther to keep from swaging a lead boolit too small and causing the worst leading you will ever see. But a .307 nose is a major problem that can be solved with a sizing die, but you bought these boolits to work right out of the box and they won't with that nose size.

I thought I answered your post yesterday, but apparently didn't hit the post button! Knock on wood, I haven't had a leading problem yet. I will reinstall the shaft in the die, and measure all the different expander balls I have in .30 cal. Optimal would be .001 under bullet size, maybe? We shoot the TQ4 at 100yd shooting Rinfire Benchrest and Cast Bullet with Iron sights.

[tomon]

Wow.........I measured at least 10 different expander balls in my .30 cal dies, including RCBS, Lyman, Redding, Bonanza, and Lee, and they are all between .3055 and .3065! I thought .307 would be what they were, but I was dead wrong. A couple of them were never used, so they were not worn at all yet.