.243 seating depth

[Mjdd23]

I have a .243 bolt action rifle which I am trying to work up a load with. The 95 grain rcbs boolit sits in the top lube groove and is just contacting the lands. Is this just the way it is with this boolit? I could seat it deeper and cover the top lube groove but the jump would be large. I couldn't find a seating depth for reference. I've not loaded cast for this rifle before this. 2 coats of 45/45/10 for lube.

[Bohica793]

That is the way this boolit is. I actually seat mine to jump about .010 rather than against the lands. Best accuracy depends on the specific rifle, the size and quality of the boolit, the quality of the lube, the proper powder load and, of course, your skill as a shooter. Nothing to it!

[Mjdd23]

Thanks that's what I figured. I am going to try a few .010 off the lands also. So many variables involved in an accurate load for sure. I'm going to start out with the powders I have on hand,Imr-4227 and Unique. Start out low and take it from there.
It's an hour to the range and the weather has not been good when I can get time to shoot so it's a slow go. Maybe next weekend will be nice.

[Shopdog]

With this 95g mould,I like my 6mm better but do use it in two,243's.One is a TC pro hunter 26" brrl,the other is a Savage short action bolt.Can't remember the loads,AT ALL,haha which is why they're wrote down.Away from home visiting G babies,dying Easter eggs.

Anyway, your pic is about what my 243's look like.OAL wouldn't be transferred between rifle's anyway.I bump the nose rider section up with an in-house made top die/punch.I like a pretty hard jam on the TC.It's a single shot,just better chamber case management that way....bump nose to fit.The Savage is a different story.Still bump the nose but for a sliding fit because of having to make a run up through the mag well.Both are left,as cast on the body,with GC seated in a custom lower die.Both are hand lubed in ONLY the space above GC.The Savage gets what I reckon is a medium jam,and a hint of roll crimp....this does a cpl things in my rifle.It helps integrity on the round as it gets ripped up through the action,cycling.Two,it's a stop of sorts when using jams.Until you've "stuck" a bullet,and dumped powder all over trying to eject a loaded round well..... a very mild roll in on the case mouth prevents this.It's a razor thin line,but important for magazine use.

Heck,I don't even remember what powders they use?.... that and all notes get wrote down.

Alloy is podunk water dropped WW/ rangecrap.Lube is 50/50 BW and cheap vaseline.Both guns shoot bragging groups that I won't even post.... cause you'd call me a liar.Put it this way, anybody shooting JB's that "thinks" they have a tackdriver,had better have their "act" fully together cause they're going to need a dial calipre to measure these groups.The TC is a 3 shot gun cause it sucks off heavy BR bags.The Savage is 5 shots at 100,as fast as you can work the bolt!!!

Good luck with your project.

[vrh]

I shoot the same bullet in my CVA Stalker with 24 inch barrel. My grandson shoots the same in his Savage 243 XP bolt action rifle. However my rifle likes an OAL of 2.610. His is 2.605 inch. So saying that , it can be different with different rifles. The listed OAL in manuals is the maximum allowed. Yes I do put a very slight crimp in both bullets.
The powder charge that we both use is 10 grains of Unique powder. Have a supply of different powder that is available but have not loaded any with those yet. Have a lot of Unique powder to use up first.
No lube on the bullets, since I powder coat them.

[Mjdd23]

Shopdog
It seems you really got that 95 grain boolit shooting well for you in a few different guns! It gives me hope that I may at some point get close. It'll be nice not to buy any jacketed bullets to be on target with this rifle plus all the money that I'll save! Ha ha that's a good one. Thank you for the input.

[Mjdd23]

Vrh
I'll have to figure out what COAL this Savage likes because like you said they are all different. I am using a gas check and 45-45-10 lube for now. I dry tumble powder coat my .357 boolits but haven't tried it with these yet. Are you using a gas check along with the powder coating? I recently purchased a espc gun from Harbor freight but have not used it yet but from what I've read and the pictures posted here, it seems to give the best over all coverage with the electro static gun so that's what I'm going to go with when I do PC these boolits. Are you getting decent accuracy?

[35 shooter]

That's a good looking boolit you have. I usually start off with light contact with rifling as you describe.
When i find a good accurate load to judge by, i may then experiment with seating depth a bit by seating deeper into the lands, and backing off a bit too to give a bit of jump to the rifling to see which is most accurate.

Lol, i usually wind up right back where i started with light contact. So much can depend on the shape of the boolit as to how much rifling contact it wants.
Plus how fast your pushing it with slow vs. fast powder....at least that's what i've found.
I think at least a bit of contact helps ensure your getting a straight start into the bore.

[Mjdd23]

35 shooter
The more I learn about reloading the more it seems like guns are like woman, you have to try it different ways to see what it is they like best! To make them happy you have to put some work into it because they are all different. The pay off is usually worth it though.

[vrh]

Yes I use a gas check on my 243. I put them on prior to powder coating.

[Mjdd23]

Thank you. I will try it like that when I get to powder coat these. I may try a few without the gas checks just to see. Why not.

[Mjdd23]

I was finally able to get to the range on Monday to try the loads I made up. I did not load too many up because I wanted to make sure they would make it to the target first. To me I think they show promise and with some more work I may get a 1 inch group at 100 yards. The impact point was way lower than the jacketed loads in the same gun. Between 9.5 and 11 inches. I'm not close to the max load so I should be able to close the difference up a few inches. Overall though I'm happy with this first round.

[Mjdd23]

Better picture

[GooseGestapo]

My favorite trick as most of my rifles wear variable power scopes, is to shoot a group aiming center with the cast bullets. Then referencing the taper point on the dual X reticle, adjust the magnification till the taper point matches the bullet impacts.
I then make a note, and mark it on the scope on a piece of masking tape.

For my most used rifle utilizing cast bullets, this happens to be 5x.
This way, I don’t have to rezero the rifle. Just use a different part of the reticle to aim with.
With a mil-dot reticle, just use lowest magnification, and count the mil-dots, and make a note.

[Mjdd23]

I wound up adjusting my scope just to make it easier to work up this load. I have it as good as I can get it for now so I may set it back up for the jacketed bullet and try to see how the BDC on this scope works. It has an app for the phone I can mess around with also. But that's a good idea I could try on my other scopes.

[Shopdog]

Mj,slight tangent....

I shoot trad bows(recurves,longbows) competitively. These range from in-house built,no holds barred,$$$ creations to state of the art outside pro built customs to hotrod'd classics.There is a noticeable difference in disciplines here.Indoor "spots" .... NFAA... 3D.... match/money/grudge,beer can shoots.

They all have certain,precision similarities. But,there's a distinct difference in putting a string together (spots) and grudge $$ shooting.

So,while I appreciate the heck outta CB events that put emphasis on strings(CBA),and their 10 shot statistical analysis..... give me a 3 shot,cold bore.... no fouler... day in,day out CB rig,and it suits certain purposes, aka hunting.

Some rigs just aren't suited to some discaplines.Getting hung up on other's definitions of success is fool's $$$.Learn what your rig is telling you.Back to regular programming.

[Shopdog]

OK,another analogy;

As a "lifer" on two wheels,aka motorcycles... the only two bikes in the stable at present are a BMW KRS1200,an absolute jewel with almost 100k on the clock and a 636 Kwacker knee draggin "crotch rocket".They both are at the top of their game.If wifey wanted to get to the beach OR hit some other slab and avg 85+ ,rain or shine.... take the BM.If I wanted to work on a particular aspect of road racing,the 636 gets the nod.And further.... if we were visiting some historical town,take a Harley.

Don't see a dang bit of difference in CB rigs?Choose the right rig for the task at hand?