Cast Rifle Boolit Seating Depth?

[Michael J. Spangler]

hey guys

i have some .30 cal boolits to try in my .300 RUM in various weights. I was wondering how i should go about seating?
for the gas checked boolits should i seat them further out than normal so that the GC is protected in the neck of the case? this will definitely ruin my use of the magazine. do i need to do that? what problems can i run in to if i seat it to normal length and the boolit and GC are set below the neck

i'm sure i have enough throat to seat long without hitting the rifling.

will i get better accuracy if i seat to the lands with cast?

this will be my first cast rifle loads (besides a 45-70) i can't wait to load for this round. the thought of keeping a barrel more than 500 rounds makes me happy.

[madsenshooter]

Accuracy is certainly better if you can seat out to the lands. I sometimes need to seat to magazine length to shoot in highpower matches that have a rapid fire stage. There is a difference in accuracy. Depends on what you need the most, whether you're shooting groups or just need minute of deer or elk loads. With the long neck of the 30-40, I haven't had to seat anything below the neck/shoulder junction yet, so I can't really answer that part of your question. I recently found a bullet that both fits the magazine, and is into the rifling, so I can put an end to the inner debate.

[Michael J. Spangler]

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll105/MJSpangler/94B1CCD5-3C75-43C7-BA51-D75DE010711F-19649-0000044AF0F87BC0.jpg

ok so here it is.

reduced loads listed are between 35 grains and 55 grains of varget.

i was worried i would need to seat these way out to be close to the lands. i measure them with a hornady comparator and when seated to the crimp groove they're just about kissing the lands! woohoo! makes it easy for me

i can't wait to see how they shoot.

a side note i had a ton of erosion in the throat of the barrel from shooting jacketed loads. they really beat the **** out of the rifle. i'm hoping cast will help with the life of the barrel a bit.

[MT Chambers]

Well I don't think anyone has said this and I don't want to rain on any parades but, some cartridges are not meant for reduced cast loads or cast bullets at all and I believe this is one. All the extra room in the case does you no favors, even the .308 and 30/06 have more capacity then necessary for accurate cast bullet loads, with the 30/30 and .30 BR. being about right(in a perfect world). I'd rechamber for the .308 or better still the .30 BR., you have to get rid of the erosion anyways.

[Michael J. Spangler]

doing some reading on the 300 rum, i was under the impression that one of the big selling points was it's multi level loads. they originally offered different power levels ranging from 30-06 type loads mid range 300 win mag loads to the full house 300 rum loads.
they marketed it as a versatile cartridge that could meet any 30 cal needs. makes sense. i'll see how the reduced loads work. even a "reduced" load is still cranking a 200 grain boolit at 2000 FPS
thats slow for this cartridge

[Dthunter]

I have experienced that the more excess room in the case you have, the more inconsistant the ignition/velocities can get. As the powders shift around, they change the burning characteristics in the case. From round to round you will experience large standard deviations/extream velocity spreads.

By using the most appropriate powders, and an appropriate filler, seat the boolet into the rifling, you may be able to narrow down your variables.

Good luck, and have fun shooting BOOLETS!

[madsenshooter]

What bullet is that? NOE311365 or Lyman/Ideal 311329? If it's the NOE, my Krags love it and the reason you don't have to seat it out is it's about .305 ahead of the crimp groove. That cartridge looks like a candidate for 50BMG powders.

[Michael J. Spangler]

Thanks guys.
It's the noe 311365

Shot great yesterday. Those loads barely made the gun move. I really want to get in on the group buy now.
I have only tried h1000 and retumbo for the jacketed loads. It can send a 208 amax at about 3200 fps. Nice