seating depth for postal style bullets in Sharps

[barnabus]

im getting my Pedersoli sharps up ad running and im having a time getting consistent groups with smokeless powder using 26 grains of AA5744. do u guys who shoot Sharps do u find you get best accuracy with the bullet seated firmly into the lands or a jump using 20-1 alloy?

[Bent Ramrod]

I never shot 5744, but shot a fair amount of Unique and 4831. I shot the Ideal 457124, and seated it as far out as thumb pressure would push the case fully into the chamber. About half of the first grease groove showed above the case mouth.

It seemed to shoot as good as it was going to, and there was less unburned powder in the barrel.

[Michael J. Spangler]

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[NSB]

What diameter bullet are you using? Have you slugged your barrel? I owned three of those guns and they all shot fantastic with bullets 400g and up.

[country gent]

That's about where my postells shoot too. That puts me about .010 of the rifling. Keep in mind these rifles have little camming force to push a bullet into the rifling. If you want to run tight have a assist tool with you. The chamber in your rifle will also determine OAL or seating depth. I seem to remember my postells base is .530 below the case mouth.
Measure case and bullet with bas on the mouth and write it down. Find the overall length of a loaded round - .010 your chamber accepts. Subtract this from first number and that's how far bullet is in case.

[barnabus]

What diameter bullet are you using? Have you slugged your barrel? I owned three of those guns and they all shot fantastic with bullets 400g and up.

im shooting a RCBS 535 grain .459 as cast boolit using 20/1 alloy with LBT soft lube

[NSB]

I had the best results having the bullet lightly touching the lands. I don't crimp my bullets and this allows a bit of easy camming to seat them in the gun. I'm sitting on a lot of 5744 powder, and it works pretty good. I have found a few others that work a bit better. To what end are you developing loads for? Hunting, target shooting, etc ? What size groups are you getting now at what distances, and what sights do you have on the gun? It's hard to answer the question without knowing where you're at with this. I had great success with my Pedersoli rifles, but I had specific goals for my end results. I was looking for a hunting gun, not long range silhouette or something similar.

[barnabus]

I had the best results having the bullet lightly touching the lands. I don't crimp my bullets and this allows a bit of easy camming to seat them in the gun. I'm sitting on a lot of 5744 powder, and it works pretty good. I have found a few others that work a bit better. To what end are you developing loads for? Hunting, target shooting, etc ? What size groups are you getting now at what distances, and what sights do you have on the gun? It's hard to answer the question without knowing where you're at with this. I had great success with my Pedersoli rifles, but I had specific goals for my end results. I was looking for a hunting gun, not long range silhouette or something similar.

im mostly wanting to do target work off a bench out to 300 yards at our range but I would like to one day shoot it out to 1000 yards. Therein lies the reason for the 535 grain bullet. it shoots terrible maybe 4" at 100 if im lucky.I know im pouring a good bullet so its not that. The gun is a handful with that heavy bullet but im not struggling with it.The Lyman book has a range of 23-28 grains of 5744 and again Im shooting 26 grains which is about 1250 fps i imagine. Im thinking of trying maybe 24 grains and then 28 grains and see which way makes any difference. Your thoughts?

[NSB]

barnabus, don't take this the wrong way , but is this your first Sharps type rifle? Again, what type of sights are you using? A couple of things right off the get-go are the way the gun is supported while shooting it, and the sights you are using. If you're new at these type of guns you'll soon find that the design of the gun itself lends itself to problems getting good groups. Where you support the gun while shooting it is pretty critical to getting good groups. I can change the way I'm supporting the gun while shooting and send my groups all over the place. Also, if you don't have good quality sights on the gun you're going to have terrible problems trying to shoot good groups. Some things like simply changing your face position on the stock can send the groups south in a hurry. I find that I get the best groups when sitting up as straight as possible and putting minimal face pressure downward on the stock. Also, you must rest the gun in the same position each time. There will be a sweet spot in the stock where the gun needs to be supported. Move it back and forth and again the groups go south. I like this website, but you might want to go over and visit ASSRA.com and talk to those guys also. They're dedicated to single shot rifles over there (American Single Shot Rifle Association). Good luck making progress with this. I've shot some other shooters long range guns/loads and they shot fantastic. My own guns will do 1moa with some good loads and do it for five shots on a pretty regular basis. I don't shoot the really long range stuff, but I know what can be done.

[barnabus]

barnabus, don't take this the wrong way , but is this your first Sharps type rifle? Again, what type of sights are you using? A couple of things right off the get-go are the way the gun is supported while shooting it, and the sights you are using. If you're new at these type of guns you'll soon find that the design of the gun itself lends itself to problems getting good groups. Where you support the gun while shooting it is pretty critical to getting good groups. I can change the way I'm supporting the gun while shooting and send my groups all over the place. Also, if you don't have good quality sights on the gun you're going to have terrible problems trying to shoot good groups. Some things like simply changing your face position on the stock can send the groups south in a hurry. I find that I get the best groups when sitting up as straight as possible and putting minimal face pressure downward on the stock. Also, you must rest the gun in the same position each time. There will be a sweet spot in the stock where the gun needs to be supported. Move it back and forth and again the groups go south. I like this website, but you might want to go over and visit ASSRA.com and talk to those guys also. They're dedicated to single shot rifles over there (American Single Shot Rifle Association). Good luck making progress with this. I've shot some other shooters long range guns/loads and they shot fantastic. My own guns will do 1moa with some good loads and do it for five shots on a pretty regular basis. I don't shoot the really long range stuff, but I know what can be done.

im shooting MVA long range buffalo rear sight with a MVA front globe front and a magnum Hadley eye cup. ive rested this thing everywhere you could imagine and it makes no difference.

[MT Chambers]

Normally, your bullet will be seated down onto compressed black powder with the bullet seated almost as far out as the leade will allow, it requires trial and error, with the powder charge and compression all ending up with the bullet at the right spot in the chamber for best accuracy. Fouling can cause chambering problem after the first round and may require seating the bullet in a bit.

[barnabus]

Normally, your bullet will be seated down onto compressed black powder with the bullet seated almost as far out as the leade will allow, it requires trial and error, with the powder charge and compression all ending up with the bullet at the right spot in the chamber for best accuracy. Fouling can cause chambering problem after the first round and may require seating the bullet in a bit.

but im not shooting black powder so that doesnt help...

[MT Chambers]

but im not shooting black powder so that doesnt help...

Actually it does help, just use the same seating depth as with the black, the bonus with the BP is if you are using the bullet loose in the case to figure out seating depth. The BP prevents the bullet from moving into the case.