If you reload you may find this interesting, if not you’re likely to be very bored……

Awhile back some one put out a 200yrd challenge. Essentially, shoot your best group at 200 yrds and post up the results. I like to reload and usually get good results so the challenge sounded like fun. I decided I would use a unmodified rifle (something out of the box) in my case a 7mm-08 Tikka with a Leupold scope. I would use a hunting bullet, not a target bullet, but one with a good BC. In this case a Barnes TTSX in 140gr. This time around I determined to measure freebore and find the “sweet spot” by testing loads at the various seating depths or more accurately, at various lengths of freebore. In the past I would have measured COAL and seated to a particular length. But with freebore as a guide, you are concerned with the distance from the bearing surface of the bullet to the lands of the barrel.

Here is where my “fun” began… In my desire to “hold as many variables constant as possible” I obtained 100 rounds of Barnes TTSX. I weighed each one and to my surprise learned that they weighed anywhere from 139.8grains to 140.5 grains. So I split them into weight groups respectively looking for at least 20 bullets that would measure 140.0 grains. I found 17. These I used to build my test rounds at various lengths of freebore; .076, .066, .056, .046, and .036. This process took much longer than expected.

Next I wanted to make about fifteen rounds to sight-in with since I normally use Sierra bullets. So, as before I got as many bullets within the same weight range as before and started seating them using a freebore measure of .036. I got the first round built, it measured at the expected length and then I thought I would just crank out fourteen more rounds. Nope… it doesn’t work like that… what I should have learned from the prior experience but didn’t is that the bullets being different weights are also slightly different lengths (diameter can’t change or you would have an even bigger problem). This means that the contact point to the bearing surface will be different. So for example for the rounds that were seated to a freebore of .036, I have a COAL from 2.8199 to 2.823 ! And for the rounds I mess up on that have a freebore length of .033, I have a consistent COAL of 2.82.

So, the point of all this is that:

1) While freebore is a much more accurate measure of “seating” than COAL it is significantly more time consuming and take patience to learn

2) During this experience I thought my equipment was failing to meet precise demands of consistency – it wasn’t. In fact it was responding to the variations in the components exactly as it should have been expected too. As the saying goes – trust your equipment.

3)I broke a bullet puller learning all this so I hope some one else benefits by it !!

4)Whenever it gets warmer, I will head to the range and post up the results…

Kmon1 - any thoughts on the results ??

Almost always the tip of any given bullet are gonna be slightly different from one another, the best thing to do is measure from the ogive of the bullet.

Well thought out. I just in the last 6-7 years really started concentrating on seating depth and then freebore. Still learning. The best thing I got to help out so far has been a Hornady LNL OAL gague. I have a much better idea now of how ogive as related to freebore works. It took me a while to learn to "trust my equipment" too.

the OAL guages are great, but ou have to learn how to use and trust them. I still use a method that is a litle time consuming but works. It was in my first relaoding manual Speer do not remember the issue but load a dummy round long and blacken the bullet with soot from a match. insert it in the chamber then seat the bullet a little more, keep doing that until it does not touch the lands. Measure the COL at that point then you have a COL for that bullet that jsut contacts the lands. if want it .03 inch off the lands then seat it that much shorter than the COL from the above measurement. It is not exact but is close.

Like you have found out all bullets are not created equal. Some of the more uniform match bullets vary less than some of the other bullets but not all bullets in a given box are exactly the same.

As to free bore and accuracy, Weatherby is known for long throated rifles and good accuracy. The last Weatherby I loaded for the max legnth loads to fit in the mag with 180gr partitions had them still over .25 inch from the lands. It was still accurate enough for hunting, sub MOA.

This is the only tool I find necessary:



1. Select one bullet and insert it into the neck of the split-neck case.
2. Chamber it so that the rifle's leade seats the bullet. I generally work the bolt partially open and shut three or four times.
3. Very carefully extract the dummy cartridge being careful not to disturb the bullet in the case neck.
4. Measure the length of the cartridge, again with great care to not disturb the length.
5. Repeat this several times with this same bullet to verify the zero length.
6. Once you are sure you have determined zero length with this bullet, remove THAT BULLET and put it aside.
7. When you're ready to adjust your die to seat bullets, use that very same bullet.

If you determined that your zero length is 3.340" and you want to seat .030" from the lands, then adjust your die to seat that bullet (NOT another one!) to an overall length of 3.310."
It is a good idea to repeat this process one more time with a fresh bullet to make sure you've got it right, I think that sometimes the seater makes a very slight indention in the bullet jacket when I repeatedly push it deeper into the case during the die adjustment.

Before all the howls of protest begin, I'll point out that the effectiveness of this approach depends on the seater stem bearing on the bullet somewhere other than the tip. If the bullet is being pushed into the neck by the tip, all bets are off and you'll never get good, consistent seating. And YES, each bullet will be slightly different because nothing is perfect...but if that matters at all, it will show up on the target. If results are disappointing, you move on to another bullet or powder. If you want to measure and sort bullets before seating, more power to you and may it yield results for you. I have no interest in such efforts. I want a load that produces good accuracy right off the press assembled with components right out of the box.

Some will say that if you're not measuring to the ogive with fancy comparators and expensive gadgets, you're not doing it right. That is a mountain of bovine excrement. All the measuring in the world isn't going to make your press and die seat bullets consistently. What you get is what you get, and if it's not good enough you need to take a good look at your seater die.

I will say that comparators have their place, though, and that's when you have so much freebore you can't seat a bullet out long enough to touch the leade. You gotta have some kind of consistent reference, and sometimes a comparator is the only way to get it.

I have heard the Weatherby stories... .25 inch with a 180 grain bullet - WOW... but your right.. they are known for that and still shoot well. I'd like to get a .257 Weatherby one day.. for now I'm just going to see what the 7mm-08 will do..

I like your procedure, I'll have to try that. Good tip!

I have a Hornady OAL gauge for a few calibers but They don't make one for everything. They will make you a "custom" one if you send them cases and bullets. To fix this problem I split case necks as above with a Dremmel tool. I think the split cases work better. Be sure to trim brass to recommended length before splitting the necks.
As far as seating off lands goes every gun has its "sweet spot" and that will change with bullet types. I shoot Barnes and they recommend .050 to .070 off lands with a TSX. I guess that bit of jump keeps pressure spikes to a minimum. To my limited knowledge they are the only bullet maker that has that kind of guide line on seating depths.
I have played with seating depth on several guns and learned its best to get a load that shoots real good before you start playing with seating depth. IMO seating depth is the fine tune for a load not the cure for a crappy load.

Hunting components are built to a different standard then match grade. That's not to say your bullets used for hunting won't stack but the match shooters demand more consistency.

Reloading is trial and error........That's why shooters are frustrated and broke all the time LOL

What I usually do is start off with the max legnth that will function well in guns magizine. Work up the load with powder icnrements starting at min and working up. Once the "sweet" load is found I may or not tweek the seating depth for fine tuning. With some loads and bullets the most accurate might have you using it as a single shot but if for target only that is not a problem. I often hunt with singleshots but if I am carrying a repeater I usually want more than one in the gun.