Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Bullet seating depth

I have a 270 WSM that I would like to try 150 gr bullets in. Currently I am shooting 130 VLD hunting which shoots pretty decently, but I’m not overly happy with the terminal performance. In working up my loads, I have used 130 gr BTs and Sierra GKs, but my rifle wasn’t crazy for either, accuracy wise despite trying all kind of variations. Not that they awful, but I want less than MOA.
I bought a couple of boxes of 150 gr, 1@ from different mfg’s, but upon seating them touching the lands, the heal of the bullet is well in the case body beyond the neck/shoulder junction. I never like to do this, but can’t say that I really ever gave this scenario a decent try.
So as to not waste my time and components, I was wondering if anyone was able to get accuracy in doing this. I realize I am using up case capacity, but looking for accuracy over velocity.
Would appreciate any input from anyone has loaded in this manner.
Thanks in advance
QM

As long as the brass doesn't have "the dreaded donut" there's no need to worry.

Try some 140 gr. Nosler AB's in it. Plenty accurate and kills like a lightening strike with my 270 WSM.

Probably a risk but I solved the problem with a 7mm Rem Mag I had years ago. I like to seat to the junction of the neck and shoulder also but like to be just back of the lands. Sometimes with different rifles and shorter bullet's seating that way left a good jump to the lands. So, I tried seating the bullet one caliber depth and it worked pretty well.


The other thing I did was with that 7nn mag, I loaded up a 160gr Speer Hot Core with the base of the bullet even with the bottom of the neck. Fit in the magazine but jammed the bullet hard into the lands. So took a dummy round loaded that way to a gunsmith and he re-did the chamber to that round, mostly made a farther jump to the lands. The charge I was using increased by 2 grs to max and the rifle went from a 1" rifle to just under 1/2" rifle. Problem might be finding an action long enough to have a magazine that would let you do it. Tried it with a 6mm Rem in a 700 Rem action years ago and the magazine was to short for it to work so I had a bunch of bullet jump weather I wanted it or not!

Reason I'd tried it in the first place was that rifle, the 7mm mag, shot 140gr bullet's seated that way really well, but they were hard on meat if you hit any. After doing that re-bore I never fired a bullet lighter than 160gr again in that rifle!

Quartermaster
Why are you concerned with seating a long bullet that extends down into the case a little ? That's been done for years...

Yep - especially if you're ever loaded for a 300 Win Mag.

It may be due to older handloading writers, which for some reason thought seating bullets below the neck took up too much powder room. This has since been proven incorrect in several ways, but once such dogma is passed around for decades, without any proof, it tends to stick.

Bob Hagel pointed out decades ago that even though most bullets "protruded" below the neck, the result was still more powder capacity than if the cartridge had been shorter, with a longer neck--due to the powder surrounding the "protruding" base.

Was also told by one of the people at Winchester when the .300 WSM was introduced that bullets weighing over 180 grains wouldn't work because of this "protrusion." But he was not a ballistician, and yes bullets heavier than 180-grain lead-cores (or even monolithics) work just fine in the .300 WSM. In fact when, say, a 200-grain Nosler Partition is loaded to the standard SAAMI overall length in the .300 Weatherby Magnum it still "protrudes" below the neck.

Come on, you can say it JB: annulus

Bullet seating depth has to have some effect.

I cannot use the same load for a 75 amax seated out to rifling in 223 case as I when I used the 75 amax seated to 2.250. Thats an extreme example but it has to factor in somewhere there.

Of course I don't recall the comparable velocities as both where loaded for accuracy more so than speed. But had to back that short one off quite a bit.