Home Forums Reloading Varmint Rifles Enough Seating Depth?

I have a couple of .222 Remington rifles and wanted to try the Speer 50 gr TNT bullet. I usually use the special case with the Hornady OAL gauge and comparator to determine the distance to the ogive of a given bullet.With this bullet I am 2.265" to the lands and that gives a depth to that bullet that is less than the caliber of the bullet itself. In other words, real shallow seating even seating it .015" deeper from touching the lands. I'm only about .120" into the case with the bullet.

I'm thinking of seating for an overall length so I'll have at least the diameter of the bullet(.224) inside the case. Anything less I don't believe will hold the bullet properly. Any comments/advice?

I try to seat them with the bases at the neck shoulder junction.

Boattails where the taper starts.

That would be pretty deep for this bullet as it's only .688" long.

Yeah, I noticed the same thing with the TNT's I had. That tip ogive is long. But....

Don't worry. You have several options.

If you can knock the bullet significantly off center with "reasonable" thumb pressure, you probably have an issue. If you have to "Work" at it, you are probably okay.
If you have a problem, and have bushings, go down a size or two for more neck grab.
If you don't have bushings, but have a spare expander ball, skin a little off the ball and that will tighten things up a bit.
Also, sometimes it helps to just size the part of the neck you actually use from a fireformed case. If you have good brass, then your positioning should be pretty good.
I think I have gotten away with as little as .060 of neck grab, that was pushing it. Shot fine, but I had to handle the ammo carefully.

After fire forming I've just neck sized. I think what I'll do is just seat it caliber depth(.224) and call it good to go since seating it out to .015" off the lands will leave very little in the case.

Start with the OAL in the Speer Manual and try increasing the length until you get the best accuracy . H322 is the powder to try first .

H322 is a good powder I've found but, it's like finding hen's teeth. I have one pound and am experimenting with it now. I'll probably settle on it and maybe IMR 4895 a close second for 50 or 52 gr bullets. I have some of Berger's 55 gr FP bullets but haven't tried those as yet.

"I'm thinking of seating for an overall length so I'll have at least the diameter of the bullet(.224) inside the case. Anything less I don't believe will hold the bullet properly."

Why do you think that? We have several cartridges with case necks shorter than bullet diameter. ??

The M193 55gr. bullet has less than one caliber of length between the cannelure and boat tail. They seem to stay in place just fine in both semi and full autos.

Things to consider when arriving at seating depth; can't be jammed into the lands, has to fit the mag box, has to feed from the mag box, bullet has to be stable when going from the mag box to the chamber, enough bullet in the case. There is no magic in being close to the lands just a starting place. I have rifles where the bullet is over 0.100" from the lands and they shoot less than an inch at 100yds. Spend more time loading concentric rounds. Rick.

Kitch

I have been loading Benchmark with 50 gr. Hornady SP bullets. Accuracy is almost 1 hole at 100 yards if I can do my part. Benchmark works well with a 20 TAC with 40 gr. Vmax.

BM is very small extruded powder that works very well thru a powder measure, as opposed to 4895.