Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting since were talking 243...

My Sako .243 is the EXACT same, 85 TSX and 85 BTHP in the same hole, 0.5" groups at 100 yards...

Interesting to read the clever methods others have for finding the lands... have to try those sometime.

The way I do it, is to take a Sharpie or similar permanent black marker and BLACK the ogive area of a bullet seated "too long" into a sized case. In other words make an intentionally long dummy round.

Now put your cleaning rod down the muzzle until it is in sight in the chamber mouth area. USE A BRASS MUZZLE GUIDE TO PROTECT THE CROWN OF YOUR BARREL.

Very carefully put the tip of the bullet into the little hole at the end of the cleaning rod, and use the rod to keep the bullet centered as you push the bolt forward and close it. The rod is to protect the black sharpie from getting marred by various things on it's way into the chamber.

There's a good chance the bold won't close, or will be hard to close. Use the cleaning rod to keep the cartridge straight as you extract it (the extractor will be trying to fling it sideways).

Examine the ogive area of the bullet. You should see several diagonal marks, scratches, in the black. That's the bullet engaging the lands.

Put the cartridge back in the loading press and seat the bullet a little deeper. Re-black the ogive area. Repeat until you don't see the lands marking the black anymore. If you do this in small enough increments, especially towards the end of the process, you can find the lands with great precision. Note, on some rifles (like the last couple M700's I've bought), the magazine is not long enough to allow you to actually load out to the lands- they are way out there! However as others have said, such rifles can shoot great with all that freebore.

There is some disagreement about how small the safe minimum distance is off the lands. Comments on that anyone?

I hope that helped. It sounds like you may be new to reloading. Bullet seating depth (playing around with it) is one of the alchemist's tricks of handloading so to speak; it can do AMAZING things.


-jeff

you guys are amazing on how you make a simple task so dang difficult!

cleaning rods, dowels pushed in the barrel....

Get a bullet seated in a case with now powder or primer.
Seat it long. Mark it thoroughly with a black marker.
Try to chamber the round.
If it won't go, shorten the bullet in case a tad, then remark.

You'll get to a point where you can seat the round and you will still see the "egraving marks" from the lands/grooves on bullet.

Keep seating a bit lower and remarking bullet each time till NONE appear.

Tadaaa! you're just off the lands.

Big Mag,

That's essentially how I do it, but I find it easier with a cleaning rod holding the round straight. Otherwise, for example, the extractor will be pulling the round sideways and will create false marks on the bullet.

For me anyway.