AusVarmint

i've been playing with various projectiles in the 6.5 with trying to seat them just out to the lands.
the 140gn sierra gamekings are fine but the 107's and 120's are a bit iffie . ie they get to the lands
but are only in the neck of the case by 2 to 3 mm... so the question is ,what would be considered
the min seating distance of a projectile?

G'Day Aussie,
well as a rough rule of thumb, probably 1.5mm min for target loads as you would be acutely aware of the seating depth so be very careful while handling them.

For hunting, no less than 2.5mm, and definately I'd prefer them seated a lot more since they will suffer abuse from rough handling either in a pack, vehicle, or pocket.

Accuracy WILL suffer if the bullet gets knocked out of alignment after being seated. The greater the depth of seating, the more secure the bullet will be and this greatly reduces misalignment with the bore. The down side is the bullet may well be a long way off the rifling which is also not good for accuracy

Hopefully you can find a workable compromise

hope this helps.

Cheerio Ned

General rule of thumb for hunting loads. Minimum seating depth should be the same as the calibre dimensions. IE: .22 cal min 5.5 mm seating depth.

Robbo wrote:General rule of thumb for hunting loads. Minimum seating depth should be the same as the calibre dimensions. IE: .22 cal min 5.5 mm seating depth.

This is the same as I have been told, esp for hunting loads. If you are babying a well tested load for paper punching then you can probably do differently.