Starting bullet seating for .308 Win Rem 700

R

Roy Allain

Guest
I have an Rem 700 - .308 Winchester – Out of the box. I am shooting ½ to ¾ in. groups with the occasional 3/8 in group. Very good shooter. It also does this at 200 yards, but I want to tighten this up as much as possible.

So, I want to begin a ladder test with the 2 below bullets, but would like to get your suggestions as to beginning seating depth.

168 gr. Sierra Match King
Start at bullet jam and back off in .005 or .010 increments until the groups begin to open again.

168 gr. Berger VLD
I was told to start at .020 off jam and then back off in .020 increments until the groups begin to open again.

What do you say. Is this the best way? Or is there a better way.

FYI. I use the first method for my 6ppc when I work up loads.

Thanks

Roy
 
Roy, I have a M700 VS in a 308W. My guess is that you can't touch the lands with the bullet falling out of the brass in the factory chambering. That is the case with mine having tremendous freebore. With the 168 SMK I run a COAL of 3.005. This will not fit in the magazine. That is about a 0.040" jump but that in my gun. However, it consistantly shoots better than the 2.810" max COAL that most manual list. If you can reach the lands try your jump versus jam and see what the gun wants. I also shoot the 168 VLD with a large jump and it shoots well in my gun. Luck, Tim
 
My Rem is the same, 308 VS. The 168 gr. SMK bullets do not quite touch the lands. The bullet is just barely sitting in the neck. However, I'm planning on taking my Harrell's press and my seating die and see what seating deeper does to the groups. All in all, I'm very satisfied with the accuracy of the rifle, but want to see if I can improve that.

Thanks.

Roy
 
I would try on the lands, 10 thou in, 20 thou in, and if possible, 30 thou in along with your other off the land test. Just to see. Even if they don't fit in the mag. On the other hand if you have a very long chamber and the bullets have to bee seated waaaayyy long just to get to the lands then you don't have a choice but to jump them.

My experiance has been this....ALL BERGER VLD BULLETS LIKED AT LEAST A 10 THOU JAM.


Good luck.
 
Interesting Tod. Berger said that the VLD's seem to do much better at .020, 040 ..... .120 off the lands. Go figure.

My 168 gr. SMK bullets do no touch the lands. This is with the firing pin assembly removed from the bolt. There is NO contact.

Trying and Thinking.

Roy
 
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