Favorite Bullet Seating Depth tool?

Mike, you been around long enough to not ask stupid questions. I put a small piece of adhesive tape on the cleaning rod before I mark it. Do I need to explain simple details?

Bullets are not perfect. The ogive (do you know what that is?) varies slightly on most all bullets. That is why I catalog them before reaching final seating depth.
mike in co said:
and just where do you get a precise tool to measure to the "mark" on the cleaning rod ??
you are kidding me right ??
you sort loaded rounds by .001...but use a "mark" on a cleaning rod to find when they just touch ??
....and why are your loaded rounds off from the correct/desired length ??
what ???
mike in co
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even with tape on the rod...a mark has some width to it, and tuff enought to mark riight at the muzzle....the width of the marker influences the mark....and then measure to where on the mark....
measure ogive to base BEFORE SEATING( as in sort them first), and then skip the multiple seating operation.
most benchrest bullets are very close....production bullets not so.
sorry but essentially every method described before is more accurate than your method.

mike in co
 
Tenring, I use your method of finding the seating depth. i found that using a couple of Sinclair's Cleaning Rod stops on the cleaning rod is a little more accurate than marks on the tape. Sure is a great starting point.
 
You are correct. I did not mention that because most shooters do not have the stops. I use a custom made set of two 1"x 2" aluminum cylinder stops, tapped and threaded for a screw in the center. With end of cleaning rod against the bolt, one cylinder is fixed in place and tightened. Then, with bullet jammed in bore, the second cylinder is secured. The width is measured with caliper. You must remember that THIS MEASUREMENT JUST GETS YOU CLOSE TO YOUR OAL. YOU NEED TO VERIFY IT BY SEATING A BULLET IN A CASE AND CHAMBER IT, THEN LOOK FOR THE KISSING MARKS.


Mike, I do not think competiton benchrest shooting is in your future. You might consider golf or tennis.


RL Weikart said:
Tenring, I use your method of finding the seating depth. i found that using a couple of Sinclair's Cleaning Rod stops on the cleaning rod is a little more accurate than marks on the tape. Sure is a great starting point.
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tenring said:
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Mike, I do not think competiton benchrest shooting is in your future. You might consider golf or tennis.
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right this from a guy using "marks" on a rod for seating depth, adjusting the seating on bullets rather than sort the bullets first.......
so lets get you to complete the description of your "method"....
if i use a cleaning rod with no jag, i get the bolt face mesurement, but when it is put on top of a pointy bullet the the tip of the bullet goes in the rod....oppps there goes the meadurement.
most jags dod not habe a nive flat surface on teh end...so opps there goes consistancy of the measurement......well ...well within tolerance of "marks".....

mike in co
 
nice if not using brass fired in your gun, but if one drills and taps brass from the gun, no need to center....its fire formed to the chamber....
mike in co

nhkuehl said:
The guide is 1.25" long X .375" ID and .695" OD and is held in place where ever you want it by an o-ring slipped on either side of the bushing. I did this before I got my lathe, so I used bronze bushings from Ace Hardware. Now I would make one out of Delrin or aluminum. I slide it to where it is centered in the rear of the action and you can see it holds the case pretty well centered. - nhk
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mike in co said:
if i use a cleaning rod with no jag, i get the bolt face mesurement, but when it is put on top of a pointy bullet the the tip of the bullet goes in the rod....oppps there goes the meadurement.
most jags dod not habe a nive flat surface on teh end...so opps there goes consistancy of the measurement......well ...well within tolerance of "marks".....

mike in co
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Your right this time, but unfortunately you have no imagination. I cut the bristles off an old bronze brush, file the end flat, and thread that into the end of my cleaning rod. Thus, the flat stub which remains, does contact the meplat.
 
no i actually have an imagination.....i imagined you would put all the facts in your "best" method.......
you seem to forget lots of details in your "best" method....
mike in co

tenring said:
Your right this time, but unfortunately you have no imagination. I cut the bristles off an old bronze brush, file the end flat, and thread that into the end of my cleaning rod. Thus, the flat stub which remains, does contact the meplat.
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We don't all have to use the same method, just what works for us and all it is is a starting point. I use a Stoney Point gage and a friend I develope loads for uses a Sinclair nut and they don't measure the same point on the ogive, so he measures the loads I give him before he reloads and uses his numbers and they shoot the same. Before I got a Stoney point gage I used to jam the bullet and then back off 1/16" on the OAL and had good results. - nhk
 
The cleaning rod method Is one of the best ways . You don't have to buy a bunch of other tools to do the job, Also you can use it on any caliber. Stops are ok , so are pencil marks if you patient. The idea is to get fairly close.
After all later we usually adjust the seating depth for our best load. The one thing we have to watch and most of us know this, On hunting rifles sometimes it doesn't work too well due to magazine length.
 
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I use an 'R-P tool' which is a purpose built cleaning rod really(with flat end & stops). Works very well.
In this thread WOODS talks about it with pics:
http://www.reloadersnest.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=9027
This takes the measurement to the boltface, which makes sense.

Then I make the dummy round with the matching OAL(to THAT bullet's tip), and measure Max OgvOAL(initial) with a Sinclair nut & log it. I keep the dummy round in a jag tube marked by bullet/chamber for setting up my seating die.
From that point all adjustments are w/resp to that OgvOAL using the nut.
 
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The only objection I have to the rod method is working from the muzzle end and contacting the crown. Just my own preference. - nhk
 
Well it seems like it should be taken to the actual boltface, & the muzzle provides the only access.
Now if someone made a modified HS gage(GO gage) that would allow bullet holding/adjusting, this would be taken to the boltface(from shoulder) provided the gage was specifically for that chamber.
This would be about as accurate as the R-P tool, and way more accurate than Stoney point method. But it would be expensive as ordered with each chamber reamer.
 
I bought the Sinclair and got excellent, repeatable, results with Stiller and Panda actions, but I couldn't get it to work in an AR, no matter what I did. The Stony Point gauge works fine in the AR. Go figure.
 
caroby, I think the context of discussion so far has been 'methods of finding the lands' from which to reference seating depth settings.
The sinclair/stoney point/Hornady tools referred to so far are for finding max oal.

The nut works great, but it is only a comparator used with resp to a max oal dummy round.
 
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