Seating depth starting & finishing point

[DennisH]

My question is how far do i start off the lands when experimenting with seating depth for my 22-250? The distance to the lands is 2.488" and listed COL is 2.350. i loaded my other handloads to the COL and they shoot very well. I am working on devoloping a load for 60 gr. V-Max bullet. I'm just not sure how much to move it off the lands for each set of rounds. I will probably make 5 rounds in a set, and 4 sets of different seating depths. so 20 rounds total. what increments should i make each of the 4 sets?

 

[straightshooter]

I start .005" off the lands and go further off in .015" increments for the first 4 increments. Then I look at the results and adjust accordingly--+/-.005" on the best one and second best one. After I arrive at my gun's preferred length, I may tinker with the powder charge a bit as well, +/- .1 or .2 grains. I actually end up shooting 20-30 groups before I'm through unless I happen to stumble on the right stuff early.

I may also have to go into the lands a bit, but with caution, and some rifle/bullet combos may prefer the bullet even further away--all a matter of testing to determine.