Henry Rifle Forums

One of my Nebraska shooting/reloading pals sent me this today, which is great for us "visual types."

Now that I have this in front of me and have the right terminology to refer to, my question is: isn't it better for the "Free-travel clearance jump" to be as small as possible? Meaning, isn't it best to have the OGIVE snugged up as far into the bore as possible?

No not necessarily. To jump or jam. That is the question.
Used mostly by benchrest shooters they will experiment with bullet seating to see what produces the best groups.

Jamming produces higher pressures. It's possible to blow up a rifle Willy nilly jamming bullets.

Before worrying about seatng depth, concentricity is and issue. You can't jam bullets if your brass is not concentric. It defeats the purpose

Also have you grouped you brass by weight. Heavier brass my produce higher pressures with the same powder weight.

Do you weigh you bullets. You already know what different bullet weight do to poi.

There neck tension also to consider.

Have gone done these various rabbit holes I've came to the conclusion that bench rest shooters start making their desicion before the rifle is built. Working all there ideas together towards the perfect bullet. To shoot groups that I don't need to shoot to getbthe job done.

There are enough variables to deal with for me to worry about withouy trying to get a 1/2 inch better group.

Agreed on your philosophy. It's a lever action rifle, shooting (mostly, based on the product lineup) pistol caliber ammo for purposes of casual target shooting and hunting. I want my reloads to be as good as they can be, and I want them to all play well together with the rifle(s) they're intended for, but I also know (and can live with) my own definition of "a decent group."

And, No, I'm not grouping my brass by weight. Haven't crossed that bridge yet. Don't know if I ever will.

But, it's all very interesting and fun to consider! Just not something I'm going to drive myself crazy over.

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But there is a great deal of fun in exploring the rabbit holes.... Discovering for one's self what does and doesn't work.

Ojaileveraction wrote:No not necessarily. To jump or jam. That is the question.
Used mostly by benchrest shooters they will experiment with bullet seating to see what produces the best groups.

Jamming produces higher pressures. It's possible to blow up a rifle Willy nilly jamming bullets.

Before worrying about seatng depth, concentricity is and issue. You can't jam bullets if your brass is not concentric. It defeats the purpose

Also have you grouped you brass by weight. Heavier brass my produce higher pressures with the same powder weight.

Do you weigh you bullets. You already know what different bullet weight do to poi.

There neck tension also to consider.

Have gone done these various rabbit holes I've came to the conclusion that bench rest shooters start making their desicion before the rifle is built. Working all there ideas together towards the perfect bullet. To shoot groups that I don't need to shoot to getbthe job done.

There are enough variables to deal with for me to worry about withouy trying to get a 1/2 inch better group.

Unless you are shooting a custom rifle in benchrest competition, there are a lot of other variables that should cause you more concern than bullet jump. Powder selection, case fill, bullet selection and primer selection are important factors in precision. Change one factor and it's back to the drawing board. Change the firearm you are shooting the reload in and it's back to the drawing board.

I load .308 Winchester ammunition for 1,000 yard F Class matches. I have seen no benefit to jamming a projectile into the rifling. I tried bullet jumps from 0.000" to 0.0600" and found 0.0300" bullet jump works best in my rifle. You could buy the same rifle and find the results slightly different for yourself. Unless I am shooting past 500 yards, changing bullet jump made little difference for me. Seeing a benefit in a specific bullet jump came at ranges of 600 yards to 1,000 yards. My current primary long range rifle, chambered in 6.5 Creedmoor shoots outstanding groups with factory Hornady 140g Match. The measured bullet jump is 0.102".

I reload 8mm and 30-06 to shoot reduced distance matches at ranges of 200 yards and under. The amount of space between the powder charge inside the case and the base of the projectile makes a bigger difference than bullet jump. Some of my best reloads have a bullet jump ranging from 0.200" to 0.350".

Select a projectile that performs best in your rifle, then find a gunpowder that works best with that projectile. Then experiment with charge weights, case fill and primers. Using a published recommended C.O.L. in a Hornady Reloading Book or Hodgdon Reloading Guide is a very good place to start.

You can sort brass in the manner Ojaileveraction recommended, a lot of people do it that way. When I sort brass, I sort by headstamp, number of times fired and measure the volume each brass can hold using isopropyl alcohol. Measuring case neck thickness on at least two axis' makes a difference.

When shooting a lever action rifle with iron sights, I look up a load recipe published by the gunpowder manufacturer and use it. I adjust charge weights until I see consistently decent groups. I don't get too worried about all the other factors and go shooting.

I should take some pictures of how I determine the maximum C.O.L. for a specific projectile in one of my bolt guns and save them on my computer for threads like this one.