How far should a bullet be from the lands?

Most bullets shoot most accurately when seated to within . 035 inch to . 015 inch of touching the lands.

Does bullet seating depth affect pressure?

Many shooters are not aware of the dramatic effects that bullet seating depth can have on the pressure and velocity generated by a rifle cartridge. COAL is also a variable that can be used to fine tune accuracy. It's also an important consideration for rifles that need to feed rounds through a magazine.

What is the lands on a bullet?

Lands are the raised portions between the grooves inside the barrel after the spiral grooves are cut to produce the rifling. Magnum: An improved version of a standard cartridge that uses the same caliber and bullet, but has more powder (generally in a longer cartridge case), giving the fired bullet more energy.

What does off the lands mean reloading?

An actual cut away view of a chamber showing the throat (left) and “lands” (right) of the rifling. When seating off the “lands” this is the point you need to determine as a point of reference. On a. 223 Remington I was working a load that I had the bullets seated at a max OAL of 2.260”.

How far from the lands can you start load development?

To conserve barrel life, you might consider starting at 0.040” or 0.050″ from the lands and test in 0.010” increments, as the statistician suggested.

Bullet Seating Depth: How To Measure

What does COL mean in reloading?

The overall length (OAL) of an ammunition cartridge is a measurement from the base of the brass shell casing to the tip of the bullet, seated into the brass casing. Cartridge overall length, or "COL", is important to safe functioning of reloads in firearms.

Do bullets go off in a fire?

In a structure fire, the heat produced during the burn activates and causes the bullets to explode; the larger the caliber of the bullet, the more explosive potential.

What is the difference between lands and grooves?

Inside the barrels of handguns and rifles are spiral impressions called rifling. The raised portions of the rifling are known as lands and the recessed portions are known as grooves. When a weapon is fired, these lands and grooves cut into the bullet, putting spin on it as it travels through the barrel of a firearm.

Can a gun discharge without pulling the trigger?

It is important to realize that just because a firearm goes off, doesn't always mean someone pulled the trigger. Poorly designed rifles, shotguns, and handguns can fire a round even when the trigger has not been pulled. The most common unintended discharges occur when the firearm is bumped or the safety is moved.

How much does bullet seating affect accuracy?

Most bullets shoot most accurately when seated to within . 035 inch to . 015 inch of touching the lands. Many benchrest shooters like them just kissing the lands.

What is the purpose of a Cannelure on a bullet?

In cartridges, the cannelure is a band pressed into the case which helps prevents cartridge setback when the case mouth is properly crimped onto the cannelure. Bullet setback of . 1" can increase pressure beyond safe limits and possibly cause a catastrophic failure.

What does bullet ogive mean?

But what is an ogive profile? Simply defined, it's the curved portion of a bullet forward of the bearing surface. Because a flat cylinder is undesirable for exterior ballistic reasons, rifle bullets have on of three ogives or "point profiles": flat nose (FN), round nose (RN) or pointed (spitzer).

What does COAL mean in reloading?

COAL (cartridge over-all length) is the measurement of the cartridge from the tip of the bullet to the base of the cartridge. The cartridge over-all length is an important dimension to understand, especially if functioning hand loaded ammunition through a firearm magazine.

What can affect the performance of a bullet?

The quality of the ammunition, moisture, altitude and temperature can affect performance. A round that doesn't go bang like it is supposed to can define heartbreak and disappointment for any operator, but it's especially true for gun collectors.

What is Freebore in a rifle chamber?

In firearms, freebore (also free-bore, free bore, or throat) is the portion of the gun barrel between the chamber and the rifled section of the barrel bore. The freebore is located just forward of the chamber neck and is cylindrical in shape.

What are the 4 types of rifling?

The 4 most common types of rifling in modern manufacturing are, in no particular order - button rifling, single point cut rifling, broach rifling, and hammer forging.

Can a bullet be traced to a specific gun?

Almost every bullet fired from a gun, can be traced back to that gun using a microscope. “When a bullet is fired from a firearm, when it travels through the barrel, the barrel leaves microscopic markings on the bullet that are unique to that specific firearm,” Jessica Wade, forensics firearms examiner, said.

What is the term bullet often incorrectly applied to?

The word, rifle, originally referred to the: Grooves, or indentations in the rifles barrel. The term, bullet, is often incorrectly applied to the: Cartridge, which includes primer powder, gunpowder, the bullet, and the casing material that holds them all together.

Can a bullet explode if dropped?

Likelihood of a Cartridge Going Off

When this happens, the bullet will land in a way that prevents the impact from being sufficiently forceful to cause the bullet to fire. Significant impact to the primer would be needed to cause it to discharge. This is extremely unlikely to happen from it simply being dropped.

How high can a bullet go up?

Gunshots can travel as high as 10,000 feet, and the wind takes them in unpredictable directions. Julian Sommerville Hatcher, the U.S. military ordnance expert whose work on this topic is often cited, managed to land only four of his 500 vertically fired bullets in the target range.

At what temperature will a bullet explode?

A bullet will melt if it is exposed to a thousand degrees fahrenheit. The primer will pop when a loaded cartridge is exposed to a few hundred degrees. There are Cartridges that don't explode.

What does G1 BC mean in reloading?

A Ballistic Coefficient (BC) is a number used to describe the drag on a bullet compared to some standard bullet. For example, a G1 BC is comparing the drag of that specific bullet to the G1 standard bullet.

What does min OAL mean?

As I understand, the minimum OAL is basically where the bullet is seated far enough off the lands that the bullet has a jump and then can cause a pressure spike when it hits the lands.

What determines the length of a bullet?

The length of the throat determines how much of the bullet can stick out of the case. When a cartridge is chambered and the bullet encounters the beginning of the rifling, known as the lands, it's met with hard resistance. This COAL marks the maximum length that a bullet can be seated.