25.06 Touch Rifling or Back Off ???

[DeletedMember275]

If the utmost accuracy is your goal, experiment with bullet seating depth. I would START with the bullet in the lands, then increase seating depth until I found the best accuracy with that powder/bullet combo.

I don't crimp 99% of my rifle ammo, so the location of the cannelure is irrelevant to me. I've never found the need to crimp in anything other then (really) heavy recoiling cartridges some gas guns, or lever actions.

 

[dougader]

Not in 25-06, but in 30-06, I would run my COL by seating the bullet just off, or before it hit, the rifling in my M77. I made up a dummy round seated long and then used a black marking pen to cover the bullet. I kept making the COL length shorter and shorter just until the black stopped being scuffed up when chambered in my rifle. I'm guessing it was only about .020" off the lands.

In the loading manuals they say to "smoke" the dummy round with a dirty burning match, candle or oil lamp or whatever. I just used the black marking pen for mine and it worked great.

The cannelure is ignored when loading for a bolt action rifle. All my Hornady bullets had cannelures on them and the COL in my M77 always had the cannelure outside/above the case mouth.

 

[Mobuck]

It might seem odd, but the 25/06 is one cartridge I don't worry much about getting close to the lands. I load for 3 different 25/06 rifles so must use a compromise of fitting the shortest throat in the group. Hasn't been much diff in accuracy between the rifle with the shortest throating and the longest. Until recently, I was using Remington 100 grainers exclusively and simply matched the Rem factory length since two my rifles show under .75" groups with factory loads. I just match length and velocity and bingo, I've got a winner.

 

[mattsbox99]

Maybe I've gotten lucky with mine, I just seat them so they work through the magazine. My 1B eat the same length I've set for my M77s pretty well so I left it alone.

 

[sixshot]

Seating depth by itself usually doesn't make a lot of difference compared to some of the other things in handloading.
The biggest one being bullet run out, that is a bullet that isn't perfectly straight in the case. Some people have a real hang up with seating depth & ignore alll the other things that are necessary for top notch accuracy.
One thing that can really help if you don't use a collet type seater is to start the bullet part way into the case, lower your ram & rotate the case half a turn & then finish seating, this can help bullet alignment a lot. If you have 5-10 thousands of bullet run out, playing with seating depth is almost a waste of time.
If using Barnes X type bullets they will tell you to seat .050" off the lands, this is for best accurcy & also for lower pressures of the solid copper bullets.
If you absolutely want the very best accuracy then neck turning is necessary, also with gauging the flash holes & using some type of straight line seater. Prepping the brass is one of the best things you can do in load development.
Good luck.

Dick

 

[mattsbox99]

I seat with a competition seater die from RCBS (just buy one and then you can get the guts from RCBS to make it work for other cartridges). This is the only way I've found to precisely seat bullets and also control runout.

I was having a tough time with my .257 Roberts in my 1A until I ran them out to 2.805" and started getting some pretty nice groups.

 

[volshooter]

I back off slightly. I figure my bullet needs a small running start before hitting the rifleing. My guides suggest this so pressure does not build up. I back my bullets off enough that rifleing in not imprinted on chamberd unfired rounds. I get more than exellent accuracy from my 25/06. I have taken game out to close to 400 yards.

 

[Sam Summey]

.020 .030. off lands is not too much or too little. Touching rifling with a max load can lead to disaster.

 

[427mach1]

The Hornady manuals have an excellent section on the effects bullet seating depth, crimp, and free-bore. If you haven't read it, I would recommend it.

 

[volshooter]

On a side note about the 25/06. I get my best groups using heavier bullets and RL-22, a slow burning powder.