Veteran Brownells Gun Tech Steve Ostrem explains a critical but often overlooked aspect of accurizing handloaded ammo: bullet seating depth. Hornady's Overall Length Gauge - aka "OAL Gauge" - enables you to precisely set seating depth so a chambered round's bullet just touches the rifling, with no freebore gap to cause it to enter the bore cockeyed. The OAL Gauge uses a specially modified case for the cartridge your rifle shoots. Attach it to the gauge, then inert a bullet into the case neck and insert the whole shebang into the chamber. Push on the back of the gauge until you feel the bullet juuuussst engage the rifling. Next, use the Hornady Bullet Comparator in your calipers to get an exact seating depth measurement. This is the CORRECT seating depth for most consistent performance from your ammo. Start loading ammo on your press, checking each loaded round with the Hornady Comparator to work out the precise position of the seating die to achieve that ideal seating depth. A micrometer seating die helps, but it's not absolutely necessary. Check out ALL our gunsmithing, reloading & general firearm info videos:
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