Reloading for 1903 springfield

[WarPig1976]

I'm cheap and never bought the O.A.L gauge. That's how I do it, with a cartridge with slits cut in the neck and a bullet colored with a Sharpie. Not benchrest precise but good enough for most.
I've never even worried about pressures. I Back off 10 or 15 thousands.

Information

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[Ex Crab]

For short range loads take a look at https://www.milsurps.com/showthread....086#post360086 to see what can be achieved.

[Patrick Chadwick]

I Back off 10 or 15 thousands.

Agreed. A range that I use myself with good results. Since any setup has some tolerances (bullet shape, measurement accuracy, seating die action) it is illusory to think that one can hold the spacing between bullet ogive and land contact constant to 1/1000. In other words, trying to get too close will result in pressure variation as a simple result of the seating depth variation.
BUT,
if there is not enough of the (more or less) cylindrical portion of the bullet within the neck of the loaded cartridge, then there will be inadequate expansion of the neck on firing before the bullet comes free, resulting in a gas loss around the neck that will be visible as a dirty deposit. So optimum seating depth is often incompatible with the use of boattails.