Hornady 123 SST Preferred Seating Off Lands

[vaguru]

Just curious if Hornady 123 SST has a preferred distance it likes to be seated from touching the rifling origin. I managed to find a couple of boxes of this bullet recently and have tested loads. My best load at this time is Hornady or PPU small primer case, Hornady 123 SST bullet, CCI BR4 primer, W748 powder at 30.0 grains with an overall cartridge length of 2.245". This is .020" from touching the rifling origin in my 20" barrel, the same distance as I use with the Hornady 120 ELD M. This load consistently produces an average of 2629.4 fps 5 feet from the chronograph with an extreme spread of 18 fps.

Groups average .625 MOA at 100 yds for 5 shots. Is it worth the effort to try and vary the bullet jump? Just interested if there is a "standard" bullet jump these bullets prefer.

Thanks for any input.

[cory]

I've done some testing of the 123gr Nosler HPBT from a COL of 2.265" to 2.240" (JTL 0.032" to 0.057") and found that it shot best at 2.260". I load my 123gr SSTs to 2.260" (jtl 0.065) and it shoots really well for me. I find that most bullets shoot best from all my Grendel barrels at or near 2.26"

Disclaimer: Keep in mind that my JTL measurements are based off my barrel and the specific gauge I'm using. The JTL is not only going to be different for every barrel, but it will vary with every gauge.