I'm a relative newbie to breech seating... essentially everthing I know I learned here in the last 6 months or so.

Happy to pass that on..

Breech seating is pushing your lead bullet into the rifling with whichever manner of tool is convenient and useful (more on that in a moment).  Then put your primed, powder charged case in after it.  Most often, with some sort of light wad on top to keep you from accidentally spilling any powder.

Typically, most folks seemt to think that a bullet should be seated fully in front of where the case ends in the chamber, and far enough into the rifling that the rifling engraves on the base-band of the bullet. 

As for the tool to put it there...
A case with a piece of dowel the right length in it (a "plug") will work if the rifle you're breech seating in has some camming force to the block.  That is, a rifle with a block that moves striaght up and down, with little or no bevel on the block face will be difficult to use a plugged case in... not much force can be applied.

There are also a number of different tools made for different actions that will seat the bullet into the rifleing. I don't know much about 'em... I have started out with a variation on the plugged case, made by a friend of mine.  It has a case, and a piston inside with a domed top in back.. It works well in my Aydt, but can't quite work in my Martini (not enough bevel on the block).

Now.. as for "why" to breech seat;
The theory (and remember, I'm new at it with relatively little experience) is that it can seat your bullet into the rifling more concentrically than using fixed ammo that whacks the bullet in the butt and makes it "jump" to the rifling.
I will say, that I have had better accuracy in my testing with the breech seated bullets I've tested than I had with the Stop-Ring bullets in my 8.15x46R Aydt. 

Hope this makes things a little clearer!
Paul F.

I'm using smokeless...

I don't think there's any reason not to use black, but I think (just my impression), that most folks tend to go with smokeless and breech seating, and fixed for black.
But if anyone who has more experience (that's almost everyone) contradicts that, listen to 'em


Paul F.

I question the advantages of breachseating. how do u know the bullet is straight in the bore. For me a good tight neck concentric chamber works best. Benchrest guns are the most accurate in the world.
they rely on a concentric tight neck to locate the bullet to the bore. cases last just as long to. I still have some of the original cases first fired in my guns and they havent changed none have been resized. Shoot, clean case, reprime, charge powder,slide bullet in case.shoot again. no fumbling with bullets or powder in chamber.
how many people here use a tight neck chamber?
tom

Screwloose hear what you are saying,

Breech is a whole lot less trouble. No case prep work.  I switched a fixed ammo BPCS rifle in 38/55 to a Breech seated Schuetzen and it performed better.  I always called it a 2 moa rifle when shooting fixed ammo. 2 moa was from cross sticks at 200 yards.

Now I call it a 1 1/2 Moa rifle. It will maintain that sort of performance on shot 100 of a Hudson match.  My other  offhand rifle in 32/40 using smokeless powder has only been breech seated so have no comparison. I think it's a 1 1/2 moa gun too.  Difference in performance fixed vs breech is not a lot but does make a difference in scores. Or does to my scores anyway.

Offhand rifles don't shoot worth a hoot from a bench rest though and thats what both of mine are.  I will run 10 round groups using a high front rest holding the muzzle with the rifles hook plate in my shoulder and elbows on the bench.  While the positon is not perfect when the shot breaks you know exactly were it should be on target.  

Improvement with the 38/55 when switching to breech seating was noticable.  Thats also how I came up with the 1 1/2 moa figure. the 32/40 or 38/55 barrel will keep them inside 3 inches at 200 yards anytime muzzle and elbow rest.

Proper bench rest set up it could be better. 3 inches at 200 is not going to win a bench rest match at our club. Guys that are winning bench rest matches in a bench rest stocked rife and with the same loads breech seated are getting better results. It takes 3/4 moa to clean the ASSRA target. 

But the main reason I Breech seat is less trouble.

Boats

like paul said if i were building a new rifle i would not consider breach seating. My tight neck loads are within .0005 concentricity cant check concentricity with bullet shoved into rifling. agood chamber is the answer to accuracy & a lot of practice. easier is the less u have to fool with. my 30/30 wesson martini will usually put ten into less than an inch with a couple of cast bullets. i also have a 7mm ihsma in a m/s sporter that is the same way.i think if it works in benchrest it should also work off hand.tight groups require consistancy.
tom

Minor point of contention...
A benchrest chamber in the bolt-action competition sense of the word will have almost zero clearance above the outside neck diameter, and will ALSO require no sizing, and last for hundreds of firings (and that's in a higher pressure realm than schutzen...).

I won't take a stand on which (fixed or breech seated) better aligns the bullet with the bore, and/or which is more accurate.  I dunno... I have a few more years of shooting before I can give an opinion backed up by personal experience on that score.

Paul F.

      When we insert a bullet into a case all sorts of bad things start to happen, but if we jump through enough hoops we can get close to breechseating.  If modern brenchrest shooters could breechseat a jacketed bullet thats exactly what they would be doing.   leadball