Minimum distance to lands?

[Va varminter]

I am going to be working up a load for my 2506. That will probably not be the final measurement, but I need a good starting reference.

[Hotshot]

Many shooters have good luck at .010 off the lands. For a hunting rifle you need to make sure they will fit the mag. or clip if you have a repeater. The benchrest crowd often touches, even jams the bullet into the lands. This could cause a high pressure situation because some pressure is lost during the jump and those who load right to the lands generally compensate with a little less powder. This assumes you have enough bullet seated into the case which would normally be at least one bullet diameter (.257) for your 25-06.

[Va varminter]

Its for a single shot. And I was thinking .010", but was not certain. I was trying a new way(to me) to find COAL. I saw it on you tube from ammo smith.com. Put just enough tension on the neck to hold the bullet in place. Put bullet in case and place in chamber. Make sure COAL is too long. When you close the bolt or block the bullet is pushed to the lands and the rear of the bullet is pushed back into the case. GENTLY open the action and GENTLY remove case as to make sure bullet does not move in case. Measure length and take off .010".

[Hotshot]

Well that might be better than nothing, but the lands are tapered so you really don't know how hard the bullet is hitting them. When I used similar technique, I cut a slot in the case neck down to the shoulder so the bullet could slide easily and I painted the bullet with a magic marker to try to judge how hard it was getting jammed into the lands.

Now I use the Stoney Point tools (Hornady sells them now, I think) and the mystery is gone. This system works well, and I get very consistant measurements.