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Originally Posted by DeadEyeGardner
Something that has peaked my interest lately is powder orientation within a case and it’s correlation to accuracy. Makes sense that a full case would burn more consistently each time vs a case that has lots of room in it, and possibly burning at different rates among a string. Large differences in Bullet seating depth would Start to play a part with this. Then again, maybe it’s another line so fine it’s not worth tripping over  |
Unless you are getting to really low fill rates, like 80%, powder orientation isn't going to make much difference. I do prefer 95 to 100% fill but I also don't like compressed loads for hunting so to me it is about a reasonable balance. I have heard many talk about seating bullets deeper making pressure higher, which would mean velocity would go up, but I have never once seen it actually happen on fill rates below 100%. I think if you pushed the bullet in a 1/4" or more you might see some effect but short of that, the lesser case capacity is more than offset by the longer run to the lands. Highest pressure loads I have seen are jammed into the lands, as soon as you come off the lands pressure starts to drop.
I have seen higher fill rates improve ES and SD though.