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I always start out with a new type of bullet with it in contact with the lands of my rifle. I then start moving back like one of the previous posters suggested. I have a tool that alows me to measure my cartridges length from the bottom of the rim to the ogive of the loaded bullet. i use a candle to get soot on my loaded bullet {dumby round}, no powder or primer!!!!! then i chamber it in my rifle. the bullet is seated very long so it will contact the lands. i screw in my die a little bit and rechamber the sooted cartridge again. i then screw my die in deeper each time until the bullets soot has no land marks on it. screw in the die just a tiny bit each time {maybe an 8th of a turn} unless you have a BR seater with micrometer. i then measure how long the cartridge is from the rim to the ogive of the bullet. i now know how long to make my cartridges from the rim to the ogive for that rifle. once i have this measurement from one bullet i can seat all bullets close to or in contact with the lands of the rifle because i am going for the ogive lenth. then i go look for the "sweet spot". the measurement that matters is not the OAL from the bullet tip to the rim, its the measurement from the rim to the ogive! some rifles have long throats and when the ogive is close to the lands of some rifles the cartridge may be to long to get into your magazine. sorry for the lenth of this post.