Whats your thoughts of my steeping practices

I've made 5 batches of beer up to this point and they all have been really good. The gravitys were exactly where they were supposed to be with the exception of one batch. That gravity was only slightly off due to the fact that the kit came with a packet of Munton's instead of the traditional nottingham. Anyway, I was wondering about my steeping practices and I wanted to see what your thoughts are reguarding it. I put my steeping grains in my brew pot when the water is at room temperature , I dunk it up and down till the temperatue reaches 170 degrees, then let the steeping bag drip without squeezing, then proceed with the recipe. If I were to steep the grains the traditional way of 20 minutes at a temp between 160 and 170 would there be any difference?

170 is a little high in my opinion. You can risk extracting tannins at that temp. 160-165 is usually the norm, but whatever works for you. Maybe try the "more traditional way" that you outlined and compare.

What do the rest of you think?

I've done it two ways- starting with room temperature water and removing the bag at 160. (I wouldn't go over 160, either way). Or, steeping at 155 for 20 minutes. It really doesn't matter, and I didn't notice any difference in the results.

I would recommend doing it the second way, though. That is, bring the water in the pot to approximately 160, then put in the bag of grains and dunk well until moistened and keep at 153-155 or so. The reason I like this method is it can give you a headstart on partial mashing. What I mean is that if you use any grains beside the crystal grains, then you can actually mash in this manner. You could do this with biscuit malt, munich malt, crystal, etc, and be doing a small partial mash. It's good practice for using all types of grains, without thinking about it.

I made a small chart with many/most of the grains identified by which must be mashed and which can be mashed and/or steeped.

I laminated it and carry it in my wallet and look at it while at the LHBS.

The weird thing is, I've been steeping 1-2 lbs of Briess 6 Row Pale Malt for years only to find out it's supposed to me mashed.

I put on a very fine crush and steep at 155F for 30 mins using about 1/2-3/4 gal per pound of grain.

The results are a very cloudy and sweet wort so I know I'm getting more than color and flavors.

How far off is this from a mash?