burbank.jung
Active Member
Do you cull bullets that are outliers by weight? to ensure better accuracy
Bullet Cast Weight and accuracy
- Thread starter burbank.jung
- Start date
462
California's Central Coast Amid The Insanity
The heaviest and lightest bullets I cast.
My 457193 can vary from 405-grains to 407-grains. If my math is correct that's a difference of .0025 percent.
My 358-158 can vary from 359-grains to 361-gains. If my math is correct that's a difference of .0056 percent.
To quote Alfred E. Neuman: "What, me worry?"
My 457193 can vary from 405-grains to 407-grains. If my math is correct that's a difference of .0025 percent.
My 358-158 can vary from 359-grains to 361-gains. If my math is correct that's a difference of .0056 percent.
To quote Alfred E. Neuman: "What, me worry?"
burbank.jung
Active Member
I consider my cast TC handgun bullets as my plinker ammo that still does not spit bullets everywhere. What groups would you expect from a factory handgun shooting non-target loads at 25 yards?
RicinYakima
High Steppes of Eastern Washington
Depends upon what you want to do. I do everything possible to decrease my 10=shot groups size by 0.010" to win a match. You want to be close or do you want to win?
RBHarter
West Central AR
Casting 22-62s I became a pretty vicious sight culler . Weighing many lots I found that something along the lines of .3% or less was a practical number and generally easy to see .
4 gr on a 22 cal bullet is a missing band 4 gr on a 535 gr 45 is not quite full fill out in the bands with perfect bases .
Weigh a box of commercial jacketed against a batch of sight culled cast . While the goal is zero variation .5% is probably not going to show up until around 33% loss of MV in practical shooting applications .
4 gr on a 22 cal bullet is a missing band 4 gr on a 535 gr 45 is not quite full fill out in the bands with perfect bases .
Weigh a box of commercial jacketed against a batch of sight culled cast . While the goal is zero variation .5% is probably not going to show up until around 33% loss of MV in practical shooting applications .
CWLONGSHOT
Well-Known Member
I was going to say weigh a box of jacketed bullets to give ya better perspective.
I cull by site 95% of the time. If ultimate consistency is wanted Ill weigh sort.
CW
I cull by site 95% of the time. If ultimate consistency is wanted Ill weigh sort.
CW
Bret4207
At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
I think you would need to get a lot more specific. There is a tremendous difference between guns, ammo and shooters out there. A GI 1911 with issue sights and Walmart bulk box ammo isn't going to have the same expectations as a Freedom Arms custom job. And then there's the shooter. What are you capable of shooting on a good day? I know I can't shoot anything like I used to.
I believe for probably 95% of handgunners out there it's a waste of time to consider weighing bullets. We all aim for perfection, at least I think we do, but few of us can tell the difference in half a grain in a 35-ish caliber handgun, even if we bench it. Offhand the number is exponentially smaller.
Dusty Bannister
Well-Known Member
Perhaps of greater importance is the method of measuring the powder charge. Most powder measures have a degree of error in use. A progressive reloading machine has a lot of vibration that could affect how much powder is actually dispensed per cycle. I am not into competition, so just visually inspect and use the volume type powder measure. More time at the shooting bench than the reloading bench. Everyone is different.
What kind of accuracy to expect? Most of it depends on the shooter- a lousy shot won’t be able to notice the difference at 25 yards.
I would never weigh handgun bullets. No need For my purposes.
My suggestion is to cast some up, load em, and see how they shoot for you. No way to learn other than at the casting, loading, and shooting bench.
I would never weigh handgun bullets. No need For my purposes.
My suggestion is to cast some up, load em, and see how they shoot for you. No way to learn other than at the casting, loading, and shooting bench.
Petrol & Powder
Well-Known Member
Absent a void inside the bullet, it would be difficult to have a major discrepancy in weight that wasn’t visually apparent. So a simple visual inspection will yield decent results with handgun bullets.
I put a lot more care into assembling rifle ammunition than I do handgun ammunition. That’s not to say I abandon all measures to achieve consistency with handgun ammunition, but there are diminishing returns to all of that effort.
Someone mentioned variations of powder charges thrown from powder measures. I have found the powder charges delivered by my Dillon 550 measures to be extremely consistent. The first charge dropped from a newly filled reservoir will be off by a few tenths of a grain; and is discarded back into the reservoir. The measure will settle down quickly after that and yield very consistent powder charges. I’ve checked it so many times during long production runs and found no variation that I don’t even bother to check it anymore after the initial setup. However, that is with powders that meter well and a consistent method of operation. The same holds true for other powder measures mounted independent from a press. Once they settle down, they will deliver consistent charge weights if the method used to operate them is consistent and the powder is friendly to the powder measure.
Rifle ammo, that’s a different story. I put in a lot more effort to assemble consistent cartridges for rifle ammo.
I put a lot more care into assembling rifle ammunition than I do handgun ammunition. That’s not to say I abandon all measures to achieve consistency with handgun ammunition, but there are diminishing returns to all of that effort.
Someone mentioned variations of powder charges thrown from powder measures. I have found the powder charges delivered by my Dillon 550 measures to be extremely consistent. The first charge dropped from a newly filled reservoir will be off by a few tenths of a grain; and is discarded back into the reservoir. The measure will settle down quickly after that and yield very consistent powder charges. I’ve checked it so many times during long production runs and found no variation that I don’t even bother to check it anymore after the initial setup. However, that is with powders that meter well and a consistent method of operation. The same holds true for other powder measures mounted independent from a press. Once they settle down, they will deliver consistent charge weights if the method used to operate them is consistent and the powder is friendly to the powder measure.
Rifle ammo, that’s a different story. I put in a lot more effort to assemble consistent cartridges for rifle ammo.
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40 yrs. ago , I tried to weigh my cast bullets.
Seemed like I should be able to come up with a more fruitful way of wasting time.
I now visually sort.
My standards are pretty high.
Primers and powder now are expensive, why waste either on anything other than an A grade cast bullet.
Ben
Seemed like I should be able to come up with a more fruitful way of wasting time.
I now visually sort.
My standards are pretty high.
Primers and powder now are expensive, why waste either on anything other than an A grade cast bullet.
Ben
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Nope. tried it once. Made a 'graph' of the bullets by weight. Then re-weighed a couple columns. None were the same weight! Too much variation is weighing technique! I cull seriously. Any difference in diameter causes a weight difference! Basically, mold/alloy temp variations cause most of the weight difference. If the right parts are crisp and/or flat and filled out, good one.
462
California's Central Coast Amid The Insanity
My .357 bullets have .0056% in weight variation. I use an RCBS 5-0-5 powder scale, that has an advertized accuracy of
plus or minus .1-grain, to drop 13.5-grains of 2400, making a weight difference of .015 percent. My non-weight sorted cast bullets have less weight variation than that of the scale.
How much weight variation is there in the lube, paint, and gas checks that we add to our bullets?
Having said what I've said in two posts, and being quite facetious in quoting Alfred E. Neuman, my OCD causes me to weigh all my rifle bullets.
plus or minus .1-grain, to drop 13.5-grains of 2400, making a weight difference of .015 percent. My non-weight sorted cast bullets have less weight variation than that of the scale.
How much weight variation is there in the lube, paint, and gas checks that we add to our bullets?
Having said what I've said in two posts, and being quite facetious in quoting Alfred E. Neuman, my OCD causes me to weigh all my rifle bullets.
Dimner
Named Man
I weight sort my bullets if they are going over 2100fps and are not just for practice. However, keep in mind, that is a sorting of weight. Usually on any bullets 180grs or more, I only have a +/- 0.4gr. So they tend to get sorted into 2 groups. Out of 100 I may find 1 that is outside that margin of error and I throw it back.
Snakeoil
Well-Known Member
I have a digital scale and can set the tare so weighing bullets and sorting by plus or minus 0.1 grain is pretty easy. But it is tedious work and I'm not big on tedious. I did it for several years and then just decided to stop when I started using a hot plate to preheat my mold before casting. My experience has been that it is not worth the effort. And all my cast bullets are used to compete out to 500 yds. So, sure, a bullet with a void might get by and might cause a flyer to some extent. But given all the other variables that can cause you to not hit your mark, I'm not sure you'll ever be certain if the bullet impacted differently because of range conditions, operator error, a reloading variable or the bullet itself.
That said, if it is a cold wintery day, and you have nothing better to do, I would say it is time better spent sorting bullets by weight than watching The View on TV.
That said, if it is a cold wintery day, and you have nothing better to do, I would say it is time better spent sorting bullets by weight than watching The View on TV.
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