Weight sorting cast bullets?

[Spindrift]

Inspired by this thread, I sorted a couple of bullet batches, from two different moulds, 170- 180 grs .30 cal bullets. Most of the bullets were within 1 grain. But I had outliers, both light and heavy. The light ones were either shiny (to cold mould), or frosty with slightly rounded driving bands (to hot mould). The heavies had parting lines from the mould halves, and increased diameter (slack handle pressure).
It was no surprise to me, that my casting technique had quite a potential for improvement
But now I have a clear idea what to work with. Great!

 

[KHornet]

Overall, I tend to go with the opinion that I do not weigh and sort cast pistol/revolver bullets. Might consider it if I were a super duper handgun shooter, and then only for match shooting. I am not a super duper handgun shooter. On the other hand, I very much agree with JW, with emphasis on the little 22's and some 6mm, and I agree with his standards. Find this particularly true for the little 37 gr 224s, Have never weighed a 45-70 or 375 bullet, depending on overall appearance. The same holds true for most of my Milsurp rifles. On 6.5 thru 32/8mm, I go first by appearance and then to .03. The discards are for warmers or just plinking. For weighing the real little ones, for any quantity at all it is a whoop of trouble.

Paul

 

[wquiles]

Inspired by this thread, I sorted a couple of bullet batches, from two different moulds, 170- 180 grs .30 cal bullets. Most of the bullets were within 1 grain. But I had outliers, both light and heavy. The light ones were either shiny (to cold mould), or frosty with slightly rounded driving bands (to hot mould). The heavies had parting lines from the mould halves, and increased diameter (slack handle pressure).
It was no surprise to me, that my casting technique had quite a potential for improvement
But now I have a clear idea what to work with. Great!

Nice!

While casting I have noticed frosted bullets, dull bullets, ones with the "fins", etc.., but never associated weight with those defects. I plan on checking weight for a little while - in other words, use the scale to help me learn to "spot" those visually as shown by others here in this thread. With time & more experience I see myself not bothering to weight them once I become "consistent" enough

 

[Ian]

Focusing on the timing of every part of the pour and maintaining consistency of that timing once you get it sorted for that particular session is key to bullet consistency. I've always likened casting to driving a car on the highway, you have to make slight steering corrections and throttle corrections constantly to maintain a certain speed and keep it between the mayo and mustard, but the goal is always constant speed and staying in the lane. You will need to watch the bullet sheen, sprue sheen, bullet base appearance when you first cut the sprue, fill rate, and make slight adjustments to the timing of everything to keep bullets within a certain window of weight and quality. When you're really in the zone with it these things become automatic (like driving does) and you start to anticipate which way things are swinging and the little adjustments you need to make to "hold center" beginto happen before anything has drifted very far. Pouring order (or mixing up pouring order in a cycle) and handle pressure are also important. Each mould and alloy combination have their preferences.

 

[wquiles]

Besides trying out the 300BLK pistol, I also tried my Savage 308 bolt rifle with the 3x groups of "light", "med", and "heavy" bullets (10x each). As you guys told me it would happen, the 100 yard groups did "not" change much at all. About the same size as with the bullets that were only sorted visually. So not only I need to work "more" on my casting skills, but I "also" have to continue working on my shooting skills at 100 yards

 

[Kevin Stenberg]

When checking a mold for consistency between cavities. How do you drop the bullets to keep them separate?

 

[Ian]

I usually just check two or three pours, easy enough to see which cavity the bullets came from and set them aside to cool and measure later.

 

[fiver]

it is difficult if the mold needs a little help releasing the bullets.
but I generally lay the mold right on the bench to open it, get the bullets out, then fill the mold again and roll the bullets off to the side with a paint stir stick. [this allows me to watch them cool and see the results of them cooling]
I have both sides of my main pot open to me so the ones I'm eyeballing go to the right side of the pot, or to the left if I am water dropping.[since my water can is on my right side on a stool]
they basically become a throw away if I am water dropping but they do provide the information I seek.

 

[ChestnutLouie]

I'm not sure that Lee "doesn't seem to hold much importance for them". I think its a price point issue. I own 1 NOE mold and it is a thing of beauty
and I have almost a dozen Lee molds.

 

[Bill]

Walking the line at our "friendly" milsurp matches you will see guys with doohickeys on their glasses, guys blacking the sights, some keeping their thumb off the top, others tapping the rounds before loading, some putting talc powder on the front rest, I bet they weight sort bullets

Bill

 

[RicinYakima]

Bill, only if you want to win.

 

[hrpenley]

Wow, I only weigh a random few just to get an idea of where to load them, unless they have a hole in the bottom or something I don't bother. Admittedly I am not the best shot so I never noticed any difference. I don't compete, I do all this just for the fun of it....

 

[popper]

I tried weighing after a discussion with a 'well known' gun smith. 168 gr 30 cal and 165gr 40 cal. Using a FA elec. scale. sorted into the 'curve', then 'resorted' each of the larger sections. Often went into different 'columns'. Supposedly looking for voids. Nope, just different dia and rounded bands!
Decided that difference needs to be over several % before any real effect. I don't trickle powder either.
Clincher was shooting cast from an AR10 @ 200 yds with random selection of bullets (and they weren't real pretty either, PCd),previously chronied @ ~2400 fps. Sitting on a cooler and a solid front stand on buddy's homemade portable shooting table. His rice filled squeesy bag under the stock. Using the Nikon 'circle' (BDC), not cross hairs, for aiming. 3 shots that took ~ 1/2 hr to drive & reset target. Results - 1.5" vertical on first 2, 3rd was 1/2" higher and 2" right. I know I pulled the 3rd one (torqued a tad). All shot from a 10 rnd mag. Not that good a shot or reloader - plus the ONLY time I've ever shot @ 200 yds! My buddy joking, said lets see what it will do at 200. He was impressed.
So no, unless you are a champion long range shooter, makes NO difference.

 

[quicksylver]

Like JW I weight sort my rifle bullets to +/-.10 for piece of mind. I use a muffin pan or the plastic boxes with the moveable dividers for screws and such. Now once weighed. I use ten of each weight. Starting with the heaviest figuring they are the ones best filled out then work to the lightest. figuring that although they are the same in weight , something is going on that is not immediately evident. I have not as yet tried a ten shot group with the heavies and a ten shot group with the lightest in the same range session to see what the results is . Guess that will happen in my next range session

 

[CWLONGSHOT]

I have started sorting mine when I was having issues with the 300 bo.
Its done a great improvement reducing the frequency with those wild shots.
I dint bother for most pistol but do now do all my rifle.
CW

 

[dale2242]

I use a go/no go sort with my cast bullets.
My handgun bullets need to be visually perfect, not weighed.
My rifle bullets need to be visually perfect and weighed.
I do not sort into groups.
They are either keep/ don`t keep.

 

[Rally]

I just do a visual on rifle, handgun, and even shotgun slugs. I’m pretty picky what goes into ammo, and even small imperfections go back in the melt. If I miss a deer at 50 yards or a beaver at 25 yards, it wasn’t the bullets fault.