Boolit storage method damaging?

[youngda9]

I have a question about storing already cast and sized bullets. How much is too much weight to have on a boolit at the bottom of a container?

If I fill a 5 gallon bucket with boolits will the ones at the bottom get dented and out of round?

What are the guidelines you guys use for this?

Currently, I'm filling a large plastic folgers coffee container with boolits. I find them very handy for brass and boolit storage. I don't perceive an issue with this amount of weight, but I wanted to get some more experienced opinions.

I'm casting with straight WW. .358 and .430 sized pistol bullets.

[44man]

I have a question about storing already cast and sized bullets. How much is too much weight to have on a boolit at the bottom of a container?

If I fill a 5 gallon bucket with boolits will the ones at the bottom get dented and out of round?

What are the guidelines you guys use for this?

Currently, I'm filling a large plastic folgers coffee container with boolits. I find them very handy for brass and boolit storage. I don't perceive an issue with this amount of weight, but I wanted to get some more experienced opinions.

I'm casting with straight WW. .358 and .430 sized pistol bullets.
Are you really saying you have 5 gallon buckets of boolits??
Do you have time to shoot or watch TV??????:drinks:

[DLCTEX]

I have no idea. I never store more than will fit in a large Folgers can or 30 cal. ammo can.

[RayinNH]

I have no idea. I never store more than will fit in a large Folgers can or 30 cal. ammo can.

Me either. Just make sure that bucket is where you want it because you aren't moving it after it's filled :)...Ray

[sqlbullet]

I stack mine neatly in small corrugated cardboard boxes. The answer is going to depend on the hardness of the lead. You could calculate it. The short anwer is that if the pressure on a given boolit on the bottom exceeds 7000 psi, then yes, it will permanently deform.

Stacked neatly as mine are the pressure is spread over a much wider surface for each contact. I don't have the edge of a base against the side of another boolit.

How much this matters depends a great deal on your purpose. If you are a serious competitor in a long range shooting competition, this would matter a great deal. If these are for minute of pumpkin shooting in the back yard, doesn't matter at all.

[6.5 mike]

I store my ready to use, patched or sized & checked, boolits in the factory pistol trays I get at the range. These go into the shoe size boxes from the dollar store on shelves in the shop. The not ready ones go into small tupperware type boxes that fit in with the others, and yes the dollar store is your friend, lol.

I mostly only pan lube what I need at a time, gets to hot in the summer to do a large amount. :Fire:

[youngda9]

Are you really saying you have 5 gallon buckets of boolits??
Do you have time to shoot or watch TV??????:drinks:
Re-read the post. It says "If I fill a 5 gallon bucket..." and "Currently, I'm filling a large plastic folgers coffee container..."

I'm just trying to find the threshold and ensure I don't cross it. I think my current method will be ok, but I was looking for other opinions on it. :mrgreen:

[montana_charlie]

I don't store knives in a drawer because they will dull each other jostling around in there.
I don't keep steel files and rasps in a box because they will dull each other.
I work hard to get sharp corners on the base and driving bands of my bullets.
I don't store them in a manner that risks damaging those sharp corners.

CM

[Iron Mike Golf]

I stack mine in containers, to protect the bullet bases, like montana charlie. I use plastic containers from Staples for mold and bullet storage. Storing them loose also results in lube getting pulled from the grooves (I use BAC and CR).

Using the 7000 psi figure of merit and the 452460 bullet as a test case, it would take a load of 1163 pounds to hit 7000 psi with the bullets stacked base-on-nose vertically. That's over 40000 bullets high with 200 gr bullets.

Stacking containers up, containers will fail before enough pressure is on bullets to deform them.

As to the 5 gal bucket of bullets, not problem from the weight of the bullet. You could likely see damage, depending on how they were put in there. Did you pur them from another container? How high did they fall? What temp? Did you drop them from the mold into the bucket? Those are the kinds of things that would do it. They won't be out of round from sitting in the bottom of the bucket.

[runfiverun]

i do store boolits in 5 gallon buckets just not sized and lubed ones.
those get lubed and stored in boxes pretty much as needed in quantities up to 3k.