Cast Boolit keepers and rejects.

[bensonwe]

Needs some opinions. The last few months I cast just over 1000 .22 boolits. (.225438 Lyman mold). Last Friday I lubed, sized and re-lubed them. (Lee Alox). Today I weighed 100 of them. This is how they weighed.

10 at 45.0 grains
7 at 45.5 grains
11 at 46.0 grains
33 at 46.5 grains
37 at 47.0 grains

2 where thrown back into the melting pot because of obvious flaws.

The question is, without weighing all 1000+ boolits, would it be responsible to expect decent accuracy from a load I know the rifle likes at 46.0 grains boolits? I mostly shoot paper at 100 yards or less with this rifle and anything around the 3" group is what this rifle will do and is acceptable to me. I would think 1 grain either way from 46.0 is not bad. Please tell me your thoughts.

[cbrick]

The worst thing there is that they are 22's. It's a percentage of the whole, a 1 gr variation in weight is a much larger variation of 46 gr than it is of say a 200 gr bullet. Try grouping them by weight, Group the 46.0 gr together, the 47.0 gr together etc and see what you think, that should answer your question. Also how fast are you shooting them? That will effect grouping and weight variation also.

Rick

[dondiego]

I prefer to weigh mine before they are lubed or sized.

[Blackwater]

There's really no set rule about what's "acceptable" and what's not. You really just have to consider what you're going to do with them. Back when I was trying to learn speed shooting, I was measuring my hits and misses rather casually, so loaded just about all I cast. When I'm wanting to hunt, or to test loads for accuracy, I'm a lot more finicky about what bullets I load and which I send back to the pot for remelting. It's just a simple judgment call, and what's acceptable in one situation and purpose may not be acceptable for another. I DO, however, think many of us would benefit much more than we realize if we concentrate a lot more of our efforts on finding what our guns want in order to perform their best and give their best accuracy. All it takes is a little more attention along the way, adjusting powders and charge levels and experimenting as we go along to find those "magic" loads that really make our guns sing. It also has the additional benefit of making us learn more about HOW we grip and hold the gun, and squeeze the trigger to do OUR best along WITH the gun. That ain't no small potatoes, and it's more a matter of focus than it is of time. Once you just WANT to cast better, your time will pay off in dividends you'd maybe never anticipated. Just keep your thinking cap on, and it's amazing what you can discover for your own self, and it'll amaze you how much you can learn just by teaching yourself using trial and error. Never be afraid of trying something different, as long as all indications are that it's safe, and if the results aren't understood immediately, ask friends and other casters, and they'll likely have various explanations you can consider, and maybe test out, and prove to yourself what's working and what's not, and even more important, why.

[upnorthwis]

For an experiment, take a boolit from each one of those weight groups and shoot it against 5 from the middle group of 46.0 grains. I'm betting No Significant Difference.

[bangerjim]

Only YOU can determine what is "acceptable" for your own boolit weights and needs. Personally, I would load and shoot ALL of them! It is nice to have them within a relatively small window of weight, but 'ya gets what 'ya gets. You will be remelting more than you ever shoot......and that is NOT fun!!!!!!!

Like said above, 22's are so small, a smaller deviation could show up......if you are concerned about dead-on competition shooting. For fun and plinking, I shoot EVERYONE I cast......don't even weigh the things!!! They all seem to fly true and straight......at least for what I need them to do.

For real accuracy, I do not rely on 22cal. I use 30's 38'SPL's and 45LC's in long guns. Those I weight for accuracy groupings when I am loading for that specific need.

But by all means............Have fun!

bangerjim

[paul h]

If you're happy with 3" groups, I don't think weight sorting the bullets will be worth the effort.

Personally I visually sort my cast bullets, remelting those with visible defects and have been able to get 2-3" 100 yd groups with rifles and handguns that are capable of that accuracy.

You'd probably have to shoot up the majority of those 1000 boolits to get any meaningful data regarding whether weight sorting is beneficial. I.e. shooting 5-10 groups of 5 shots with various weight groupings as well as unweighed groupings.

The only reason I'd weight sort bullets is if I was competing.

[bedbugbilly]

I've been casting for 50 some years and have always had a variance in boolit wts. whether it be round ball or conicals - lead or alloy. . . . and I still continue to learn new things. I really think it's a case of you can't have your cake and eat it too. Nothing bad meant by that.

One reason most people cast is to save $$$ - even though it is truly a "hobby" as well. I'm speaking now as a "amateur shooter and a plinker" - i.e. I'm not shooting competition. If you cast, you are going to get a variance in weight. I know that everyone wants "accuracy" but I feel it all depends on how "OCD" a person wants to be about it. You can weigh everyone - segregate according to grain wt. but for me, that would take a lot of the enjoyment out of it. . . . especially when a good portion of the enjoyment is just being able to shoot . . whether it be at paper, apples, cans or varmints.

If the person is really super serious about their accuracy, competition, etc. then perhaps they should be looking at commercial bullets or if they want to shoot lead, swaged bullets . . . and even then, the grain weight can vary a little.

Years ago, when I was shooting N-SSA, we had two guys on our team who would weigh every charge of black powder by weight (while the rest of us loaded by volume) and they weighed every minie ball - it got to the point it was amusing as they were fanatic about it. All of that for shooting clay pots and clay pigeon boards at various distances - not punching paper. They actually would make themselves sick over their worrying about their loads. The rest of us . . we had fun and that was what it was all about.

A good suggestion was given about loading up a batch of the different weights and trying them . . . and I fully believe that the 22s would probably show more variance than larger boolits . . . but in the long run, I don't think you'd see that much difference in them.

Have fun and enjoy!

[GhostHawk]

I'm having to agree with upnorthwis.

I went through a phase right after getting a digital scale where I weighed every bullet, and sorted them in groups based on weight.

The boolit's I was making were .312 185 gr gas checked traditional lube grooved design.

So I loaded test groups from each total of maybe 1.5 grains from lightest to heaviest.

Once I got to the range I could not tell the difference by impact on the target which came from where.

There was "no" discernable pattern. Light ones low, heavy ones high, side to side.

The only real thing I saw was that the more I shot, the tighter the group got. By the end of 50 rounds it had shrunk from the size of an orange at 50 yards to the size of a Kiwi. When I put it away for the winter this fall that old Yuko SKS was putting everything into a group about ping pong ball size at 50 yards.

I quit weighing my boolits btw. Gas checks made some light bullets heavy, lube made some heavy bullets fall into the light group.

By the time they'd all been through the sizer, gotten a gas check, and lube they were all pushing the 190 gr mark.

For some rifles, where your pursuing true MOA at distances longer than 100 yards, sure, I'd weigh and group those by weight.

And I'd do enough so that I would end up with 2-3 hundred rounds that all weigh almost exactly the same.

For an SKS that is mostly just used for fun plinking at 50 yards, man there is no WAY its worth the headaches or the time.

That stuff will drive ya crazy if you let it.

[runfiverun]

I weigh my 30 cal boolits to .3 gr and my 223's to .1
that is for the ones I'm pushing fast or the ones I best accuracy from.
For the lower velocity stuff if they look good they shoot
good.

[cbrick]

I would agree with you completely GhostHawk except the OP is referring to 22's. Not many people get more anal over their long range handgun match bullets than I do BUT not even for my match revolver do I weigh bullets. A 1 grain difference in 190 grains is insignificant but in a 22 a 1 grain difference in 44 grains is big. So yeah, it depends on what your shooting and how important the accuracy is to you.

Rick

[NoAngel]

I ain't seen weighing them do squat. Cull obvious defects, perfect bases and bands are a must. No rounded edges.

[BST4227]

I agree with Blackwater and bangerjim only you will be able to determine what is acceptable.  I just went through some boolits I had cast back in the late 80's and what was acceptable then is not really acceptable today, as a matter of fact by the time I culled the defects almost half of them are to be melted and recast.

As for the boolits being cast in the late 80's and just getting to them now, benefits of being in the military and storing things with family and being slow to collect everything them.

[Baron von Trollwhack]

Your check of 100 of the 1K suggests you found a valid weight distribution. Either weigh and sort or just shoot, or maybe run a trial if you like. But watch results closely. Other aspects of the reloading process are likely more important though. I shoot that same bullet at 100 with 1 1/2 " typical grouping with small pistol primers and 700 X, thinned LLA barely visible when dry, LR velocity.

Seems to me I get better cast weight distribution without sorting if I am careful about lead temperature. If bullets just start coming good and then I add to much lead to the pot, the lead cools and weight changes, or if I do not turn the temperature down a bit as the pot content reduces. Consistency rules in casting. Take note also after you finish shooting and put the rifle away. If the lube star gets crusty, you might have to thin the lube a bit, clean after every 50-60 rounds, or both. Kinda like 22LR cleaning, and frequently a shot or two for fouling also.

BvT