acceptable weight variation

[DWM]

acceptable bullet weight variation



I cast around 200 bullets , with the advice on this forum I have a great cast day , mould Lyman 311299 , around 30 bullets have a visual fault , and from the 170 good ones I weigh it and I segregate , by grain , I get



188 to 188.9 gr 4 bullets

189 to 189.9gr 22 bullets

190 to 190.9gr 48 bullets

191 to 191.9gr 54 bullets

192 to 192.9gr 30 bullets

193 to 193.9gr 10 bullets

194 gr 1 bullet



My question , this is an acceptable variation? I'll use the low / heavy weight as a sighter and fouling and I'll start with 190 gr bullets when I finish this ones I'll continuous with 191 gr. and so on not to mix a 190.0 and a 192.9 gr in the same match.

Daniel

[jforwel]

I am no expert and I am glad you asked the question so I can see the answers from the more experienced among us.

If it were me and I had those boolits that you cast I would remelt the lightest 4 and heaviest 10 or 11. I have cast lighter boolits around 173 grains within +/- one grain. A few were heavier and some lighter so they were remelted.

I also cast some 255gr boolits recently and had deviations of 4 to 5 grains, so I split them into two groups. One averaging 254grs and the other averaging 257grs. I'll load them seperately. It might have been my casting method or being a new mold maybe a difference in cavities. I didn't segregate them by cavity.

[Hickory]

I'm more of a plinker then a target shooter.
I cast'em and shoot'em as fast as possible.

[Shiloh]

Better than half your boolits are in the middle range of your scale. 46 and 54 boolits respectively. This is what, 1% of variation in this group? That is acceptable to me. I'd probably keep the middle four groups in one lot.

Try keeping things consistent. Casting speed, temperature, rhythm, all consistent.
Cast some, and I tink you'll find things settle in quite nicely. There will still be differences, but a lot more will be the same.

Shiloh

[jdgabbard]

I think I'd just shoot them... But I mostly shoot pistols and that kind of weight variation isn't going to affect much at 25yrds

[montana_charlie]

Were all of those cast in the same cavity?
CM

[lwknight]

I bet that if you keep them in order of casting that the weights will be following a liner curve in weight gain or loss. I would say to keep the first 10 cycles of boolits separate from what you cast after that. Hopefully your weight variation will be localized.

And hey, if your just plinking or doing drills, shoot em!

[joeb33050]

It is very unusual to get the weight variation you show with a 1 or 2 cavity mold.
2 cavity molds throw bullets with different average weights.
A 1 cavity mold or either of the cavities in a 2 cavity mold will produce bullets within half a grain of the average, for 99% of the bullets.
A 311299 mold then, averaging 200.0 grains with a certain cavity, after visual inspection, will make 99% of the bullets that weigh 199.5 to 200.5 grains.
Just about regardless of the average bullet weight, from 45 grain 22s to 450 grain 45s, this is true.
All based on my records of 22,545 cast weighed bullets.
joe b.

[DWM]

Thank you for the answers , the mold its a Lyman two cavities , I'll remelt the heavier and lighter ones , and I'll seprate the first 20 bullets next time to know if this ones have the big variations on weight , I'm happy with the bullets I cast now , I learn slowly to have a rythm check temperature of the mold and the lead , hopeto test this week end my mark on accuracy two inches 100 meters...

Daniel

[Tim357]

Shoot 'em all. That's a pretty fair looking bell curve, so nothing really out of the ordinary. Have fun!