Culling Boolits

[101VooDoo]

Having gone through my first culling session, I noticed that I was going through stages where everything looked like a fail, and others where, 'that's not too bad' ruled. Ended up culling about 30-40% or so. Went back and re-culled once or twice, tossing some borderline examples, and also dug some likely looking boolits out of the discard pile.

I realize that once I learn to cast a decent boolit, numbers will increase, but just for grins, what's good enough?

Multiple choice is available for those of us who can't make up our minds.

Jim

[jimb16]

I do a quick cull after they coo then a good inspection when I gas check/size them.

[uncle joe]

ok my vote went whith the majority as of now, shiny or frosted don't matter to me. BUT i would like to cast some really shiny boolits, but haven't figured out what it takes.
UJ

[geargnasher]

Depends.

Answer "A" for anything worth crimping a gas check on. That one vote you see there, that's mine. :-P

Answer "B" for most of the kind of pistol shooting I do. (Not all). Big diameter differences between shiny and frosted, I try to only keep the ones that are cast "in the zone" because I know they will be more consistent.

The great thing about our hobby is nothing but a little time and electricity is wasted on a defective boolit, just throw 'em back and try again!

Gear

[Artful]

Ok, the way I do it.

1) check the base if the base isn't filled out then it won't fly right as that's the steerage end - back to the pot with bad.
2) check the bands, if no wrinkles in band area it will seal gas - the wrinkles go back to the pot.
3) good nose fill out - small wrinkle may be ok but any large enough to upset balance when spun - yep back to the pot.

Now you have a bunch of visually "good" bullets but you need to sort by weight.
I set up two scales - above a weight kept for match
between the weights - practice
below the lightest weight - plink or pot depending upon my needs.

frosted or shiny doesn't seem to make a difference as far as grouping on paper - to get shiny lower temp of pot and /
or add another mold to the casting chain so it gets the molder cooler. You may also add more tin to mix if needed.

[mooman76]

I voted for shinny or frosted but occationally I will except a few wrinkles if a mould is being stubborn as long as the bads are filled and I'm just making some plinkers anyway or for BP bullets which are harder to get to fill out perfect sometimes. I have one TC maxie mould that comes to mind. No mater what I tried it didn't want to make completely filled out bullets. I even tried max heat and scribing the vent lines deeper which was a first for me. I did get some usable bullets but very few.

[sljacob]

as soon as the sprue plate is open I look at the bases, any that are not sharp and fully filled out go strait from the mold to the discard pile.
after cooling all wrinkles rounded corners at the grooves ect. go back into the pot. I wonder if it is realy worth the trouble to be so picky as far as plinkeng ammo goes but the way I see it if you spend the time and effort to cast, develope a load for accuracy as well as the cost of reloading componets why not use top quality boolits as well.
The second vote for A is mine.

[geargnasher]

I figure if you're going to put a nickel's worth of powder and primer behind it, it's worth using good boolits. If you add another three cents for a gas check and the cost of brass divided by number of potential reloadings, plus cost of boolit alloy if any, all the more reason to really study and learn the nuances of near-perfect casting conditions to minimize culls.

In reality, like Artful said, if the bases are good and the bands don't leak, you're fine for plinking or short-range pistol competition (minute of steel plate). Keep the visually excellent ones and sort by weight if you're benching loads for best accuracy, competing in accuracy events, or hunting.

Oh, and VooDoo, don't sweat a 50% cull rate at first, I've been doing this for years and had to throw back over half the ones from a new-to-me six cavity mould the other night, found it had real problems filling the second driving band on the last three cavities when all else looked perfect and I didn't catch it while casting. The learning (hopefully) never stops!

Gear

[HammerMTB]

Depends on what I'll be doing with them.
for pistol boolits at short ranges, IPSC and Speed Steel, as long as the base is filled out they are going down the bbl.
If it's for a rifle, or even if it's for my scoped pistol, 100 yds +, I will be more picky. Maybe not perfect, but very close to it.
I used to weigh 'em all, and still weigh a small sample now and then, but I've found if you have done the visual cull, it is a lot of effort to find a very small precentage out of weight by more than a grain.
I should add I don't struggle with wrinklys or frostys much anymore. Once the mold is broken in, and the PID controller keeps the melt at a consistent temp, things go along both smooth and quick for the most part. :castmine:

[qajaq59]

I don't mind the frosty or shiny, although I rarely get frosty. But other than that I want them right. Powder and gas checks are getting expensive.

[.30/30 Guy]

message for uncle joe:

Low casting temperatures give shiny boolits.

[mike in co]

pistol rifle taget plinking hunting .....poll is not very valid without a SINGLE subject.

my 44 mag will digest and shoot well with things i would not shoot in a rifle.....


mike in co

[canyon-ghost]

I usually take everything after the initial warmup except, possibly the ones from melting down another potful (the really obvious culls). Then I weigh them on the scale, throw out the lightweights, keep the medium heavys and re-weigh to lose the heaviest. Then out of all the medium heavy ones, I check the bases to make sure they aren't way too rounded from incomplete fillout.
Scale and bases- it's the accuracy drink for boolits!

Ron

[Calamity Jake]

Most of my cast rifle shooting is done in matches so I sort both by fillout and weight.
Shinny or frosted don't matter.

[damron g]

it helps to cull while casting.if you notice too many bad bullets then something is wrong with the alloy temp or mold.When all is going well you should get 95%+ visually good bullets.I cast in batches.I cast until they look like a dull not shiny appearance.I then cast about 50 or so at a time and separate the piles visually sorting as i go.This way if something goes haywire during casting at least you have batches you can fall back on to check.But at times my cull piles with lightly rounded bases or wrinkled noses shoot MOA at 100 in 30 cabers and as good as my #1 batch!I cast is lots of 300-350 for 2 cavity molds and 200-250 with singles.My 4 cavity rifle molds i check about every 6th cast and see if all is OK then just keep going not separating at all .I have stopped weighing bullets.If my #1 pile and last pile are visually good and weigh the same i get good groups and trust the middle piles..If while casting i am visually rejecting about ever 6th or 10th bullets then i worry.

George

[chris in va]

Wrinkles don't bother me with my 9mm and 45. I'm not doing bullseye or anything so if it goes downrange without keyholing, I'm happy.

[101VooDoo]

Had a bit of a better day - guess I'll have to up my standards. Funny how that works. :roll:

Keepers on the left, wrinklies on the right.

As Chief Cantacessi used to tell me - "I've upped my standards Lt, now up yours!"

Jim

[troy_mclure]

for rifles perfection is it.

for pistols as long as it is shaped decent ill shoot it.

[357maximum]

99.9% of the time I am of the type to do the first option.

If I am going to spend my time making perfectly prepped brass from the same lot,etc, etc...... I sure as heck am gonna make sure I put the best boolit that I can possibly make on top of that piece of brass.

If I was shooting many thousands of boolits per month at short distances I may very well feel different about that. I however find much more pleasure in seeing how far away I can consistently beat on a piece of distant steel regardless of load intensity or the type of toy in hand. Most of the above falls into the "TO EACH THEIR OWN" category. Do what makes YOU happy nobody else is going to do it for you.

[damron g]

I would suggest keeping your cull bullets aside(marked with a Sharpie) and shooting them along with your good bullets,you will then see the difference rather than assuming.For me i don't see as big of a difference as you would think.I have tested them in Heavy Class BR rifles in 30BR and mil-surp rifles of lower accuracy capabilities.

George

[armyrat1970]

Frosted or shiny doesn't matter to me. I put my boolits in classes. Grade 1, 2 and 3.
If I see really good cast with no imperfections, of course that is grade one.
One or two slight imperfections are grade two.
Anything above that is grade three and goes back into the pot.
I always check the base first. If the base is not filled and uniform, grade three and back into the pot.

[winelover]

My home made alloy requires that I cast at high pot settings to get good fillout. As a result, I get plenty of frosty boolets. Works for my applications.

Winelover:coffee:

[trapper9260]

If I get shiney and frosted I go with it. But if anything else, gose back in the pot. I do not go with any thing that dose not look right . One thing about casting ,you do not have any trash.(just the dirt you had skim off the top,if you have any). You just re use it.

[TCLouis]

L even save some culls for fouling shot, or fireforming brass.

Except for real issues the culls are likely accurate for close in shooting

[dale2242]

I want my rifle boolits nearly perfect. I give them a visual inspection, and if they look perfect I weigh them. I will tolerate +/- .5 grain variation, no more. For my handgun boolits, if they look nearly perfect, I shoot them...dale

[gunsablazin]

I only cast pistol boolits, mostly for practice and shooting IDPA. As long as I have good fill out I shoot 'em, at pistol ranges looks don't matter much.

[Shiloh]

Good fill out?? Nice sharp corners?? It get loaded and fired.

Shiloh

[fredj338]

I'm only really picky about bases. Any noticeable defect gets tossed. I do weigh my LHP for hunting or rifle bullets for longer range. Internal voids can not be seen but can be found w/ more than 2-3gr wt variation.

[NSP64]

It's not that simple. I shoot alot that would be rejects, but it depends on the cartridge and what is expected of it. The .30cal and .224 boolits have to be perfect. The 44 plinking loads I shoot wrinkles, hunting loads have to be perfect. .40 S&W , .380 acp, and 38 spl plinking loads anything goes, Defence loads have to be perfect.:bigsmyl2:

I didn't vote because I would have to check all the boxes.

[Rusty Shackleford]

I only cast for handguns and if the bases are good, I save 'em. Only use cheap Lee molds, but my alloy is always clean, and my pot is turned up to full tilt boogie before I start. So most generally the only ones that get culled are the first 1/2 doz. or so.

I just shoot for fun, if I can land 'em all on a paper plate @ 25 paces all is well.

[ghh3rd]

I ran out of .44's and my sons wanted to visit and go to the range. I loaded up 63 poor rejects, some with multiple issues (base, dropped and dented, poor fill, gas check not on too square, etc.) and they had a ball with them at 25 yards and were getting 2-3" groups.

I am going to lower my standard and keep more rejects on hand for plinking and the perfect boolits for groups or hunting. If I get low on lead, I can always melt rejects, unless they get used first :-)

[9.3X62AL]

I'm pretty critical of my small-caliber rifle castings.......not as demanding of my handgun boolits, but obvious flaws like rounded drive bands--uneven fill-out--or wrinkles earn the offender a re-melt. Like others have said, I do an initial look-see during the casting session or as I store them, then another once-over as I size and lube them. Cull rate overall on rifle boolits is about 15%-20%, about half that with handgun castings.

[Centaur 1]

I didn't choose the I'll shoot anything option, but there's not much that I won't shoot. The only boolits that I remelt are ones with an undersized driving band. In my defense I only cast for pistol calibers. My son and I go to a 50' indoor airconditioned range, and the bulk of our targets are silhouettes that depict bad guys who are shooting at us. What I've noticed during my very short carreer as a boolit caster, is if a gun doesn't like a boolit, things go really bad and it doesn't seem to make sense to work at it. On the other hand, my son has a 9mm AR-15 and we shoot Lee 125 grain RN over 3.6 grains of Bulleye, and an overall length of 1.115, I pan lube with 60/40 parafin wax, vaseline. This past weekend he unloaded 2-32 round magazines at 50 feet into one ragged hole that could be covered mostly by a quarter. The bullets that I used would have gone right back into the melting pot by most people, but I know that this gun just doesn't care what they look like.

On the other hand I loaded up some perfect boolits that I measured, and I knew that they were going to fit the barrel in my Glock 26. I understand the hype that cast boolits turn all glocks into hand grenades. I was shooting one boolit at a time, then taking the gun down to check for lead in the barrel. I understand that the hexagonal rifling is prone to leading which can raise chamber pressures. Well my boolits were sized properly and left no lead, but they flew all over gods creation

[stephen perry]

I cull till I get the base fill out I'm looking for. After that I only cull if my mold bullet doesn't fill out.

Stephen Perry
Angeles BR

[Milltown353]

As long as the cavity is full, I'll shoot it. but I shoot pistols only.

[XWrench3]

for me, it is more of a "what am i going to use them for" thing than anything else. if they are for plinking, anything that fills out is good to shoot. for more serious work, i get fussy. how fussy is directly related to how serious the shooting.

[prs]

But for me; uniformly frosty is part of perfection. Shiny boolits really don't tell me much about weight consistency or at what temp they were cast, just that is was relatively cool. I find my frosty boolits to be very consistent of weight.

prs