Here's a pic of a batch I did today. Is there a range of weight that I can reload together and not adversely effect accuracy? Lee 200 gr SWC .452
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Here's a pic of a batch I did today. Is there a range of weight that I can reload together and not adversely effect accuracy? Lee 200 gr SWC .452
Attachment 115792
For practice or plinking I'd shoot them all. The lightest group may have voids but I doubt they hurt anything. Check the bases and other edges for good fillout, lube/size and load them is what I'd do. From what I can see they look good and the grouping is a good example of a bell curve. Could have some temp or alloy changes causing the lighter boolits.
It depends on how picky you want to be. If you are going for ultimate accuracy, the top three groups should perform identically for all practical purposes.
Personally, I would load them all and shoot them just to see if there was really a noticeable difference in accuracy among the entire batch. I doubt that on my best days I could tell the difference
Way back when I was in college with a wife and son and 3 jobs plus classes, I got into casting bullets because I couldn't afford very many of those expensive store-bought ones. I had no experience, and no friends cast, so I just took the bull by the horns and started casting. I held the mould sprue up, and just got the lead hot enough to frost the bullets I cast, and did at least have a ladle, and poured the lead directly into the sprue hole while holding the mould totally upright. I learned to cast very usable bullets that way and figured I was good to go. They e tually served me well, too. However, years later, I found that turning the mould to the side, putting the ladle to the sprue hole and then turning them upright produced noticably more consistent bullets, and I could also turn the thermostat on my pot down as well, and still get perfect bullets, usually without the frosting. That method has produced the best and most consistent bullets I've ever cast, and when I got into casting for BPCR, I REALLY found that helped me pour more consistent bullets.
Another possibility is that your pot temp may be varying more than you realize. That can also produce variations in weight while the bullets look the same to the naked eye, but they'll weigh in with a wider extreme spread. My Lee pot gives greater temp variation than I'd like, but I've learned to handle that pretty well. Like most technical things, the more you do, the more you learn how BEST to do, and I don't know any way to hurry that up other than keeping read up here on these matters. More knowledge here about casting than I've ever seen or heard of anywhere. Unusual for the internet, but ..... that's a mighty good thing for any newer casters. Wish I'd had this source back when I was learning to cast! BIG time!
If you want to be obsessive, trash the left three groups.
I would trash only the right group and dump all the others together.
They will group in less than 2" at 25 yards with a good load in a good gun.
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I'd load all of them. 2% isn't that much variance. Most people, myself included, can't shoot well enough to notice. I've never noticed any difference within a few grains either side of target weight in pistol bullets. I usually pick about 10 and weigh for average.
Yep, I think it's time for some deviation testing...It'd make a great post, you're good at taking photos, I bet you could work up a nice pictorial.Quote:
Originally Posted by tazman
Good Luck,
Jon
PS, I don't weigh sort pistol boolits myself, I just cull out all the boolits with visual defects, I figure for my handgun shootin, ±3 grains is negligible
If you want a real eye-opener, weigh a dozen or so jacketed bullets from a major manufacturer. Good j-words vary more than 1%, often 2% or more. You could spend good money on commercial cast boolits and have more weight variation.
Thanks for the help. I've cast hundreds of Lee 1 oz slugs but now it's time to step up the game. Thanks to this forum, I have begun to PC pure lead using the .452 Lee SWC and had no visible leading with loads up to 950ish fps (5.3 gr 231). Now I'll start to learn about alloys and doing my own hard cast.
Me I would re cast the 2 lightest ones, as you warm up the boolits do not fill out as good.
2nd from left are match grade. Others are for practice.
+1 on weighing jacketed bullets. It will shock you.
You are probably shooting these in a 45ACP semi, right? Don't worry about weight!
I only worry about weight in rifle boolits where accuracy is actually there for long yardage target shots, not in (relatively inaccurate) semi pistols for plinking.
Handguns are just for fun anyway! Don't loose any sleep over 2-3% deviation.
Load them and shoot them ALL.
bangerjim
Too bad I don't know someone with a Ransom Rest and take my shooting out of the equation! I did some reloading by groups according to bullet weight. 200-201, 199-199.9, 198-198.9 using my Dillon 550. 5.1-5.2 gr 231 (I didn't use the Charge Master this time)Quote:
Originally Posted by bangerjim
and I split the 199-199.9 group as resized after PC and not resized after PC. Range report next week.
A rest is sure nice! A GOOD ONE. I always use it when rifle and pistol shooting for testing and trying for good MOA. Pistols are a carp shoot just holding them over 10-15 yards. I have good luck with them hand-held with light loads because that minimizes the kick-back. I love shooting lite-load 40's and 45LC's. Still working on my lite 45 ACP's.
But you cannot ALAWAY have a rest, so you need to hone your "naked" skills also!
Have fun!
banger