Allowable weight variance

[Skipper488]

I got a question concerning how much variation is considered OK in a run of boolits. I cast a few hundred from a Lee TL452-230-2R 2 cavity mold today when I sorted them out and got rid of the ones that didn't fill out properly I put them to a caliper and a scale. The caliper results were very promissing .452 on every one I measured. The scale was another story. I was using straight wheel weights and I was getting anything from 233.4 to 235.2. Is that outside acceptable limits?

[1Shirt]

For what it is worth, my standards for handgun cast for plain base is if they are well filled out, I size, lube, load, and shoot. If I were going to use a gas checked handgun blt for hunting, I might be a little picky and weigh a batch to maybe within a grain or so of each other. For rifle it is a different story. If I am shooting for bench rest accuracy with rifle cast or if I am competing in a postal match, I want weights exact, and weigh the inspected, checked, sized, and lubed to exact equals. It is a pain to do, takes a lot of extra time, but it is a labor of love when the results are what you are hoping for when you pull the trigger. To me 2 grains or so on a hand gun blt weighing over 200 gr. is perfectaly acceptable. Good luck.
1Shirt!

[Doc Highwall]

Skipper488, part of it depends on your shooting skill and what they are to be used for. If they shoot good enough for your 50 yard shooting then just a visual when you cut the sprue is enough. But if you are an excellent shooter and are doing long range shooting then a more stringent inspection will be needed.

[mooman76]

When you think about it, you're less than 1% variance. That would be good enough for me but is it for you is the question. More or less I agree with 1stshirt and Doc.

[Skipper488]

I'm a better than average shot but these are for my pistol 10-20 yards at the most. I don't shoot competitively and even if I did it would be with the same attitude I display towards golf, I'm there to have fun not win. Later, I plan on getting a Blackhawk for hunting, then I'll sort my boolits into weights and keep the loaded ammunition in those same groups.

[jonk]

At 10-20 yards, I seriously doubt a 2.8 gr spread is going to make much if any difference. That's what, about 1.5% variance?

[captaint]

Skip - If you start getting a 5 or 6 gr variation or greater, you will want to examine why. Other than that, you're good to go. enjoy Mike

[Doc Highwall]

Skipper488, the good thing about weighing your bullets when starting out is it will give you confidence in your load and if a problem arises it will be one less thing to think about and look elsewhere for the cause.

[stubert]

I do not not weigh all of my hunting boolits, I shoot Lee 310's. I do visually sort.

[waco]

as long as you have good square bases on the boolit, i wouldnt worry about it. the range you will likely be shooting, this wont matter.

[pls1911]

1-Shirt and others are spot on... with plain based pistol bullets , I quit weighing them long ago... If they're filled out nicely, they're good enough unless you're shooting paper and have LOTS of money on the line. Spend your limited time shooting, not weighing.
Rifle caliber boolits are another matter. All of mine from .30 through .45-70 are weighed and sorted into piles of +/- .5 grains. Out of a few hundred castings you'll probably have several piles..make some logical consolidation of adjacent piles, and you'll have the best yield in probably 3 piles each pile with a variance of only +/- 1 grain... very acceptable for everything short of benchrest competition.
If you graphed each bullet's weight, you'd likely find a classic bell curve, where the top 10% and bottom 10% would be recycled, and the middle sorted into acceptable variance piles....
Keep them segregated into lots for loading, and you'll be pleased with the results.