When do you sort/cull your cast boolits?

[JBinMN]

I was thinking about the "culling" ( sorting good from bad) I am about to do with the approx. 1500+ boolits I cast this afternoon & it occurred to me to ask here just when folks cull out the "unacceptable" boolits from the good ones.

I generally do it before I store them, or just before I lube them to use them if just a small amount. But, I was thinking that some folks might not care to sort at all if they are just plinking, and others might wait & do it as the are lubing, among other choices, while even might be others who do it as they cast. And so on...

So, I decided to make a Poll topic to see what other folks do, just out of curiousity & for the heck of it.

What is the time you choose to cull/sort your cast boolits, if ya do sort them at all?

ETA: I forgot to put "paper patch" in, when I put the question #3 in the poll about taking them out of storage before using them"

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

So, this is not recommended to those who haven't refined their own technique...but I cull out major flaws in pistol boolits as I cast. I observe for base fillout before I dump them out of the mold. Then when dumping them out of the mold, I move the flawed boolits into a reject pile. That takes care of 90% of my flawed boolits.

I also 'quickly' inspect each boolit as I size it...if I see a flaw, the boolit gets rejected. I also inspect them as I load ammo, it's rare I find a reject at that time, but it does happen.

[country gent]

I "sort" several times on my bullets. I shoot as cast and pan lube for bpcr rifles and shillouette. On these bullets 4-5 grns is 1% so that's not hard to manage in reality. I normally am within .5-.7 grns over a run. I may cast 400-500 bullets in a session using 2 moulds. I sort and store in pistol ammo boxes. I sort this tie for caliber and blemishes boxing as I go. Then when putting in the lube cake I again watch for blemishes and defects. When I cut them out of the lube I look for voids in the lube and such. Last is when I am loading and wiping the bases to hand seat. I seldom weigh bullets unless its a new mould, a proven mould I run and shoot the bullets in batches as cast.

[Big Boomer]

Catch the really bad ones before water dropping them ... like those not filled out properly, etc., dump them with the sprues and run them through the pot again. The next time I go over them is when I'm lubing with a Star luber. Big Boomer

[DerekP Houston]

Obvious defects I cull as I cast, then I'll give them another once over as I'm coating them with hitek/pc. I can eliminate 90% before I get to sizing and then its just a few I grab out.

[lightman]

I don't really inspect my bullets. I cull any obvious rejects when they fall out of the mold. This seems to catch most of them. I cull any rejects when I size and lube them. This catches a few more. Then I cull any obvious rejects when I load them. By now, I find very few rejects. The ones that I have weighed are about the same tolerance as Sierra's match bullets are.

[Dusty Bannister]

While casting, if I see some obvious defects I pull them aside to return to the pot. Then when lube sizing I remove any that have visible defects. Sometimes a few slip by and are discarded when loading them into cases. I can not say that I ever am "done" inspecting my bullets.

[osteodoc08]

I cull out obvious ones as I cast. I then give them a once over after they've cooled and I put them in a jar or bucket. I'll also cull as I look them over before they're sized and lubed. Then there are those that are culled after a size and lube. Rarely do I cull before loading but they get looked over again. So it's an ongoing process but most are culled in step one and two that I described. During casting and after they've cooled prior to storage.

[bbogue1]

I inspect the bases as I am casting then after my mold gets too hot and I'm letting it cool I cull into a metal pan, that's when the defects go into the pot as well as the sprue and any lead sculptures my pot decides to make go back into the pot. When the bullets are cool I gather them into a plastic container inspecting as I go. Next comes lubing or powder coating at another time, inspected before and again after. Next is sizing, another inspection as is my final step which is loading. All culls are tossed into my pot. By that time I can load with confidence. Sometimes I am surprised at how many bullets are waiting to be remelted just laying there in my cold pot.

[Hannibal]

I suppose it depends on what you plan to do with them. I know a fellow who shoots pistols all the time who's culling criteria seems way too lax to me, but he can outshoot me with a pistol any ol' day, so what do I know. (?)

On the other hand, if you plan to shoot cast bullets in a rifle to jacketed velocities, things have to be near perfect if you expect to achieve excellent accuracy at significant distance. There are many threads on this on the forum, and some are the epitome of a 'can 'o worms', so I'll not say more on that subject.

Bottom line is, is you are shooting for accuracy, I don't think there is such a thing as 'too picky'. But that's just MY opinion.

[Hardcast416taylor]

Actually I do sorting when just bringing the mold up to running temp. The other time I sort is as I run the boolets thru the luber.Robert

[Retumbo]

I do a visual after the bullets have cooled. I do a weight check before I load

[dragon813gt]

They're inspected multiple times. First is as they're coming out of the mold. Usually all from that pour will be rejected and this happens when the mold is warming up. Second is as they're sitting in the pan and I just refilled the pot. Gives me something to do while waiting for the lead to melt. Third is when I'm done casting that batch. I go through every one again. At this point I've most likely found 95+% of the rejects.

For pistol bullets they go straight to lubing and I will look at everyone before it goes into the sizer or into the tube for the Star. Rifle bullets are weight sorted and then lubed so there are two more inspections. The weight sorting picks up any voids in the bullets that you can't see.

Even w/ all those inspections one gets by every now and then. And just typing that makes me think off all the time involved. I may switch to all jacketed so as not to waste so much time.

[blikseme300]

The poll allowed only one choice and I selected Before they are lubed. This is the point at which I really have a good look at each casting and cull. At every point before this I do a cursory inspection and cull what I notice.

Culling while casting can be done but must not interfere with casting cadence or tempo. I'm putting this here as this is one of the main reasons new casters have trouble when getting started.

[DHDeal]

Like many others have stated: As I cast I look at the base and if it isn't filled out and smooth, it gets dropped into my sprue pan. Again while I'm sorting I might find a few that get culled then.

I don't give any consideration for "blasting ammo" because I never load any. In rifles and handguns I only load the best that I can so my cast bullets need to he as perfect as i can make them. OCD or particular I suppose I am.

[Joby]

For me. Most culling happens while casting. Starting when sprue plate exposes the bases. Then when molds open can see half of the boolits still nicely organized before water drop or the towel treatment. This pause also slows the cadence to help control mold temp. Then they also get some varying scrutiny depending upon there usage for target pistol or higher velocity rifle fodder.

[Dave C.]

I do the same as JonB.

[Larry Gibson]

As usual this poll is too "one over the world" for me.

I use one or more or all of the first 5 methods, depending on the type of cast bullet and what it is to be used for. For example; with my precise target bullets I use all five. For plinking/informal use pistol bullets I use the first and the forth methods.

Since it wouldn't let me vote that way I didn't vote.

This is an excellent example why such polls, particularly political polls, that are to general with too many possible answers are meaningless.

[JSnover]

I'm with Larry (though I did vote).
I cull during and after, with another inspection before lubing. My rifle boolits are weighed before loading.

[Lagamor]

I only cast pistol boolit. I just go thru them before I PC.
Even still I have to be pickier with a higher pressure round like 9mm Lugar, on the other hand, the 9mm Makarov wouldn't care if I loaded rocks.