Culling

[308Jeff]

As a new caster, JBinMN's poll on when to cull bullets was timely for me. My question is which bullets do I cull?

My OCD side want me to toss anything that doesn't look perfect or nearly perfect, but my more rational side tells me some imperfects will shoot just fine.

Grabbed a few from last weekend that I would toss, but want opinions on what I should really be melting again.

[JSH]

Culls.
The way I look at it, would you be happy with something like that in a jacketed or store bought cast?
They are just to easy to recycle. Why settle for second best.
Jeff

[retrobass]

I’d powdercoat them a different color and use them to blast steel at 15 yards.

Unless I caught it while casting (unlikely because I don’t like to pause and hurt my cadence), in which case I’d chunk them back in the pot.

[hc18flyer]

I cull out significant flaws in the base or driving bands, but not many for plinking pistol bullets. For hunting load development I am more picky! hc18flyer

[waco]

Those are all definitely rejects in my book.

[brewer12345]

All culls, IMO. I am pickier in rifle and gas check bullet selection, but even for plinking handgun loads your pics all look like remelts to me.

[Beagle333]

Even though I powdercoat, I'd reject those. It doesn't take long to cast more. Fire up the pot tomorrow and cast enough to replace the culls, if you'll miss em.
I reject any with flaws in either the base or the driving bands. If there were a nose wrinkle or void, I would be more apt to let it go. Throw em back.

[308Jeff]

Thanks, all. Rejects and future bullets they shall all be.

[osteodoc08]

I'd reject all those. Looks like melt/mold is a bit cold

[gray wolf]

Culls.
The way I look at it, would you be happy with something like that in a jacketed or store bought cast?

Hard to understand this logic

[dverna]

The vast majority of pistol bullets I use get shot at less than 50 feet. Yet I would reject any that looked like that. But I shoot less than perfect bullets because at 50 feet perfection is not needed.

Rifle bullets for 100 yards or longer are different. They must look perfect or one is wasting powder and time.

[Hannibal]

If you shoot regularly, you already know your capabilities. If you shoot informally, then you need to ask yourself what your goal is.

Casting your bullets is not going to make you shoot better, at least not in the short term.

Long term depends on your capabilities. The absolute best you can hope for is to equal jacketed bullet performance, provided you are not trying to correct for a condition that is out of SAAMI specifications.

So. Are you trying to set a record, save money, or fix a problem?

[R. Dupraz]

Depends on what you are using them for. I shoot a lot of various pistol bullets for just general practice. So really don't get too excited about perfect bullets for this agenda. Serious targets, another matter. The one on the right back in the pot. Other wise run the mold a little hotter to fix the problem and don't worry about it.

[GhostHawk]

I'd shoot all 4 of those.

In Pistol bullets, anything that did not get complete fill, will get culled.
Wrinkles, no, they still shoot. I am not that good. I don't think most people could see a difference between those bullets downrange.

Now if I shell out money for a jacketed bullet, I am paying for it, so I expect perfection.
Cast on the other hand is the low cost alternative. So I don't expect perfection.
Unless I was selling them.

My experience says incomplete fill gets you wild targets. No consistency so shotgun patterns instead of groups.

But a wrinkle? Not enough there to grab air, not when it is only going 20 feet to 25 yards.

Now long range precision rifle is another matter.

There I would sort serious bullets from plinkers. The plinkers will be close enough.


Pistol caliber carbines, etc out to 75 yards I do not believe a single little wrinkle will seriously throw that bullet out of group. I could be wrong but I myself have not seen it.

Rifle over 100 yards, yes, you want to send the very best.

[claude]

Grabbed a few from last weekend that I would toss,

I would toss those as well, and being a new caster myself, have thrown a bunch back in the pot.

I can only speak for myself, but culling hard early in the game seems to have contributed to the speed of my learning curve. I find it hard to settle for "almost", and as most everything I cast is gas checked and lubed I wasn't happy investing my time with seconds.

[lightman]

I would recycle all of those for several reasons. One reason is that I've been casting long enough that I know I can cast better than those. And you can too! Another reason is that I want to remove any doubt about what caused that flyer in my group. If I load perfect bullets then I know that that flyer was me and I can work to correct that problem.

Once you gain some experience you will only see a few bullets like those in your casting session, so you will only recycle a few. I've got a sack of RCBS 45-201's with slightly rounded driving bands that I plan to load and shoot just to see if there is any difference in accuracy. I need to get on with that project, but regardless of the outcome my old will probably require me to recycle the less than perfect bullets!

[Hannibal]

A PID or mold thermometer will help maintain consistency. If all you are after is a hunk of lead to fill the void in your brass, then this thread is of no consideration almost entirely.

Sorry if that is crass, but it's also factual.

[Thumbcocker]

To shoot well you have to know in your bones that the weak link in the gun, ammo, shooter system is you the shooter. If you have made the best ammo you can then all you have to do is focus on being the best shooter you can. Why build in doubt about your ammo?

[mdi]

I believe it's a personal choice. When I'm casting, sometimes I'll reject all but the "perfect" bullets and sometimes I'll shoot "crinkled" bullets. But the ones in the pic I'd prolly reject. I once saw an article by a well known gun writer and black powder cartridge shooter with some pics of his cast bullets. He mentioned some of the bullets he would keep for competition, and some for just shooting. Personally I'd have remelted his "just shooting" bullets...

[DSRichert]

Just wondering how critical are minor flaws in pistol cast bullets

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