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Thread: How much difference in weight is too much?

  1. #21
    Boolit Mold
    Join Date
    Oct 2015
    Location
    Texas
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    20
    Thanks guys. I can't imagine how many handgun rounds I have cast. Heard a lot about 45 ACP being difficult to get to function reliably, but never had a problem with any of the handgun rounds. Carried one for a lot of years to make a living so figured I needed to be able to use one and shot a lot for a long time. Never had a problem with weight it those and pretty much did what has been suggested, didn't worry about weighing them, just shot them and never noticed a difference. But when I started trying rifle's without j-words, I decided to check the weight and was surprised to find so much difference in weight. In one casting session there is usually one really light boolit (more than 2 gr. lighter than the rest) and one really heavy boolit (more than 2 gr. heaver than the rest) But the majority were within a 2 gr. range. I was just surprised that using the same batch of lead, pretty much casting the same way, and running through a single session would produce that much difference in boolits. Thought maybe there was something I was doing wrong. I'm having a good time trying to work up a rifle load that is accurate, doesn't lead, and I can make. It helps to know that I don't have a casting impairment. The 30-30 worked out well, but got a little nervous getting ready for 30-06 and 270. Guess I had never considered either of those as being "cast" rounds. I have a lot to learn about rifle boolits, but at least I know my casting isn't in need of serious counseling. Thank you so much for all the comments. Them little rascals are a different breed entirely.
    You can get much further with a kind word, and a gun, than you can with a kind word alone. Al Capone

  2. #22
    Boolit Grand Master fredj338's Avatar
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    Feb 2009
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    kalif.
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    I think if you are looking for best accuracy past 50y, then you want as few variables as possible. I only weigh bullets I am shooting past 50y, so that is basically hunting bullets for my 45-70 or 44mags. Inside 50y, even 4-5gr diff isn't changing accuracy much.
    EVERY GOOD SHOOTER NEEDS TO BE A HANDLOADER.
    NRA Cert. Inst. Met. Reloading & Basic Pistol

  3. #23
    Boolit Master
    JSnover's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
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    Sicklerville NJ
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    4,380
    Quote Originally Posted by Springfield View Post
    I never could figure out why some shooters sort bullets by a certain weight, like 1 grain, no matter the caliber. Wouldn't it make more sense to go by percentage of bullet weight? 1 grain makes much less difference in a 500 grain 45-70 than in a 158 grain 38 special, or than in a 55 grain .223.
    That's how I do it. I figured +/- 5 grains for my 500 grain bolts was only 1%; not worth worrying about but it was so easy to cast them to +/- 1.5 grains it turned out to be a non-issue.
    I also shoot those newfangled copper jacketed bullets and have found their weights vary about as much as mine, sometimes more, sometimes less but all are 'within spec' for my purposes.
    Warning: I know Judo. If you force me to prove it I'll shoot you.

  4. #24
    Boolit Master trapper9260's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2010
    Location
    Iowa
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    For me if it is for handgun I do not check weight. If I do for rifle I weight them +- .5 of 1gr . I seen a different in how they shoot .
    Life Member of NRA,NTA,DAV ,ITA. Also member of FTA,CBA

  5. #25
    Boolit Grand Master

    Join Date
    Mar 2013
    Location
    Northwest Ohio
    Posts
    14,455
    I think the bullets initial mean weight matters in the actual weight variations and effects of it. a .5 grn on a 50 grn bullet is more than a .5 variation on a 500 grn bullet. Casting 22 cal 50 grn bullets a .2 or .3 grn variation may be more in order, on the 45 cal 500 grn a 1 grn variation may not matter.

    Now once you determine the allowed range for your use. do you keep just that range and remelt the rest or sort in to ranges of the desired variation and shoot as groups.
    What might give a good idea is to shoot groups with exact mean weight bullets then .6 grn then 1 grn then 1.5 grn variations and see how the groups are affected. You might be surprised there. Again the size of the bullet will be a big part of this.

    On a 50 grn bullet .5 grn is 1% and on a 500 grn 5 grns is 1%. I believe size matters in variations

  6. #26
    Boolit Buddy
    Join Date
    May 2016
    Posts
    298
    I'm dropping bullets with a relative standard deviation of .35% and an extreme spread of under a percent. You can be certain I'm not spending any time worrying about that, and even if those numbers were several times larger I'm definetly not going to spend time weighing boolits individually and sorting them based on that. I've got enough time consuming steps in my loading process as is I'm trying to minimize.

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check