Got a digital scale for Christmas......weighed the bullets

[oldracer]

Well I have been curious as to the ready to shoot weight (with pan lube) of my 500gn Lee flat nose and 500gn Lee pointed bullets and to see how small the weight deviation is. This would provide a measure of data for my load work up since I have been shooting the Rolling Block I bought a few months ago.

Over the holidays we went to Phoenix to visit two of the daughters, take our grandson some presents and do some shooting with him too. I also made a point to visit the Cabelas store in Glendale as I had not been there for several years and to pick up several things. One was a digital scale and the Cabelas brand was the only one they had so home it came. Seems to work quite well and the accuracy seems pretty good.

I measured a random sample of 50 out of 250 I have of the 500gn flat nose and the weights were from 488.3 to 491.5 and one stood out at 507, not sure why? I also measured 50 out of 225 500gn pointed and the weights were from 470.2 to 473.3 which was a tad lighter but no standouts. The alloy is 80% pure lead and 20% linotype which I mixed up and have about 300# or so on hand. These bullets were all pan lubed with Doug Knoell's white lube and had been run through a Lee 458 sizer die which just cleaned the sides a bit.

I did some searches and this sounds like a pretty good cross section so I will be happy for now. What do those with more experience think?

[Doc Highwall]

I would bet that the heavy bullet was a slightly larger diameter.

[oldracer]

That would be what I had thought about a slightly larger diameter. All bullets were weighed after lubing and sizing and I don't believe the Lee sizer shaves any metal off, more like squishes it around and some end up in the lube grooves maybe?

[idahoron]

I have been weighing my boolits just after they drop out. If they don't meet +- .5 gr I throw them back in the pot. For me to get 100 boolits I have to pour a LOT of lead. But I got just what I want and they are perfect. Ron

[Doc Highwall]

Two things that cause bullets to be larger are lead deposits between the mould halves and uneven pressure on the mould handles.

[hiram]

488.3 to 491.5 That's about .75% variation. On a 500 gr bullet, 1% is 5 gr. .5% is 2.5 gr. This is in between. If someone were to accept 1% variation for their bullets, yours is less,

[oldracer]

Thanks for the replies all. I have been using Lee molds since I started and the folks at Lee cautioned me on keeping the mating surfaces clean so I check them every few pours. I did start with the 6 cavity DEWC mold and it takes a bit of pressure to keep it closed and since I have some pretty good arthritis in my joints the limiting factor in how much I cast is when my hands get tired. I do check the mold each time I close it for any sign of light between the halves but strangely enough the 6 cavity molds seem to seat better than the 500gn two cavity molds, or maybe easier would be a better word?
Again thanks for the thoughts as I still have a lot to learn with this stuff.

[mustanggt]

If you bottom pour you'll get more variation in weight than if you ladle. I had alot of problems with inconsistency till I started to ladle. I have now gotten my variance down to less than a grain and am working toward half a grain.

[idahoron]

Ladle is the only way to go for Accuracy. Ron

[4060MAY]

weigh them before lubing and sizing to get a true weight

[John Boy]

Racer, to reduce the bell curve weight variance, when the sprue puddle frosts between 8-10 seconds - hold that melt temperature
FYI, your 80:20 mix is Bhn 7.8, a 1:20 alloy

[oldracer]

Thanks again for the inputs. I was counting to 10 or so when casting with one Lee dual cavity mold and the steel plate seemed to stay hotter than the aluminum bodies and that is why I tried casting with two of the Lee molds, one flat nose the other pointed. Both were 500 size bullets and I did a few with pure lead and they weighed 499.8 to 500.1 so with the alloy it is a tad lighter as I expected. I did check the hardness and it came as 9.5 with the Lee tester which was better than the pure lead which was off the scale soft! I am not sure what the linotype actually measured although the person I got it from ran a print shop for over 40 years before retiring.

Again, thanks for the input.

[RMulhern]

After you pour 100,000 or so....you'll be able to hold closer weights!

[oldracer]

I'm working on it! I did some loads today and matched the electronic scale against the beam scale and they were just about exact. I loaded 68gn of FFG and noticed that after a dozen or so rounds the charge weight went up to 68.6gn so I bumped the charge adjustment down a tad and back to 68 even. After another dozen it went up again this time at 68.4gn so I marked those rounds and will chronograph all of them to see if there is any actual powder difference or something else.

[boommer]

With powder measures you need to do same, up tap on the lever to settle the powder in the router as well as a tap to to the base of the router before dumping the powder.This is the best way to get consistent powder drops with sharp grained powder like black or extruded.

[kokomokid]

If you can find Ricks you tube showing his casting routine, it is a slick set up and how to. Dont remember where I found it.

[montana_charlie]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiJikigdIow

[Lead pot]

If your using the proper technique casting the bullets will drop out with the same weight. My bullets will not vary 3/10 gr total weight below the heaviest bullet, 80% will weigh the same once the alloy and mould gets up to temperature.
Any bullet lighter than the heaviest is not properly filled or has slag or voids.
I will not keep a cast bullet that is 3/10 gr light out of the same mould.
But if your only shooting 100 yards I guess it dont matter much.

Kurt