Fat 30 Disappointment

[35 Whelen]

Not sure if this is the right place to post this, so if it isn't, please move it!
I got in on a Fat 30 groups buy last spring/summer, but due to family issues, etc., didn't have a chance to cast any until last week. I cast two batches with two different lots of wheelweight alloy. One batch of about 100 bullets was water-quenched and the other air-cooled.
The bullets cast out at a .318" diameter, which is OK, but when I started sorting by weight I was a little dismayed to find that there was a 2+ grain variance in the bullets. This was the case with both batches of bullets. One batch cast at 193.5-196.0 grs. and the other from 194.1-196.5 grs.
Is this normal? For what it's worth, I also cast a couple hundred 314299 bullets from a late production 2-cavity mould with the same two batches of alloy. Their weight variation was maybe a hair over 1 gr.
I'm sure they'll shoot fine, but I'd sure rather be able to keep individual lots of bullets with 1/2 gr. of each other. With the Fat 30's I had to fudge on my limit of .5 gr. to .8 gr. variation just so I wouldn't have too many different lots of bullets.
Any input appreciated.
35W

[sundog]

That's a hair over a one percent variance. I'd shoot it. I doubt you can tell the difference at a hunert unless you're shooting a custom gun (read BR = high dollar).

[44man]

The secret to shooting good is to throw back any visible defects, then hide the scale. You WILL shoot better if you don't know what the boolits weigh.
Temp variations of the lead and mold is what gives the most weight changes, once you reach a smooth casting process at the right temp, you will never find a visible reject either.

[9.3X62AL]

Lotta truth in that, 44 Man. Considering the bore condition of the rifle I'm shooting my Way Fat Thirties through, I don't think a 1%-2% weight difference would make much difference.

Buckshot gently reminds me of the need to scale boolits for best downrange outcomes. Makes me want to tip his chronograph over when he says things like that.

[sundog]

44Man, who am I to say different? In another post on Saturday I reported the results of our monthly mil bolt match that I happened to be fortunate enough to score better than the other very good shooters. Five minutes (or less) of fame and nobody remembers what you did. Won five bucks, then peed it away in a small bore match. Anyway, those boolits, SAECO #301, were visual inspected only. Score was 3 98s with Xs - 294/300. Not shabby. First time I used this load, but certainly not the last. Gonna weigh them next time.

That said, there's a caveat to this. Confidence. The confidence I have in my boolits is I do not want any flyers. For me, a few minutes running them over an electronic scale (pretty quick this way) will invariably find a few light weights. Since I started doing this, flyers have disappeared. If you have a component combination that gives acceptable results then culling a light weight (even though it looks good) sure isn't gonna hurt anything. Do I weigh all of my boolits? Naw, just the ones that are doing target work in a match. Helps my confidence. Oh, yea, I weigh .22 boolits.

Good bases and good fit are what I'm really after. The weighing thing is just a time extra for match boolits. But, for me, it's a confidence thing.

[44man]

Yep, the smaller and lighter the boolit is, the more important it is. A very light boolit is bad news with any weight.
With the proper casting routine, there will be no air holes though. I gave up after weighing thousands of boolits and not finding any difference worth messing with. But if I was shooting matches like you do, I would weigh also.
The secret is in how you cast, not how fast. Casting a .22 boolit takes a lot of care.