Bullet wieght

[Wayne74]

I am casting a 158 gr SWC 358 Dia, how much wieght variation is acceptable and what causes the wieght difference?

Thank You.
Wayne.

[10mmShooter]

Wayne,

The weight they drop at is based own what your alloy is harder(#2 or lino) will weigh less, more pure lead in the mix...same bullet will be heavier. It makes no difference if you mold drops them at 150 or 160 grains as long as you properly size them they will be fine. You need to adjust your powder charge accordingly to match "your" bullets finished weight.

[fa38]

For shooting at ten yards I don’t weigh them. They can look like hell and still go into a 3 inch group which is all I would care about for a practice load.

Weight variation comes from different alloys and holes in the bullets and heavy bullets from not closing the mould all the way and they may or may not have fins on them..

If I was shooting something like a silhouette match with targets out to 200 yards I would weigh them and shoot only those at the longer distances that weighed less than 1.5 grains from the top weight.

[runfiverun]

lot's of things can cause weight variations.
bringing the mold up to operating temp. [and beyond]
the alloy temp fluctuating.
adding new alloy to the pot.
frosting.
fill rate.
holding the mold tighter or looser.
a stuttering fill.

anyway a grain or so is acceptable in that weight range, that's what i average in most of my 150-170 2 cavity molds throughout a run.
if i am bothering to weight sort i toss back everything over weight and under weight.
for general stuff i just eyeball them closely and throw back the uglies.

[Wayne74]

Thank you for the info.
I wieghed some 44 cal boolits ,they were all cast for the same pot at the same time, so the mix was the same and this is what I got.

251.1-252=1
250.1-251=2
248.1-249=13
247.1-248=50
246.1-247=36
245.1-246=26
244.1-245=26
243.1-244=13
242.1-243=5
240.1-241=9
237.1-238=2
I am new at casting so I would like some ideas on casting more uniform boolits. What sort of weight spread should I try to achieve?

Thank You.

Wayne

[runfiverun]

the 243 to 249 is something like 2.5% variation giving you a chance at 1.25% weight variation from shot to shot.

what you want to do is really watch your mold temp,monitor from boolit appearance and through casting rate.
if you are using a 6 cavity mold you will also have cavity differences to overcome.
i like to run a lap through my cavitys.
using the same one for each [all the] cavity[s].

just getting things equal,and then paying attention to the alloy temp and the casting rate [counting in your head] will help immensley.
listening to music with a 2/4 time [beat] will help.
after you get to using a mold for a while you learn it pretty well,i have one i can weight sort and have a 50-50 mix of boolits above and below a certain weight because the cavity's are a tenth grain different.
57.4 for one cavity and 57.5 for the other is nominal, and it shifts if i shift alloy slightly.
but i get a lot of 57.3 and 57.6 boolits when one cavity is up the other is too same going down so i get a lot of overlap in the middle and fewer on each side.
i have to pour then watch the sprue flash and count then open close then fill.
same motion,same count,same,same,same.
i watch my alloy temp with this one closly and stop when it goes up,then add more alloy and set the mold down to stay heated.
i'll visually cull while i am waiting for things to equalize again.

when i am running my 4 cavity molds i use a 40 lb pot and don't get a lot of temp fluctuation i have a top that i set my ingots on to pre-heat.
i watch the color of the boolits from the mold,i count and adjust as i go.
but still use the same pressure on the handles,i also discard the first 5-6 casts not even looking at them.

[44man]

Good advise. Heat variation in the mold is the big reason. Once you learn to cast without flaws like air pockets. etc, mold temps are the most important with hotter making smaller boolits.
Changing pace as you cast will change mold heat.
I refuse to weigh larger boolits because variation means nothing but if I shot tiny boolits or BR, I would. I see no sense in weighing .44 boolits and up, you will not see any difference at the target.
As much of an accuracy revolver nut that I am, I will not do extra work, only what counts.

[LAH]

FWIW: If the standard weight variation was plus or minus 1% [just saying] a 160 bullet could weigh from 158.4 to 161.6 & meet that standard.

[1Shirt]

I don't weigh hand gun boolits, as I am not much of a hand gun shooter to start out with. If they look good, the get loaded. On the other hand, I weigh 22 & 6mm cast to exact weights for paper punching and p-dog shooting. 6.5's/284's/ 30's/and 8MM I weigh for paper shooting with the heavier for cal weights to within a grain or so. For just offhand and practice shooting, if they look good I don't weigh. On the larger heavier cals, if they look good, they probably don't get weighed except for hunting loads, and then to within 1 grain for those with emphasis on hunting HP's. Those that I weigh, I do so after they are checked sized and lubed. I use a little battery operated dig scale that makes weighing them fast. Have found that when weighing a quantity of boolits, and laying them out there is always a bell shaped curve. The ones on the extremes of the curve get used as bbl warmers, or off hand plinkers.
1Shirt!

[Wayne74]

Thank you for the advice, I will try your suggestions next time I cast.

Thank you.
Wayne