Marking mold cavities

[Longone]

I've been bitten by the accuracy game @100 yds. and am always looking for more. So I thought that maybe separating my boolits by the cavity and then weight sorting I might be able to produce even better groups. I'm currently using the RCBS 165Sil. and the 180 SP with a 200 Sil. on the way, what method do you guys use to mark a cavity that won't damage the bullet's performance but yet make it easy to sort?

Thanks, Longone

[Donor8x56r]

Tried it-did't make any difference since i shoot iron sights.

I tried sorting by weight-only Carcano 6.5 noticed any difference-all other calibers where just the same.

Actually it was pita-sorting 500+ casts takes a while.

Now I just do visual check when I size/lubricate boolits.

Be very critical of your boolits and you will do fine.

[MtGun44]

A previous owner used a centerpunch in the nose area on a 2 cav LBT that
I own. Makes a small bump on them, so the cavities are sortable. I have
never bothered to see if it makes any difference. They shoot great as is
for me.

Bill

[Echo]

If you feel you just must sort the boolits by cavity, Bill's mentioned method is the way many have marked the cavities, and it won't affect the accuracy.

[Longone]

Maybe I just have too much time on my hands but I am looking to weed out anything that can be a possible "WTH" shot. I am really happy with the RCBS molds as far as the quality of the boolit they drop. Without a doubt, they drop the most consistent nose dia. of any molds I own.

Longone

[country gent]

If you decide to punch mark a cavity be sure you dont raise a burr ding on the parting lines that will hold it open.

[williamwaco]

Interesting idea but it doesn't work.

You need to concentrate on consistency in case dimensions and fit in the chamber and concentricity of the case and the bullet in the chamber.

AND THE MOST IMPORTANT FACTOR:
The bullet base MUST be absolutely flat, square with the axis, and sharp edges.
( This does not mean you can't use bevel bases but the bevel must be perfect.)

[Longone]

Maybe what this means is a change of caliber, 30 BR perhaps where the brass is the best you can get.

Longone

[Hurricane]

A very easy way to identify by boolits by cavity is to treat your mold like it was a one cavity mold. Make some boolits in cavity #1 and put them in a box marked #1. Then make boolits using cavity #2 and put them in a box marked #2. The mold is still like new an you do not have to look through a mound of boolits to determine which cavity they came from.

[Wayne S]

As to your main Question,All three of the bullets you list have a small flat on their nose. What I did with mine was to use small thin file and put a very small mark on the edge on the seam on the edge of the nose of one cavity.
This will give you an ID mark to separate bullets and with the mark on one side it will give you a place to put an indexing mark with a marking pen so you can load each bullet at the same orientation.
NOW, as stated above bullet fit to the chamber throat is most important, as well as the base of the GC sank being as flat and smooth as possible to allow as square a fit of the GC as possible.

[Longone]

Maybe another way to attack this is to use the Hornady gage (formerly Stoney point) to measure and sort boolits in this manner. After they are sorted by weight then measure with the Hornady gage.

I'll post a pic later of the tool and how it is used.

Longone

[Wayne S]

As to your tool & test, try a few bullets with the seams straight up & down, next try a few with the seams at 3:00 & 9:00, ect. and see what you get.
With thees bullets seated are they touching the rifling or within .025" from them ?

[Longone]

83386

This is the Hornady tool I mentioned before. I didn't try as Wayne suggested because I find that some of the bases have not cut exactly even with the base of the boolit leaving a little sprue bump behind. I'll have to take a closer look at the mold itself to see if there is a little lead on the sprue plate or mold surface and correct it.
After reading the suggestions that you fellas made I will go back to square one and be more objective about what I am making.

I hope the pic comes through.

Longone

[Shuz]

Addressing the "need" to mark individual cavities etc......John Alexander, of the CBA, wrote an interesting article in "The Fouling Shot" earlier this year, about trying to eliminate the "flyers" that we all have experienced. He tried a lot of different techniques, including sorting boolits by weight etc. and came to the conclusion that no matter how "anal" we get with boolit perfection, flyers are still gonna happen, and as a result of his many experiments with both cast and jacketed bullets, he doesn't worry about it anymore, nor does he waste his time culling anything but the really obvious bad boolit. His conclusion, in short is, "Flyers are gonna happen no matter what you do." Have any of you read that article?

[bangerjim]

Cast 'em

Size 'em

PC 'em

Size 'em again

Load 'em

Shoot 'em

I see no need of getting lost in the weeds with sorting by cavity and weighing each & every single boolit.

I weigh a boolit or two after casting with a batch of new alloy, but don't even bother when dealing with know factors.

Then I am not pipping the ace at 1000 yards either!

Time for me is money. More loads faster means more time to shoot.

bangerjim

[Longone]

Wayne,

I just measured some RCBS 165 Sil. and the 90* test comes up at .0005" with the caliper on the 5 boolits checked. In checking for difference between the five the largest variance was .0015". As far as seating goes I seat into the lands, I made up a dummy round with a slice in the neck vertically, insert the boolit and close the bolt. I then add .010" to the length.

Longone

[Longone]

Shuz,

I have not read the article but it sounds like I should. Where can I get a copy?

In my testing the biggest thing I found to cut down on fliers was neck tension. I tried a .309", .310" and a .311" neck sizer plug, the .310" was the best for me with LC 30-06 brass. I don't know if neck turning would be the next step but there was a very noticeable reduction in fliers with this brass. Also, I tried some FC brass and saw very little difference so I am left to think that the neck thickness played a part.

Longone

[Longone]

Cast 'em

Size 'em

PC 'em

Size 'em again

Load 'em

Shoot 'em

I see no need of getting lost in the weeds with sorting by cavity and weighing each & every single boolit.

I weigh a boolit or two after casting with a batch of new alloy, but don't even bother when dealing with know factors.

Then I am not pipping the ace at 1000 yards either!

Time for me is money. More loads faster means more time to shoot.

bangerjim

Jim, PC EM? You lost me on that one.

I understand what you are saying but it's an hour ride for me to the range, so when I make the trip I want to have the best I can make so my ride home is not filled with trying to analyze all the crazy shots. I like quantity also, but I like accuracy better.

Longone

[theperfessor]

Honestly, if i was that worried about it I would just find the cavity that drops the "best" bullet and use the mold as a single cavity mold. You don't get THAT big a drop off in production going from two cavities to one. Or have one cavity hollow pointed.

[Longone]

An update to this thread, I picked up a used 200 RCBS Sil. mold and as luck would have it one cavity was already marked with a small punch mark. So after I had the opportunity to cast a few I sorted by that mark and weighed. The unmarked cavity is 2 GRAINS heavier than the marked cavity. The marked cavity weight spread was .5 grains from heaviest to lightest. Now I need to find some time to load and shoot the two and see how much the POI is affected by the weight difference.

Longone

[Artful]

I tried sorting by weight-only Carcano 6.5 noticed any difference-all other calibers where just the same.

Actually it was pita-sorting 500+ casts takes a while.

to speed it up I used two scales - set one for heavy point and one for light point
move the boolit onto the heavy scale
- if it tips then it goes into the heavy pile matches

if it doesn't move onto the light scale
- if it doesn't tip it goes into the light pile for recycle

other wise it goes into practice pile.

Quick easy way to sort
- If you want to go further weighing on the pile of heavy boolits for matches,
you can but I couldn't get any noticable difference in shooting accuracy.

As an example = say you have a mold that supposed to weigh 100 grains
- you sort into three piles
- 100 to 98 grains
- 98 to 95 grains
and below 95 grains - back it goes.

[cbrick]

I completely understand the need to experiment, been there, done that for many years. In fact for enough years that I believe your biggest improvement will be found in post #7 of this thread.

Rick